PHOENIX REGION

ORLANDO – The days of Jimmy Valvano leading N.C. State to a national championship are long gone. The days of the Wolfpack being an NCAA Tournament force are a distant memory.

The number of wins in the Big Dance in the last 13 years for this once-proud program? Two.

Yes, N.C. State’s unimpressive 61-52 win over Louisiana-Lafayette in a first-round game Friday that qualified as one of the most boring games of the tournament was only the second win in more than a decade. Certainly, the Pack will have to play much better today in the Waterhouse Centre when it takes on a big and tough Vanderbilt team.

But don’t expect N.C. State to apologize for being alive.

“Watching all the games [Thursday], there were a lot that weren’t easy,” said N.C. State coach Herb Sendek. “Did we play as well as we would have liked? Obviously not. [But] I was really proud of the way our guys found a way to grind it out on a night when we really didn’t get any points for artistic beauty.”

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. This is a team that’s playing without shooting guard Scooter Sherrill and, despite a second-place finish in the ACC this season, never got much respect.

The No. 3 seed in the Phoenix Region wasn’t impressive in posting a nine-point win over the Ragin Cajuns, but N.C. State is quite content with Sendek’s “survive-and-advance” mentality.

“There’s no need for us to be upset,” N.C. State Julius Hodge of Harlem said. “We won the game. We definitely didn’t play our best basketball. There are going to be ‘grind-out’ games. They had us grinding it out, and we got a win in the end. You can’t ask for nothing better.”

The Pack can ask for a healthy Sherrill, or at least one who can take the court. He missed the opening round game, his fifth straight, with a severely sprained left ankle. Sherrill said after the game that he felt great and could have played.

“All the pain I felt [Thursday] was gone,” said Sherrill.

Hodge, the ACC Player of the Year, was great in Sherrill’s absence. He had 14 and 10 rebounds and continues to make good on his mission of restoring the Wolfpack (21-9) to prominence. Vanderbilt (22-9) stands in the way of the Pack’s first trip to the Sweet 16 since 1989.

It would have been shocking had Mississippi State (26-3), the No. 2 seed in the Atlanta Region, hadn’t gotten past Monmouth, 85-52.

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ATLANTA REGION (Sports/Late City Editions)

Scores

Duke 90, Seton Hall 62

Texas 78, North Carolina 75

Star of the day

Duke guard J.J. Redick scored 21 points to lead the Blue Devils, outshining Seton Hall’s Andre Barrett, who went scoreless in the first half and finished with eight points.

Stat’s a fact

North Carolina’s Rashad McCants had 27 points, but was held scoreless for the final 8:16 of the Tar Heels’ loss, missing four 3-pointers and a field goal in the final 6:39.

He said it

“It’s kind of like when you have air conditioning and you start to take it for granted. We lost our air for a few days. All of the sudden, it came back on and we all felt a hell of a lot better.” -Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski.

Today’s games

at Orlando

Xavier vs. Mississippi State, 12:10 p.m.

at Columbus

Illinois vs. Cincinnati, 2:30 p.m.

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ST. LOUIS REGIONAL (Metro Edition)

Scores

Nevada 91, Gonzaga 72

Star of the day

Kevinn Pinkney had 20 points and nine rebounds for Nevada.

Stat’s a fact

Nevada (25-8) had never won an NCAA Tournament game until it beat No. 7 Michigan State 72-66 Thursday in Seattle.

“As long as you believe in yourself, that’s all that matters, even though we didn’t get all of the hoopla.” – Pacific forward Tom Cockle.

Today’s games

At Milwaukee

Boston College vs. Georgia Tech, 2:15 p.m.

At Kansas City

Pacific vs. Kansas, 4:50 p.m.

At Columbus

Kentucky vs. Alabama-Birmingham, 5 p.m.