RTC Live is back at the IZOD Center this evening for another double-header involving four teams with a lot on the line in the early going of this season. In the third place game, Texas will face NC State, followed by the championship game featuring Vanderbilt and a surprising Oregon State squad. Join us for the conversation on a busy Monday of Feast Week, after the jump.
Games #28-29. The second doubleheader out of the IZOD Center includes the consolation and championship games of the Legends Classic, Champions Bracket. Saturday’s two semifinal games offered fans nearly five hours of very competitive basketball, between four power conference teams. North Carolina State and Texas, losers Saturday, face off with a last chance for redemption. The Wolfpack lost by nine to the Commodores of Vanderbilt, while the Longhorns, leaders through much of regulation, lost to Oregon State by five in overtime.
The worst development for North Carolina State Saturday may not have been the final score, but sophomore forward C.J. Leslie, fresh off of a three-game suspension played 27 minutes before being assisted to the locker room with a sprained ankle. Leslie is the second player lost to the Wolfpack last week, as junior wing Scott Wood tweaked his ankle early in North Carolina State’s game with Princeton last Wednesday. Coach Gottfried’s squad will face off against a very talented and young Texas squad. Starting three freshmen Saturday against Oregon State, the Longhorns threatened several times to blow the game open and run the Beavers out of the arena. The upperclassman-dominated Oregon State squad stayed close and on the game’s final possession, tied the game and left the Horns with 8.5 seconds to win. Unnerved and confused, Rick Barnes’ young guns could not get a clean look at the basket and could not re-establish their momentum in overtime, losing by five, 100-95. They have a second chance to get it right Monday against North Carolina State.
The championship game pits Oregon State as the 100-95 overtime winner versus Texas, against Vanderbilt, winners over North Carolina State. The Beavers feature Jared Cunningham, an early favorite for the tournament MVP behind his 37-point effort Saturday. Cunningham is hardly a one-man offense, however, as big Joe Burton and Angus Brandt will set the screens to spring he and teammates Devon Collier and Ahmed Starks for clean lanes to the cup or a catch-and-shoot from the perimeter. Kevin Stallings will counter with John Jenkins, whose own 28-point outing versus NCSU was none too shabby. The Commodores will not have Festus Ezeli, felled by a double whammy of knee sprain and NCAA suspension, so seniors Lance Goulbourne and Steve Tchiengang will have to do more on defense. Jenkins has Brad Tinsley and Jeffery Taylor as legitimate second and third scoring options.
Join RTC Live at 6:30 PM for the Consolation Game between Texas and North Carolina State, and stay for the Championship Game between Oregon State and Vanderbilt.
Recaps
The Championship and the consolation games of the 2011 Legends Classic Invitational were decided by a combined seven points — any of the four teams and their coaches could have given the last press conference of the night and taken home a very large trophy. The consolation game, a 77-74 nail biter between North Carolina State and Texas was decided on the last possession of the game, a failed three point shot by Texas guard Julian Lewis that could have tied the game and given the Long Horns their second consecutive overtime game. The Championship featured another white knuckle finish as Vanderbilt turned back Oregon State by two, 64-62, in a game that saw nine ties and ended with Oregon State taking the last shot.
Mark it, 8:25 left to play with Texas leading North Carolina State by 13, 65-52. And the wheels fell off of the Long Horns’ bandwagon. From junior guard J’Covan Brown’s unceremonious departure through the end of the game the Wolfpack mounted 24-9 rally that wiped out the 13 point deficit and gave North Carolina State a morale building, three point win in the consolation game last night. Lacking Brown and with the Wolfpack sensing a most improbable comeback, Texas searched for a scorer to revive their offense. After J’Covan Brown missed a jumper and became tangled in a scrum for the rebound he was whistled for a foul, his fourth. Making his way to the bench Brown directed a comment where it should not have been directed, and was whistled immediately for a technical and his fifth foul. Asked about it later, Texas Coach Rick Barnes offered “That’s where he’s got to grow up…he’s been on the team for three years now and he’s has to play a different role. The guys are looking for a lot from him and he just can’t do that…”. Handing the Wolfpack four consecutive foul shots was a blow from which the Long Horns could not recover, and with Alex Johnson’s three point conversion a minute after Brown’s ouster, NC State seemed poised to take one last run to overtake the Long Horns. Though Sheldon McClellan stepped up to score six of Texas’ last seven points, it was not enough, sensing the loss of confidence in their opponent, North Carolina State exploited it, to overtake, then closeout their talented, but very inexperienced, opponent. J’Covan Brown paced the Long Horns with 17 points on 7-14 (1-3 from beyond the arc, 6-11 inside) from the field and 2-4 from the line. Brown dished seven dime and grabbed three rebounds. Freshmen forwards Jonathan Holmes and Sheldon McClellan contributed 16 apiece. North Carolina State’s C. J. Leslie, who left the semi-final game Saturday with severe leg cramps, paced the Wolfpack with 17 points of his own, on 4-8 from the field and 9-16 from the line. Junior forward Scott Wood, back for his first game since rolling his ankle in the first minutes of the Pack’s two point win over Princeton Wednesday, contributed 16 points on 4-9 (3-8 on threes, 1-1 on twos) and 5-5 from the line.
If the consolation game was a horse race, the Championship game was a chess match. For the first 20 minutes Vanderbilt and Oregon State poked, probed and prodded the other, offering a variety of defenses and offensive counter moves. Spotty shooting meant the neither team built more than a four point advantage, and the two teams retired tied at 31 points apiece – the seventh tie of the half — to their respective locker rooms. Though Vanderbilt pushed their lead out to nine three times in the second half, for the last eight minutes the Commodores and Beavers held the score to within two possessions of each other, tying two more times before the end of regulation. Like the consolation game, this one had one team with the lead and the other with ball and a chance to tie within the last 10 seconds of regulation. Jared Cunningham’s runner failed to drop and senior forward Lance Goulbourne grabbed the rebound to preserve the win. Oregon State’s Devon Collier paced all scorers with 19 points on an 8-11 performance from the field and 3-5 from the line. Sophomore guard Ahmed Starks contributed 16 points, including a tying field goal with 33 seconds left that opened the door for Vanderbilt forward Brad Tinsley’s jumper with five ticks left to the game that put Vanderbilt on top for good. Vanderbilt forward John Jenkins paced the Commodores with 14 points on 5-13 (4-7 from beyond the arc and 1-6 for two pointers) shooting from the field. Senior forward Jeffrey Taylor chipped in 13 points on 6-13 (0-2 from three point land, 6-11 for two point field goal attempts) and 1-2 from the line.