The NC State men’s basketball team will open its season this week with a set of games in the Mako Medical Wolfpack Invitational, taking on Charleston Southern on Wednesday and North Florida on Friday. Both games will be in Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack enters this season with a strong lineup, which correspondent Wade Bowman broke down earlier this week, but the Pack’s first two opponents won’t necessarily be pushovers, especially while the team knocks the rust off.
Charleston Southern
The Buccaneers finished the 2019-20 season with a record of 14-18, led by Phlandrous Flemming Jr.’s 17.7 points per game. The 6-foot-4 guard can do more than just score, however, also leading the team in rebounds last season. The team’s other high-scoring guard from last season, Dontrell Schuler, transferred to Middle Tennessee.
In addition to Flemming, the Buccaneers are returning two other starters, Ty Jones and Deontaye Buskey, both of whom averaged double-digit points last season.
Jones, a 6-foot-6 forward, is an efficient scorer and a solid all-around player. The senior shot 53% from the floor and 44% from beyond the arc, sinking 15 of his 34 3s. Also, the Wolfpack needs to be careful not to put Jones at the line as he shoots 81% from the charity stripe for his career, a program record.
The third and final of the Buccaneers returning starters, Buskey, is the team’s most dangerous threat from deep, shooting a solid 33% from 3-point land while attempting 186, the most on the team. Flemming also shoots from deep often, but Buskey is much more efficient as Flemming hits at a rate of just 26%.
In addition to his 3-point threat, Buskey is a solid defender. The 6-foot-1 guard finished second on the team in blocks and recorded 41 steals. While he had the second-most fouls on the team, he was rarely in foul trouble, playing the full 40 minutes on eight occasions last season and playing nearly 30 minutes per game on average.
The Buccaneers are coached by Barclay Radebaugh, who has been the program’s head coach for 15 years.
North Florida
Both of North Florida’s basketball programs will be in Raleigh this week, with the women’s teams facing off on Nov. 25 and the men’s team facing off on Nov. 27.
The North Florida men’s team finished last season with a record of 21-12 (13-3 ASUN), but four of its five starters from last year are not on the roster this year. The lone returning starter, 6-foot-7 forward Carter Hendricksen, led the team in scoring with just under 15 points per game. No other returning player for North Florida scored over four points per game last year.
The Ospreys are an overall young team with just five upperclassmen and six freshmen on the roster. The team is coached by 2019-20 ASUN Coach of the Year Matthew Driscoll, who has a winning record across his 11-year UNF career.
North Florida will open its season against Eastern Kentucky on Nov. 25 in the Mako Medical Wolfpack Invitational.
