It’s only the first ACC game, but N.C. State’s efforts Tuesday night in a 75-66 loss at Boston College continued what has been a recurring theme with the program in recent seasons.


“We just didn’t defend,” Lowe told the Associated Press after the game. “We had a three-point lead and I just think we relaxed a little bit. Going in, we talked about limiting their threes, but I think we just suffered from a lack of concentration on the defensive end.”


When you break this quote down, you start to see some problems. First, Lowe said, “We talked about limiting their threes,” which translates into, “The coaches told them what to do.”


However, he concluded, “We just suffered from a lack of concentration on the defensive end.” In other words, the players did not do what they were told. So the blame is subtly shifted from coaches to players.


Another way of looking at this would be to shift the blame from the players to the coaches. For example, why didn’t the coaching staff have them better prepared? Why didn’t the coaches have players on the floor who could play the necessary defense?


Ultimately, N.C. State has to play better defense to win in the ACC. And the responsibilty for that rests with Lowe and his staff.