BY JAY SPIVEY
The college basketball season is about a week away and there’s some uncertainty with how good the N.C. State men are.
The Wolfpack, led by fourth-year Coach Kevin Keatts, return its top five scorers from last season’s team that finished 20-12 overall and 10-10 in the ACC. N.C. State defeated Pitt 73-58 in the second round of the ACC Tournament in March in Greensboro, but its quarterfinal game with Duke was canceled as was the rest of the tournament and the NCAA Tournament because of COVID-19.
N.C. State was recently picked to finish eighth out of 15 teams among ACC media members. There are several reasons for it being picked in the middle of the pack, no pun intended.
Five of the top seven scorers are back the Wolfpack, including seniors DJ Funderburk (12.8 ppg, 6.1 rebounds per game), Devon Daniels (12.7 ppg, 5.3 rpg), Braxton Beverly (7.1 ppg). The other two top scorers are junior Jericole Hellems (9.5 ppg, 3.4 rpg) and sophomore Manny Bates (5.1 ppg, 2.1 blocks per game) also return. Don’t underestimate all the things Bates can do on the court. He led the ACC and was sixth overall in the NCAA last season with 83 blocks.
However, the Wolfpack lost C.J. Bryce (13.3 ppg) and Markell Johnson (12.8 ppg) to graduation.
The Wolfpack also has redshirt junior Thomas Allen, a Raleigh native who transferred from Nebraska and sat out last season. Allen averaged 8.7 ppg game in 25 games in 2018-19 for the Cornhuskers.
Keatts and his coaching staff went out and recruited five players to give the team some balance with the five seniors and one junior. The Wolfpack also has redshirt freshman Dereon Sebron, who is a 6-7, 180-pound guard from Lake Taylor High School in Norfolk, Va. The true freshmen are led by 6-3, 175-pounder Cam Hayes, the most highly touted freshmen for the Wolfpack, who played at Greensboro Day for Coach Freddy Johnson. Hayes was rated as a four-star recruit by 247Sports, ESPN and Rivals after averaging 10.1 ppg game last season for Greensboro Day.
The four other freshmen are 6-1, 180-pound guard Shakeel Moore, who is from Greensboro and played at Moravian Prep, 6-9, 210-pound forward Jaylon Gibson, who is from nearby Zebulon and played at Grace Christian, 6-11, 235-pound forward Ebenezer Dowuona, who is from Ghana and played at The Heritage School in Georgia, and 6-6, 260-pound forward Nick Farrar, who played at nearby Apex Friendship High School.
Keatts, who replaced Mark Gottfried at N.C. State has been very successful as the head coach for the Wolfpack since his strong three-season run at UNC Wilmington, where he finished 72-28. Since moving up I-40 from Wilmington to Raleigh before the 2017-18 season he has a record of 65-36 overall in his first three seasons, but although he has a winning record in the ACC, he’s just 30-26 in the league. It’s likely that the Wolfpack will finish with about the same average wins within the conference this season. But, in his fourth season, will that be enough for the insatiable Wolfpack fans, who constantly compare themselves with its Triangle powerhouses North Carolina and Duke?
Only time and how the season will play out will tell.
As for the season, the Wolfpack has a tough schedule, assuming it can play without issues because of COVID-19 concerns raging in the country. It is scheduled to start the Wednesday before Thanksgiving with the Mako Medical Wolfpack Invitational at Reynolds Coliseum and plays again the day after Thanksgiving at Reynolds Coliseum in the same tournament. They also play nonconference games against William & Mary (home) on Nov. 30, Connecticut on Dec. 5 in Uncasville, Conn., Michigan on Dec. 9 in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge in Ann Arbor, Mich., and home on Dec. 12 against Florida Atlantic.
N.C. State is scheduled to start its 20-game ACC schedule on Dec. 16 at Louisville before playing a nonconference home game on Dec. 19 against Campbell. N.C. State is scheduled to play its first game against North Carolina on Dec. 22 at home, and it is scheduled to play in Chapel Hill on Jan. 23. N.C. State is scheduled to play Wake Forest twice — the first meeting scheduled for either Jan. 26 or 27 in Raleigh and the second meeting is scheduled for Feb. 20 at Joel Coliseum in Winston-Salem. N.C. State is scheduled to play Duke just once — Feb. 13 in Raleigh.
N.C. State is scheduled to complete its regular season at home on either March 5 or 6 against Virginia Tech. The ACC Tournament is scheduled for March 9-13 at Greensboro Coliseum in Greensboro, NC.
Jay Spivey is a well known sports writer in the Triad covering Preps, ACC sports and more. He is a writer for SCM+. You can subscribe to SCM+ for only $4.00 for 30 days of content HERE
