The News & Observer has a quick blurb on how Sidney Lowe doesn't like the three-point shot, and backs it up with numbers showing they don't shoot it very often.
Only thing is, both Lowe and the paper are wrong.
N.C. State may be ninth in the league in three-point attempts, but they play pretty slow basketball and don't take much of any type of shot. To wit, here are the ACC teams in order of what percent of their shots are behind the arc:
Team 3FGA/A 3FG % Virginia 0.387 0.359 NC State 0.345 0.380 Wake Forest 0.336 0.340 Florida State 0.325 0.397 Miami 0.324 0.331 Boston College 0.323 0.342 Clemson 0.320 0.320 Duke 0.303 0.353 Georgia Tech 0.282 0.333 North Carolina 0.259 0.338 Maryland 0.234 0.349 Virginia Tech 0.208 0.370
Now it is true they aren't shooting as many threes as they did in Sendek's last season. But last season State was an obscenely outside shooting team. There's no comparison. To put in perspective, this year State is shooting the three slightly less often than J.J. Redick-powered Duke did last year.
Which isn't to say it's a bad thing for them. Their percentage from behind the arc is also second in the league, and it was, as the N&O says, a key to them beating the Tar Heels earlier this season. But this is the second time the rhetoric doesn't match the numbers. You can't blame Lowe for obfuscating before a big game, but the press has the numbers - is it that hard to check?