North Carolina State University Athletics
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Western Carolina
Whittenburg, Bailey Hit Career Highs in 1982-83 Season-Opener
11/29/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Nov. 29, 1982
BY TIM PEELER
RALEIGH, N.C. Well, this is certainly different.
Last year, NC State's basketball team stayed packed tightly in a zone defense, and never really unleashed its offense. It was the same way all around the ACC, as coaches kept games close by slowing down the game.
That won't happen this year, as the No. 16 Wolfpack proved Monday night at Reynolds Coliseum with a season-opening 103-66 victory over in-state foe Western Carolina. At least not in games that use the 3-point shot and the 30-second clock.
"More happened tonight in this one game than in the entire month of January last year," said NC State coach Jim Valvano, who convinced Western Carolina coach Steve Cottrell earlier in the day to play under the ACC's experimental rules.
Dereck Whittenburg and Thurl Bailey each had the biggest scoring night of their careers, scoring 28 and 27 points respectively. Point guard Sidney Lowe shattered the school record with 18 assists, brilliantly running a reshaped, perimeter-oriented offense.
"Now this is my kind of game," Lowe said afterwards of the wide-open tempo.
"Man, I love it," said Whittenburg of the ACC's 19-foot 3-point line.
Making his collegiate debut, prep All-America guard Ernie Myers proved he can score on this level as well, pouring in 18 points in just 20 minutes of action.
The game was tight in the opening minutes, with Western Carolina actually leading 9-7 early on. But Valvano inserted Myers into the backcourt with Whittenburg and Lowe, and the Wolfpack was off to the races. Whittenburg hit three consecutive 3-pointers during a two-minute stretch to give the Wolfpack a 32-13 lead midway through the half.
State led 54-27 at the half and built as much as a 40-point lead in the second half. Last season, when Valvano's club was the ACC's lowest scoring team, the Wolfpack scored 54 points or fewer in 17 of 32 games.
It was the first time the Wolfpack has ever scored more than 100 points under Valvano, now in his third season as head coach.
"Did they have just five guys out there?" asked Western Carolina head coach Steve Cottrell. "It sure seemed like more than that. They really got their motor running and they're an awfully good basketball team."
Cottrell agreed earlier in the day to play by the ACC's new rules, which were adopted last summer to improve offense throughout the league. Those rules will be in effect in all conference games this year, but are left up to the visiting coach in non-conference games.
"Valvano said he wanted to use the new rules and if they are nice enough to invite us down here to play and then come to Cullowhee (Dec. 8, 1984) to dedicate our new place (the Regional Activity Center), I'm going to go along with what they want to do," Cottrell said. "The new rules were definitely a factor a bigger factor than I anticipated but I'd do the same thing again if we were playing them tomorrow."
The rules made an impact for the Wolfpack guards, who were a combined eight for 10 from 3-point range. With Bailey scoring at-will inside, making 13 of his 20 shots and grabbing eight rebounds, the guards just waited for open shots on the wing and the end result was a sizzling 65 percent shooting performance.
Nothing was more devastating than Whittenburg's trio of 3-pointers midway through the first half.
"I saw it made a change in the game when I had that streak," Whittenburg said. "Western Carolina had to come out farther and that allowed us to go inside for some baskets. I just got real good rhythm on my shots and Sid was getting the ball to me.
"Instead of going for two points, I went for three because the range doesnt really matter to me. I'm not conscious of the circle because my natural shot is 20-21 feet."
The only issue Valvano had was that his three young inside players sophomores Lorenzo Charles and Cozell McQueen and junior college transfer Alvin Battle hit just three of seven shots and scored only nine points.
"I think our guard play was exceptional, but we need to improve our inside play, other than Thurl," Valvano said. "If we had four-on-four play in a six-foot and-under league, we would be dynamite."
But, the Wolfpack was encouraged enough to think it might be pretty good, regardless.
"I thought we played pretty well for the first time out,"Lowe said. "We were anxious to play after seeing each other every day in practice for so many weeks. We got tired of hitting each other in the face and wanted to take it out on somebody else.
"I don't like to make predictions this early, but I believe we are capable of beating anybody we play."
You may contact Tim Peeler at tim_peeler@ncsu.edu.
