After fending off the North Carolina Tar Heels for a 79-76 victory to start conference play, NC State took a long break before easing back into the schedule. The Wolfpack will look to ride the high from its victory over the Heels in a game against perennial ACC-doormat Boston College. The Eagles have lived up to that billing so far this season, starting out with just two wins in their first seven games.
However, it’s worth mentioning BC has had a significantly tougher schedule than NC State to begin the year, arguably a top-15 nonconference slate in terms of strength of schedule. Besides, no matter how bad Boston College is, it’s still managed to defeat NC State on a couple of occasions, including last year. This is a game the Wolfpack should be able to win, but may lose if it takes it too lightly.
Boston College gets its scoring from a variety of sources, with four different players averaging double-figure points, and two other players averaging more than eight. After missing his sophomore year, junior Wynston Tabbs hasn’t missed a beat, leading the Eagles in scoring at 15.3 points per game. He’s been inefficient overall, but his 38.5% from beyond the arc is much improved from his freshman year and makes him a threat the Wolfpack needs to take seriously.
Sophomore Jay Heath will look to improve upon a freshman campaign, which saw him lead the Eagles in scoring, and while his 3-point shot hasn’t been falling so far this year, he too can be deadly from long range.
In past games against NC State, Tabbs and Heath have averaged 20 and 16 points per game, respectively, and if they pick up where they left off, it’s not unreasonable to eventually see redshirt senior Devon Daniels, NC State’s most established perimeter defender, guarding at least one of them over the course of the game.
Boston College offers an effective tandem of rebounders in James Karnik and Steffon Mitchell, who may be surprisingly challenging for NC State to handle. Karnik is one of four Eagles to average double-digit points, but it’s his seven rebounds per game that make him stand out, albeit in four games. The Surrey, England native is 6 feet, 9 inches and 230 pounds, meaning his rebounding performances will likely continue to bar redshirt sophomore Manny Bates from taking his game to another level, or redshirt senior D.J. Funderburk from making his long-awaited return.
But even if Funderburk came back to mitigate Karnik, Karnik isn’t the only Eagle the NC State frontcourt has to worry about. While Mitchell doesn’t have the scoring output of a Karnik, he’s right behind him with 6.1 rebounds per game, and the senior has a 6-foot-8, 220-pound frame to bang around in the paint.
NC State’s game against Boston College is scheduled for Wednesday, Dec. 30 and is the last game of 2020. Tipoff is at 8 p.m. and the game will be broadcast on the ACC Network.
