NC State ready to face 16 seed Longwood University in Raleigh
NC State comes in 29-3, and 17-1 in conference play. The Wolfpack have now won three straight ACC tournaments, and their second straight year as a 1 seed. Their three losses this season have come to tournament teams, with two of the losses by three points or less. NC State is looking to get back to the Sweet 16 for the third straight time, and hopefully their first Elite 8 and Final Four in over 23 years. If the Wolfpack are able to advance and beat 16 seed Longwood, they will await the winner of the #8 Washington State and #9 Kansas State game.
Longwood comes in 21-11, and 15-3 in conference play. The Lancers have had a successful season, sharing the Big South championship. They still needed to win the conference tournament to get an automatic bid. After losing to Campbell University twice during the season, Longwood won by almost 40 points in the tournament championship. Longwood earned a bid to their first Division 1 NCAA tournament. In their first NCAA tournament game ever, they beat Mount St Mary’s in the play-in game 74-70.
NC State vs Longwood Statistical Overview
Team Offensive Efficiency: Longwood scores 0.818 points per possession (PPP) ranking 121st in the country.
Cutting Offense: When cutting, Longwood scores 1.143 PPP which ranks 28th in the country.
Press Offense: Against the press, Longwood scores 0.948 PPP which ranks 13th nationally.
Team Defensive Efficiency: Longwood allows 0.759 PPP, ranking 130th in the country.
Baseline Out of Bounds Defense: When defending situations that start with a baseline inbounds, Longwood allows 0.567 PPP which ranks 13th in the country.
Pick & Roll Defense: Longwood allows 0.542 PPP when defending the pick & roll. This ranks 15th in the country.
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Longwood Personnel
#1 Kyla McMakin: McMakin is a 5’11” junior guard out of Virginia. She is averaging 18.1 points and 4.6 rebounds while shooting 39% from the field. McMakin isn’t very efficient but she excels in the transition, scoring in up-tempo situations. In transition she scores 1.15 PPP ranking 469th in the country. In the last three games, she has averaged over 20 points per game and 4 steals. McMakin did well in the play-in game, scoring 18 points while pulling down three rebounds and dishing two assists.
#13 Akila Smith: Smith is a 5’11” senior forward out of Orlando. She is averaging 16.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists while shooting 59.6% from the floor. Like McMakin in the transition, she does well, scoring 1.402 PPP. Over all, Akila Smith is one of the top overall individual offensive efficiency numbers. She scores an overage 1.085 PPP which ranks 105th in the country. In the play-in game she was impressive, scoring 32 points and 13 rebounds to lead Longwood to a win over Campbell.
#14 Tra’Dayja Smith: Smith is a 5’5″ junior guard out of Texas. She averages around ten points per game along with bringing down 3.3 rebounds and dishing 5.2 assists. Smith isn’t too inefficient, shooting 37% from long range. She has been on a tear in her last nine games, averaging around 14.7 points per game. Smith has shown to struggle out of timeout situations, scoring 0.381 PPP. In the play-in game, Smith scored 11 points, two rebounds, and dished out six assists.
