Florida State vs NC State Basketball Recap

North Carolina State 88, Florida State 81

If you hadn't heard of Scott Wood heading into the second Tuesday of 2010, no one could have blamed you. Now, however, the ACC knows about a freshman with an uncanny ability to put the ball in the basket.

The Florida State Seminoles will always be mindful of the man who shot them down at the Donald Tucker Center in Tallahassee, Fla. Scott Wood might not sneak up on any ACC team in the future, but he spent the better part of this 40-minute foray throwing a monkey wrench into FSU's postseason plans.

Wood scored 31 points on 7-of-11 shooting from 3-point range to power North Carolina State to a seven-point road win over the Seminoles, who are now 1-2 in the ACC and suddenly in need of multiple eye-catching wins. Three weeks ago, FSU had just beaten Georgia Tech on the road and had the look of a comfortable NCAA Tournament team, such as a 5 or 6 seed. Now, Coach Leonard Hamilton's ballclub is likely outside the candy store in the pursuit of a ticket to the Big Dance. It's hard enough to beat North Carolina and Duke, but now that FSU has lost consecutive ACC games to Maryland and N.C. State, the Noles are in trouble. Scott Wood is the main reason why.

Just how improbable was this emergence from the Wood-work for Coach Sidney Lowe's North Carolina State squad? Wood - a stringy, lanky tweener who prowls the wing for the Wolfpack - hadn't scored more than 15 points in any prior game this season. Moreover, that 15-point effort came against a cupcake opponent, UNC Greensboro, on Dec. 31.

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What also stands out in this story is that Wood averaged 7.6 points a game heading into Tallahassee despite logging an average of 29 minutes per contest. If Wood was a dynamic scorer who commanded an opponent's full attention, you never could have known as much by looking at scouting reports. Detailed statistical analyses never could have provided the information needed to predict this amazing one-man ascendancy. The numbers simply didn't point to potency for this previously unknown freshman from Marion, Ind.

What's even more impressive about Wood's wondrous performance is that the freshman delivered the goods precisely when his Wolfpack teammates needed a lift. When Florida State pulled within five points at the 8:40 mark of the second half, Wood answered with a jumper to pad the N.C. State lead. When FSU later drew within four at the 6:43 mark, Wood hit a 3-pointer just 21 seconds later to push the visitors' lead back to seven. When Wood hit yet one more bomb with 5:27 left, the Wolfpack gained a 10-point lead at 65-55. Over the final few minutes of the second half, three NCSU players - Julius Mays, Tracy Smith and Farnold Degand - combined to hit 17 of 18 foul shots and preserve the cushion Wood worked so hard to sustain.

In one momentous night, a freshman laid a foundation for a surprising evening in the Florida panhandle. Now, the Florida State Seminoles must make sure that Scott Wood's amazing ambush will lead to a more vigilant... and decidedly more successful... season of basketball in the Sunshine State.

By: Matt Zemek
DFN Sports Senior Staff Writer