The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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per game (3.7) last season, but now he's much more comfortable running the show solo. He nearly doubled his assists during the early portion of the season, averaging 5.9 a contest. "I think Lorenzo's development has gone very well," Gottfried said. "He's learning the position. There is a lot more to that position than people realize." NC State backup point guard Alex John- son has also proven adept at finding team- mates, averaging 2.9 assists in 22.9 minutes per game. The big men know that if they work hard, Brown and Johnson will deliver the ball. Junior wing Scott Wood is shooting 57.1 percent from three-point land, and that's also tied into having point guards look for him when he's wide open in transition. Improved Conditioning Every returning player but Wood was playing more minutes this season, and the only reason for that was because the junior sharpshooter battled foul problems in sev- eral games. Not only are the minutes higher for six of the returning seven players, but the Wolfpack was trying to play at a faster pace. Brown and the offense pushed the ball at nearly every opportunity. The faster pace isn't resulting in more field goal attempts — the Wolfpack aver- aged 58.9 field goal attempts per game last year compared to 58.6 a year ago — but it has resulted in four games of 79 points or more. After eight games, NC State was averaging 77.5 points per game compared to 70.7 a year ago. Howell has shed 20-plus pounds and has gone from averaging 18.2 minutes per game a year ago to 24.5, and that includes sitting with foul problems in a few games. Williams has jumped from 17.6 minutes to 31.1, and Painter is playing 9.3 more minutes a game this season. The arrival of strength and condition- ing coach Bob Alejo has aided in the im- proved conditioning of the players. Five gained weight, while Howell lost key pounds. "It's been critical," Gottfried said. "It's With the offense directed by sophomore point guard Lorenzo Brown, the Pack ranked second in the ACC with 16.0 assists per game through its first eight contests. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN 42 ■ THE WOLFPACKER why we brought Bob in, and why I hired him. I felt he was the guy to set the tone for day in, day out for how hard we are going to work. "Nowadays in college athletics, espe- cially in the offseason, and I hope that rule changes real quick where we can work with our players in the summer time, we don't get out players as much as we really want to. The strength coach does. He gets them every day." ■