After a long offseason wait, the new-look Wolfpack basketball team finally took the court on Friday night. Their opponents? Each other.
Primetime with the Pack gave a sneak-peek of what product to expect when the team’s regular season begins just three weeks from now. The main event was a red-white intra-squad scrimmage—the red team led by freshman phenom Dennis Smith Jr. and the white by senior Terry Henderson.
In the midst of the pregame activities, a dunk contest between four local toddlers turned out to foreshadow a night that would be jam-packed with rim-rattling slams. Though not even the most impressive dunks would assuage the memory of Pack fans that laid witness to a shirtless Mark Gottfried catch his team off guard with a set of boxing gloves and some mean right hooks.
The game got started on a perfectly executed, almost scripted, alley-oop to Henderson. The return of the senior guard will be a huge boon to the Pack this season. He was expected to play a major role on last team’s season, replacing Trevor Lacey as the go-to-off-the-dribble shooter, but an ankle ligament tear abruptly ended his season after just seven minutes into the season opener last year.
UNC-Charlotte-transfer Torin Dorn countered with the next two buckets of the game for the red team, flashing the impressive athleticism that helped him earn Conference USA Freshman of the Year honors in 2015. Fears that the team would not be able to replace the departed Anthony Barber’s ability to create scoring off the dribble should be all but entirely allayed, especially when either Henderson or Dorn is lined up alongside Smith Jr.
Speaking of Smith Jr., the Fayetteville product is clearly ready to take the reigns of the Pack’s point guard position, showing off the court-awareness, creativity and immense raw talent that drew so much attention in high school—the shining example being an off-the-backboard alley-oop that he threw to himself despite gathering from near the 3-point arc. Oh, and did I mention he jumped over Chris Corchiani Jr. in the process?
There’s no doubting his skills—the true question is if his intangibles, his poise, his resilience will be on-par to lead the Wolfpack through a daunting ACC schedule this season. His confidence without cockiness and fun-loving nature are good indicators, but road games in the Dean Dome and Cameron Indoor will test his composure.
Fellow freshman point guard Markell Johnson, also touted for his explosive style of play in high school, was not to be out-done by Smith. Playing for the white team, Johnson led a late surge to give his team the come-from-behind victory—the turning point being a between-the-legs off-the-backboard alley-oop to teammate Abdul-Malik Abu. That’s a mouthful. This backcourt is going to be a handful for opponents.
The other potential lottery pick among State’s incoming freshman, Turkey’s Omer Yurtseven, showed the polished game that had Gottfried scrambling after the seven-footer late in the recruiting process. The stud center has yet to be declared eligible by the NCAA, but will fill a much needed hole left by Lennard Freeman’s offseason surgery.
Also flashing much offseason improvement was sophomore Shaun Kirk. He came into his freshman season with impressive athleticism, but lacking in polish on the offensive end. He sported a more complete game Friday night, hitting a 3-pointer and a step-back jumper set up by some fancy dribbling.
Given the Wolfpack’s top-to-bottom athleticism and balance of talent between the frontcourt and backcourt, it’s hard to not be giddy with anticipation to see this team on the court in real competition. Getting all players cleared to play is the next step, but if that goes over smoothly, this roster will have the composition to rival most of the country’s top teams.
Terry Henderson, Beejay Anya, Leonard Freeman and Darius Hicks have some fun before the Red vs. White scrimmage during Primetime with the Pack at Reynolds Coliseum on Friday. The white team defeated the red team 59-55. Henderson gained 13 points for the red team.
