NC State men’s basketball has already hit an interesting point in the season. After winning three relatively easy games against smaller schools, the Wolfpack played three straight Power Five schools, two of which were in the Vegas Showdown.
After a narrow 84-78 victory against Vanderbilt, the Wolfpack faced BYU in the championship game. The red-and-white came out swinging in the first half, going into halftime with a 43-38 lead. However, multiple miscues and a few costly ejections, including head coach Kevin Keatts, led to the Wolfpack falling 95-86.
On Tuesday, NC State traveled to Oxford, Mississippi to take on Ole Miss, but poor play and a lack of offense resulted in a 72-52 blowout. This team has a lot of potential, but needs to fix its errors to become a true contender for the postseason.
Key players
After losing most of last year’s starters to the draft or the transfer portal, returning players graduate forward DJ Burns Jr. and graduate guard Casey Morsell were expected to be the leaders of the team, and have done so thus far.
Morsell is averaging a team-high 14.5 points in 31.7 minutes per game. However, he is hitting just 34.6% of his attempted 3-pointers, a stark difference from last year’s average of 41.1%. Morsell scored a season-high 28 points against BYU, but proceeded to follow it up with a 12-point performance against Ole Miss, hitting just 5-14 shots. However, there’s a chance the game against the Rebels was just a one-off, and Morsell can find his consistency again.
Burns has been averaging 13 points per game in 28.7 minutes per game. He’s currently the Wolfpack’s most accurate scorer, hitting 56.5% of his shots. He also leads the team in rebounds with an average of 5.3 per game.
However, Burns has been somewhat of a defensive liability thus far. When matched up with a smaller, quicker opponent, he can’t keep up and struggles to close out on shots outside of the paint. Given his size and the position he plays, he should have more than just two blocks through six games. As mentioned earlier, Burns has been extremely consistent on offense and is well deserving of his role on the team. But if he wants to take his team to the next level, he needs to develop his defensive game and become more of a threat.
In addition to Burns and Morsell, junior guard Jayden Taylor has made significant contributions to the Pack on both defense and offense. Taylor has been the best shooter on the team through six games with a 45.8 percentage from beyond the arc. He is second on the team with an average of 13.3 points per game, but his biggest impact has been on the turnover margin.
This team excels at forcing turnovers, whether it’s drawing fouls or getting steals. NC State has averaged just over eight steals per game and forced both BYU and Vanderbilt into over 17 turnovers. Taylor has been the leader of this charge, and it’s shown in his free throw stats. He has shot 25 free throws compared to runner-up Morsell’s 15. His ability to draw a foul and sell the call is second to none on the team, and has provided a much-needed boost to the offense.
Team tendencies
This Wolfpack team is 100% reliant on momentum, which is a key reason why the Ole Miss matchup was such a blowout. The Pack couldn’t gather any momentum for the entire game and the result was its worst shooting performance of the entire season, shooting just 31.8% in the game and an appalling 12% from beyond the arc. Inconsistent shooting is a problem for the majority of the team and is the Wolfpack’s biggest issue right now.
The red-and-white can be dominant inside the paint with Burns and junior forwards Mohamed Diarra and Ben Middlebrooks, along with the slashing attacks from the guards. If the Wolfpack can boost its 3-point percentage from the 30.9% it currently sits at, the team can become a true offensive threat.
Overall, this team needs a standout player. Both Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner averaged over 17 points per game last season, but nobody has gotten close to that level of production this season. This team has talent at every position, but someone needs to step up and be the guy. Every team has a standout player, and the Wolfpack desperately needs someone to be the clear offensive threat.