In an up-and-down tipoff weekend of basketball for the NC State’s men’s team, the Wolfpack was able to come out with two wins and a deep, collective breath. The team may not be in ACC form yet, but if anything has been learned from the past, this facet is of little surprise or concern.
Just a season ago, the team started off the season 0-1 with an 85-68 shellacking at the hands of William & Mary, which came into the season with roughly the same prospects as the Georgia Southern team that the Pack edged out by two points, 81-79, Friday night. Though, given the high expectations placed on this year’s team, a similar finish to the season (16-17, 5-13 ACC) would be a colossal disappointment.
A result that is more in line with the public’s expectations is the 2014-15 team’s exciting 22-14 season that ended in the Sweet 16. Even that team struggled to find its form in non-conference play, dropping a home game to Wofford and barely edging out a South Florida team that would manage just a 3-15 record in AAC play.
That team and the Pack’s current squad share a defining characteristic: its average court experience is essentially the same — 1.31 years for the 2015 team and 1.33 for 2017. Another commonality is that two of these teams’ starters are transfers.
All of this background is not intended to excuse an unforeseen blunder if the Pack happens to suffer one, but instead to shift the focus to the tangible aspects of the team’s play that we can observe.
One example: despite its early struggles, this team has several good shooters. A 4-of-24 three-point shooting performance is shocking, yes, but it does nothing to indicate how the team will perform in front of a crowd full of Cameron Crazies at Duke in late January. It’s not encouraging, but longer-term statistics should be referred to for predictive accuracy to be preserved.
Terry Henderson has a long career of excellent 3-point shooting (38 percent on 242 attempts) and Maverick Rowan (34 percent) improved as a freshman. Transfer Torin Dorn also shot 34 percent at Charlotte and freshmen Dennis Smith Jr. and Markell Johnson have shown some range in high school.
Georgia Southern also outrebounded NC State Friday night, but the Wolfpack were sporting a smaller lineup than usual because freshman forward Ted Kapita and freshman center Omer Yurtseven were forced to sit. Yurtseven will miss seven more games before returning from an NCAA suspension, but Kapita returned on Sunday against St. Francis College and the difference was obvious.
With four legitimate frontcourt players, the Pack dominated the boards 44-30. Kapita’s energy on the block led to 17 points on only eight shots in his first college game, contributing to the team’s 52 points in the paint. State still struggled to shoot from the outside but by controlling the boards and pounding the paint, it was able to rout the Terriers 86-61.
Improving defense was another story from the weekend. Over the past two seasons, the Wolfpack have been among the 30 worst teams in the country at forcing turnovers. This fact made its menial six points off turnovers on Friday night concerning. That statistic grew to 21 points on Sunday and should be part of a larger trend of improving defense given the newfound depth and athleticism on the Wolfpack roster.
How the rest of the season will play out remains a mystery, but with so many new players in the mix and the impending arrival of Yurtseven, a wait-and-see approach is advised. The Wolfpack will face just one potential tournament-team in the non-conference — Illinois on Nov. 29— so its short-term success should mainly be measured by how the team comes to work together and mesh.
