We’ll be live blogging/tweeting throughout the game since many of you are either at work or in class, but first a few notes about the game.  The biggest thing I’m looking at is our own team’s health. It’s not that we can look past Temple, but if we beat Temple while sustaining an injury to Brown’s ankle or another Howell leg injury, we don’t have much of a chance Sunday against Indiana.

Temple, in and of themselves, is not a push-over team. They’ve beaten VCU (less impressive, but still a ranked win) and Syracuse (#3) earlier this season.  They ended the season hot, on a 7-game winning streak before narrowly losing to UMass in the A10 semifinals.  Fortunately for NC State, Temple is running about 8-players deep which mitigates one concern NC State fans have had all season long.  Temple is also consistently running 2-3 guards on the floor which contributes to their ability to move the ball around the court and their high steal percentage.  The concern for NC State is going to be in their ball-hungry gameplay.

Temple turns the ball over less than State, moves the ball better, and is better at defensive rebounding, though only slightly.  Since NC State’s true strength is in transition points, it’s going to have to shake this bad-habbit of turning the ball over and not rebounding.  Otherwise, we may not really have a big problem with Indiana since we’ll probably be sitting in Raleigh for round 3 of the NCAA Tourney.

LIVE GAME BLOG

1:38PM – Starters: Howell, Brown, Leslie, Wood and Warren.

19:40, 1st – Leslie with first points. 2 for the Pack.

18:01, 1st – Temple gets its first points of the night. All tied up at 2.

15:15, 1st – State takes a timeout after Temple shoots out to a 12-4 lead. They hit 2 back-to-back 3′s and a couple jumpers. State’s only points from Leslie.

It should be noted that slow starts have become the hallmark of this team and late in the season our accuracy has been a ghost of what it was the first parts of the season.  We always heat up, but it seems like it’s been taking around 10 minutes before our accuracy heats up.

14:39, 1st – TV timeout after Howell follows up a miss by Brown with an under-the-basket 2. 12-6 Temple.

14:15, 1st – HUGE dunk for Leslie tightens the score to 12-8 Temple. State shooting under 40% early with Temple over 60%.

13:05, 1st – Brown with back-to-back baskets (3 and a lay-up) tightens the score to 13 all.

11:20, 1st – TV timeout has Temple up by 2, 17-15. State is heating up after a run by Brown and Leslie. NC State now shooting 50% to Temple’s 58%.

All 5 of Temple’s starters with 3 or 4 points. Leslie with 8, Brown with 5, and Howell with 2 for the Pack.

10:51, 1st – 3 for Temple brings lead to 5 (20-15).  That’s the third 3-pointer dropped on State.

8:47, 1st – CJ Leslie with 10 of our 17 points, every Temple starter with points of their own. 24-17 with Brown at the line.

8:09, 1st – Brown makes FTs, Temple makes 2, Temple steals the ball and lays it up. 28-18 Temple.

7:41, 1st - 30-18 Temple, timeout State. Six Temple players with points and only 3 State players with points. Temple is applying even offense which plays to our defensive weakness in the Owl’s favor.

Temple is shooting 68% right now which speaks to State’s lack of defense mixed with Temple’s extremely even offensive threat. Temple’s ability to score from literally any position is killing State, but that’s the kind of offense a “talented State team” should be expected to defend.

6:20, 1st – Tyler Lewis is in the game, but turns it over resulting in 2 for Temple. 33-18 Temple.

5:45, 1st - Purvis gets points with a floater through traffic. 33-20 Temple.

4:49, 1st - Temple lead back out to 15 after a State turnover and Temple lay-up.

4:03, 1st – State with , 35-22 Temple. State has 7 turnovers, Temple with only 1.  Temple also with 4 steals and 2 blocks, State with 1 each.

2:15, 1st – Wood misses a 3 attempt. State is 1-7 from the arch at the night. 35-22 Temple.

1:11, 1st – State with turnovers, turnovers, turnovers. Luckily Temple hasn’t been converting.

0:18, 1st – Temple hits a corner 3 to bring the score to 38-22 Temple before the half.

HALFTIME – State goes into the half down by 16 to #9 seeded Temple.
–> State is shooting just 40% to Temple’s 53%.
–> Temple is taking 3′s and hitting 3′s (5-11) while State is only 1-7 on the night, Brown at 1-4 and Wood at 0-3.
–> State has 11 turnovers to Temple’s 3.  8 Turnovers are due to Temple’s defense while the other 4 are broken passes, kick-balls, et al.
–> Every player for State has at least 1 turnover except for Wood who has the third most shot attempts of anyone.

There are not asterisks on this first half performance. NC State is pulling down rebounds, getting shots off, and moving the ball down the court. They are simply not playing defense and allowing Temple to bully them on offense.  You’d hate to suggest that NC State was overlooking Temple, but…………..

19:35, 2nd – Temple comes out of the gates with points going up 38-22.

18:43, 2nd – Warren with first points for State of the half. 38-24 Temple.

17:10, 2nd – Temple with 2 players in double-digits to State’s 1 (Leslie). 44-26 Temple.

15:45, 2nd – 47-30 Temple. Lead has been moving between 14-18 points for most of the half. Wood will be going to the line for FTs after the U16 timeout.

15:30, 2nd – State makes their FT. Lead now 16.

14:58, 2nd – State gets a quick 2 after a last-minute Temple shot. 47-33 Temple.

13:49, 2nd – 11-3 stretch for State brings lead down to 10. 47-37 Temple.

13:14, 2nd – Lead cut to single digits. 47-39 Temple, but State is really turning up the defensive effort. Temple isn’t missing because they’re going cold; they’re missing because State is pressuring Temple with an effective zone.

12:12, 2nd – Leslie hits a 2 but is fouled on the basket. Leslie missed FT attempt and State is now 1-8 from the charity stripe. Score is now 49-41 Temple.

Worth noting that NC State now slightly out-shooting Temple 51.4% to 51.2%

9:26, 2nd – Some back-and-forth puts Temple at 54 and State at 43. Momentum for the Pack has stalled.

8:50, 2nd – NC State with back-to-back turnovers; first of the half.

7:47, 2nd – Lead cut to 9 with a lay-up by Brown, but Temple is going to the line after a foul against Purvis.

6:50, 2nd – State making some dumb fouls lets Temple get back out to a 58-45 lead.

6:02, 2nd – Wood commits a foul sending Temple to the line after a State basket. 59-47 Temple.

4:57, 2nd – State applying pressure forcing wild shots from Temple. Cuts lead to 59-51.

3:50, 2nd – Leslie, of all people, with a 3 pointers. Brown and Leslie are now the only 2 with 3′s while Wood is still without a single field goal.

3:25, 2nd – Wood FINALLY with his first 3, and first field goal, of the night. 62-57 Temple is the closest State has been since before the 15 minute mark in the first half.

3:10, 2nd – Wood with another 3 cuts the lead to 3. 63-60 Temple.

2:45, 2nd – Wood goes to the line for a 1 and 1, making neither. That paints the picture of how all night has been from the line.

1:36, 2nd – State down by only 3 and a foul on State sends Temple to the line for 2.  They make 1 making it a 4 point game at 66-62.

1:09, 2nd – Wood takes the 3 and misses. Temple will now start running down the clock and State will start fouling. May make things interesting since both teams are barely 50% from the line.

0:43, 2nd – 68-64 Temple after a couple of FTs for the Owls and a 2 by Leslie.  Leslie now has 20 on the afternoon.

24.1, 2nd – NC State down 70-64 to Temple with Brown at the line.

Brown makes both making the score 70-66 Temple.

0:22, 2nd – NC State called for a foul on what replay shows is a clean block. Temple still gets their FTs and makes one. 71-66 Temple.

17.2, 2nd – Wood makes 2 FTs. 71-69 Temple.

15.8, 2nd – Purvis called for a foul after being charged into. Temple makes both. 73-68 Temple.

10.1, 2nd – Brown with the lay-up makes the score 73-70 Temple. Hell of an ending…

6.2, 2nd – Leslie fouls out with the intentional (very smart call for Temple). Temple makes 1. 74-70 Temple.

2.0, 2nd – Brown hits what they initially think is a 3, but replay shows Brown’s foot clearly on the line. Will be 74-72 Temple with a couple of seconds left to play.

Purvis fouls before the ball is inbounded. Temple makes both sealing up the game for Temple.

Final 76-72 Temple.