College basketball will make its long-awaited return this weekend, as teams from all over the country begin their quests for the NCAA Tournament. For NC State, the journey toward March Madness begins at home Friday night, as the Wolfpack takes on Georgia Southern in PNC Arena. The Pack also hosts St. Francis College on Sunday to cap off its opening weekend of play.
State is coming off of an underwhelming 16-17 (5-13 ACC) campaign, in which the team was not selected for postseason play. Additionally, the Wolfpack lost leading scorer Cat Barber to the 2016 NBA Draft. Despite last year’s struggles and the loss of Barber, expectations are high for the Pack coming into a new season.
Both of the opponents State will face this weekend are also coming off of losing seasons. Last year, Georgia Southern finished its season with a 14-17 record, while St. Francis posted a 15-17 mark. Neither team made the NCAA Tournament.
For State, the overwhelming strength of the team is in its guards. The Pack will be led by exciting freshman Dennis Smith Jr, who was a five-star recruit coming out of high school and has already collected a number of preseason accolades including ACC Preseason Freshman of the Year. Alongside Smith will be redshirt senior Terry Henderson and redshirt sophomore Torin Dorn.
Henderson and Dorn are both transfer students and will each be playing in their first full season for State. Henderson, who played seven minutes for the Wolfpack last year before sustaining a season-ending ankle injury, averaged 9.8 PPG and 2.7 rebounds per game during his two years at West Virginia. Dorn sat out last year due to NCAA transfer rules. In his lone season at UNC-Charlotte, Dorn averaged 12 PPG and was named the Conference USA Freshman of the Year.
State will rely heavily on the talent of its group of guards, but the Pack also has a strong veteran presence in the paint in junior Abdul-Malik Abu and senior BeeJay Anya. Abu led the team in rebounds last season with 8.8 per game, and was the second-leading scorer with 12.9 PPG. Anya averaged 5.3 rebounds and 2.2 blocks per game.
State will, however, be without freshman Omer Yurtseven against Georgia Southern and St. Francis, as he will be serving the beginning of a nine-game suspension for accepting money while playing in Turkey. Despite this, the Wolfpack should still be regarded as a heavy favorite over both of its opening weekend opponents.
Georgia Southern will combat the Pack with an incredibly experienced team. The Eagles have just two freshmen on their team, and return their six leading scorers from last season. They are led by sophomore guard Tookie Brown, who averaged 17.8 PPG last season en route to being named Sun Belt Freshman of the Year. In the backcourt with Brown will be Ike Smith and Mike Hughes, who are both also coming off of a season in which they averaged over 10 PPG.
The Eagles are very talented on paper, and could put together a very good season in the Sun Belt Conference. The experience of the team could give the Wolfpack some trouble, but State should be able to control the talent of the Georgia Southern guards and dominate in the paint.
St. Francis is a lot less impressive looking than Georgia Southern. The Terriers will bring a very young team to Raleigh. The team has just five upperclassmen, and returns only one of their three leading scorers from last season. The key player for the Terriers is guard Yunus Hopkinson, who averaged 12.2 PPG last season.
Besides Hopkinson, St. Francis will have forward Gunnar Olafsson and guard Glenn Sanabria to lead the way. Olafsson and Sanabria both played more than 20 minutes per game last season, but neither one put up significant numbers in any stat. The Terriers lack of experience and proven talent across the board makes this game a very positive matchup for the Wolfpack. Expect to see State dominate both on the perimeter and in the paint against them all game.
It should be smooth sailing for the Pack this weekend, as both matchups heavily favorite the team in almost every aspect of the game. State has the talent and potential to do great things this year, and these two games are the first step in the long season ahead.
Redshirt sophomore guard Torin Dorn goes up for two points. The men's basketball team played in their first exhibition match against Lynn University on Thursday in PNC Arena with a final score of 100- 66.
