The NC State men’s basketball team is preparing to open up the ACC portion of its schedule in the coming week after its conference opener against Louisville was canceled. Its opponent this time around will be a revamped North Carolina team that is looking to make a statement in the conference. In a season where out-of-conference matchups will be more scarce than ever, NC State will have to make its mark in ACC play to build a case for tournament basketball in March.
Wolfpack men’s basketball got off to a hot 3-0 start, winning each of those games in a convincing fashion. That streak came to a halt after COVID-19 forced the Pack to cancel games against UConn, Florida Atlantic and Michigan.
After a 14-day hiatus from basketball, the Wolfpack returned to the court with a limited roster to face Saint Louis in a game that was scheduled in a hurry. Much to their demise, the Pack suffered its lone loss on the season so far, shooting 37.9% from the field and an atrocious 22.2% from 3, with many of the Pack’s scorers unable to find their stroke. Fortunately, the team was able to bounce back in a 69-50 win over Campell, the team’s last game before opening up ACC play.
Unfortunately, these cancellations and the postponements have only hurt this Wolfpack team’s ability to prepare for its slate of tough ACC opponents. The obvious drawback to missing early-season games is less time on the court for the team to run through its motions and find its rhythm, but for this year’s Wolfpack team missing games means much more.
This team is not only searching for a rhythm, but an identity as well after graduating key pieces to their roster a year ago. In the games so far this season, it hasn’t been made abundantly clear who will fill such important roles for this team, or if any vacant positions can be filled by one person alone.
This team has shown flashes of what it can be in its early contests. As previously mentioned, the leading-scorer role is up for the taking and redshirt senior Devon Daniels has wasted no time stepping into the spot. With 16.2 points per game, Daniels leads all other Wolfpack scorers by over two points per game. This gap between Daniels and the rest of the squad can be attributed to his 29-point performance in the season opener against Charleston Southern. He has been unable to match that level of success since, with his next best performance being 18 points against UMass Lowell and his worst performance being an unimpressive seven points against North Florida.
Daniels was expected to be at the top of NC State’s scoring totem pole, but freshman guard Cam Hayes is playing above what was expected from him coming into the season. Ranking third on the team in points per game with 11.3, Hayes is also second on the team with 16 assists on the year and falls middle to the middle of the Pack in the steals category. As was to be expected with this Wolfpack team, much of this season has been spent finding out who’s who on this roster.
North Carolina is certainly not the most encouraging matchup for the Pack to start its ACC season, but a win against the Tar Heels would certainly be a statement victory for this team. Currently sitting at 5-2 on the season, UNC has not had the start it would’ve hoped for; however, losing to No. 11 Texas and a very talented No. 3 Iowa squad is very respectable.
NC State has unfortunately been slighted of its opportunity for such quality games and will have to put together quite the performance to upset this Tar Heel squad for the first time since the 2017-18 season, when the Pack won 95-91 in an overtime thriller.
Before the beginning of the season, many experts and news outlets picked the Wolfpack to be a mid-tier ACC program for this season, with CBS Sports predicting a 10th-place finish for the Pack. The defense for ranking this squad so low is the uncertainty regarding the revamped roster and gaps that required filling for this team to return to its 20-12 record or better. Through three games, however, that uncertainty fades with every on-court minute and playmakers are emerging everywhere for this Wolfpack roster.
NC State could make its way into a top-seven spot in the ACC given the high level of play seen so far. Based on CBS Sports’ ACC standings predictions, NC State has to make the jump over Clemson, Georgia Tech and Syracuse to make a top seven finish a reality.
NC State’s first chance to do so comes against the team that CBS Sports predicts will finish third in the ACC in the North Carolina Tar Heels. The game is scheduled for Dec. 22 at 9 p.m. in PNC Arena and will be broadcast on the ACC Network. For live updates for this game, follow @TechSports on Twitter.
