N.C. State senior Gavin Grant

N.C. State freshman J.J. Hickson

N.C. State lost at ECU on Saturday — in basketball — becoming the first ACC team to do so. Sam Hinnant's 30 points led the Pirates to a 75-69 win over the Wolfpack in Greenville.

Blame Sidney Lowe for not having his team ready after a nine-day layoff. Blame Lee Fowler for scheduling an in-state road game. Blame Brandon Costner's 2-of-11, seven-point effort.

Blame anything you want but the bottom line for State is it now has losses to New Orleans and East Carolina on its resume. That means, at the very least, the Wolfpack needs to win 10 ACC games to make the NCAA Tournament.

Do you know how difficult it is to win 10 ACC games when you can't beat ECU or New Orleans? N.C. State will soon find out.

12/08/07 at 23:25
JP, JPD in Ohio wants you to wait until March to make calls like this. But, I guess the first loss in hisotry by an ACC team to EZU gets people's attention.

12/09/07 at 08:11
This loss is beyond embarrassing! I agree with Giglio.

DWS
Avondale, PA

12/09/07 at 10:00
Ozymandius is a real clown with his EZU reference. If he had gone there, I'll bet he could spell h-i-s-t-o-r-y.

12/09/07 at 10:11
Ouch! Was not expecting what happened yesterday. Nevertheless, I stand by my March comment. Whether we are further ahead than at this time last year is subject to debate, but there still is a lot of basketball to be played.

12/09/07 at 10:16
I said it once on here and i'll say it again. JJ Hickson has single handily disrupted this teams balance.

oh, and Lowe is not as good a coach as everyone thought. and I mean everyone.

12/09/07 at 10:20
I bet JPD Ohio is wearing a different shade of red and a hint of grey today and the rest of this week after last night!! lol.

how embarassing. theres only one thing to do in Greenville and thats drink beer.

12/09/07 at 12:53
Were any of you commenters even at the game? State was outplayed and outcoached, plain and simple. State players complained after every call against them and now you are doing the same thing. ECU is an up and coming team who earlier in the week defeated George Mason. So lick your wounds, regroup, and get on with it!

12/09/07 at 13:39

Read along with me here:

ECU beats Carolina in football.

ECU beats State in basketball.

ECU has its own med school.

Now, get over it.

12/09/07 at 16:30
I have to admit to being bothered by the fact that Sid hasn't made better use of his bench and that Ben has been relegated to less than 15 minutes in most games. JJ is an outstanding talent, but that doesn't mean anything if it doesn't translate into better team performance. And, so far it has not.

At this point, I would consider starting Ben so that some type of consistency can be reestablished with the other returning starters. Work in JJ and some other bench players on a regular basis.

The talent is there and I still believe in this team. But I did expect more by this time and we will see how good a coach Sid really is by the end of the season. But school is still out on that subject, as far as I am concerned.

12/09/07 at 19:46
Beezer- I am wearing an NC State sweatshirt while enjoying my Ohio State memorabilia. My glass is half-full. And in spite of it all, still looking forward to January 11. :-)

12/09/07 at 20:06
ECU is about as up and coming in basketball as Duke is in football. This loss is just plain BAD. Unless State gets their act together in a month, the game in Chapel Hill is going to be real ugly.

12/09/07 at 20:09
When Bill Herrion was coaching at ECU the Pirates defeated Marquette(with Dwyane Wade) two years in a row including the year that they went to the final four. So don't feel too bad. If Terry Holland hadn't replaced Herrion with Ricky Stokes(as stupid a hire as Skip Holtz was a brilliant one) something like this would have been happening every year.

12/09/07 at 20:34
As I said before, State should go back to the original team of last year (without J.J.) plue one guard, perhaps Java and then use those ressarves on the bench and get this team going as that group can score as they showed last year. Once that happens, then slip JJ in a little at a time. He has completly disrupted the chemistry on this team plus Sidney needs to change his phylosphy of coaching. Remember, he had never coached at the college level. I've never seen a State team so bad, not even in the previous coach's (Sendek) time.

12/10/07 at 13:44
State fans behold:

Your day of reckoning for all the evil you have spread is at hand.

We bring you good tidings for the holiday season with a loss in your stocking. As the wolf would say Ooooooowww or ouch!!

Y'all come see us in Greenville again.
Merry Pirate Christmas to all, and to all State fans, LIGHTS OUT....

12/11/07 at 20:30
This Tar Heel will be having Christmas with Mickey Mouse down at Disney World. I wish ALL commenters a very Merry Christmas. To ECU... you beat NCSU, now win your conference. Maybe you'll get UNC in the big show....maybe not.