CHARLOTTE, N.C., — The shot against Virginia. The five wins in five days for the ACC Championship. The improbable run to the Final Four. None of it would have happened if NC State men’s basketball graduate guard Michael O’Connell hadn’t made a last-minute change about what sport he wanted to play after high school.
In his sophomore year of high school, O’Connell committed to play lacrosse at Maryland as a top 100 recruit. He was following in the footsteps of his older brother Thomas who played lacrosse at Maryland and won a National Championship there in 2017. O’Connell was just a few months away from starting summer workouts with the Terrapins when Stanford offered him a scholarship to play basketball.
Four days later, O’Connell signed his letter of intent with the Cardinal despite being a higher-ranked lacrosse recruit than basketball. After three years at Stanford, O’Connell put his name into the transfer portal and there was some thought that maybe he’d play lacrosse somewhere and do the opposite of what his brother did, who played basketball his last year of college at St. John’s.
“That was always a possibility,” O’Connell said. “But for me, basketball is where my heart is.”
No school is more appreciative of Stanford offering O’Connell a last-minute scholarship than NC State. O’Connell didn’t just save the Wolfpack’s season with a miraculous banked-in 3-pointer against Virginia in the ACC Tournament to keep its ACC Championship dreams alive, he became a relied-upon scorer during the postseason.
During the regular season, O’Connell was the team’s facilitator, averaging just 4.5 points on 3.8 field goal attempts and shooting 29% from 3. But when DJ Horne, who was the Wolfpack’s leading scorer, missed the first game of the ACC Tournament against Louisville, O’Connell elevated his game.
Against the Cardinals, he scored a season-high 16 points on nine field goal attempts. And when Horne came back for the next game, O’Connell stayed aggressive. He dropped another 16 points on Syracuse and scored in double figures all five games of the tournament when he had only done so three times during the regular season.
Over NC State’s nine-game winning streak through the ACC Tournament and NCAA Tournament, O’Connell averaged 9.5 points on over six field goal attempts while shooting 50% from 3. The Stanford transfer made more 3’s during the postseason than he did the entire regular season.
For O’Connell, there wasn’t a light bulb moment where he decided to become a more aggressive scorer; rather it was the confidence he built up throughout the season that allowed him to flourish in March.
“I think the biggest thing for me was just staying consistent throughout the whole year,” O’Connell said. “It’s never going to happen over one game or one day of just getting shots up, but I think just continually putting my head down and continually working and just trying to get better every day led to some good things at the end of the season.”
Along with his uptick in scoring, O’Connell started to find his voice. He wasn’t inserted as a full-time starter until late January and was in his first season with the Wolfpack, making it hard for him to speak up.
Head coach Kevin Keatts recalled when O’Connell became the leader the Wolfpack was looking for. Late in the season, Keatts saw O’Connell commanding a huddle and had to do a double-take because it was his first time witnessing O’Connell speak up to the team.
“Michael started realizing that his voice matters,” Keatts said.
When O’Connell started to speak up, it motivated the players around him to do the same. Senior guard Jayden Taylor said that Mohamed Diarra, who was also a first-year transfer, began to speak up more after he saw O’Connell do so.
“Michael is a guy who sets the table,” Taylor said. “His voice started to energize guys differently … and then everybody eventually started to open up and from there, it just went on.”
And when O’Connell got his moment in the postseason, no one was happier for him than Taylor.
“He deserved it,” Taylor said. “He comes in every day, works head down, never complains, is never jealous about another teammate getting this type of recognition or anything. He’s a really good person, so I wanted it for him.”
With a roster that has eight newcomers, O’Connell is going to be looked at to lead. While it’s a new position for O’Connell to be in, he compared becoming a better leader to getting shots up. The more reps you get, the better at it you become.
Whether it’s giving a high five to a teammate after he does well in a drill or offering words of encouragement, it all adds up to gaining trust with your teammates.
“I think the biggest thing is pushing yourself to do it,” O’Connell said. “You can’t get comfortable at something if you never do it. Even in moments where I usually wouldn’t talk or wouldn’t think to say something, just trying to talk to the guys.”
While NC State is going to look upon O’Connell to score more during the regular season and emulate what he did in March, his role as the leader of the Pack will be the most important if the red-and-white wants to prove that last year was no fluke.
And O’Connell seems like the perfect guy to be the face of the Wolfpack.
“I think one of the biggest things is that people want to follow you,” O’Connell said. “They want you to be the person leading them. I think if you’re doing that, you’re accomplishing a good enough job where they believe in what you’re doing but then also respect you in a way. It’s just not following you because they’re scared of you or fear you, but I think they follow you because they really believe in what you’re doing.”
