The new era of NC State men’s basketball has officially begun. Kevin Keatts’ Wolfpack spent Aug. 2-12 in Italy, and won two of three contests. The Pack took down the Varese All Stars and Stella Azzurra, but fell in double overtime to Da Ground.
The overseas trip was a needed opportunity to gauge the status of an NC State team that lost Beejay Anya, Terry Henderson, Maverick Rowan, Ted Kapita and Dennis Smith Jr. in the offseason. With newcomers like freshman Lavar Batts Jr., graduate transfer Al Freeman and sophomore transfer Devon Daniels, Keatts, the 20th head coach in program history, must establish chemistry on the hardwood before the season begins in November.
In its first exhibition game just outside of Milan, Italy, the Pack thrashed the Varese All Stars, 100-64, cruising to a comfortable victory. At the end of the first the Pack led by 6 and never looked back. The new up-tempo patented play style of Keatts notably tired out Varese and the Wolfpack found itself up 52-32 at halftime.
“I thought we played hard,” Keatts said to GoPack.com. “Though, we didn’t do everything correct, I thought our effort was great. Obviously, when you play your first game, you certainly are going to have some things you need to work on, but I thought our guys played extremely hard.”
Six players scored in double figures for NC State with Freeman leading the Pack with 17 points. The Pack was also dynamic on the defensive end, charting 57 deflections and 21 steals on the way to the win.
“I thought we were very active [on defense],” Keatts said. “I think there are some things we need to work on defensively, but I thought we moved forward today.”
NC State battled in its next competition with Da Ground, a team comprised of professional Italian players from the top league in Italy, Lega Basket Serie A, following a commanding victory over Varese. However, the Wolfpack fell in double overtime, 103-98, in front of a home crowd for Da Ground in Piazzale dello Sport, a gym within view of the famous Leaning Tower of Pisa.
The Pack was behind for most of regulation until it recorded a defensive stop to force overtime. The first overtime was tightly contested and State once again stopped Da Ground on defense to force a second overtime period.
In the second, the squad trailed 99-98 with less than 40 seconds to play but failed to score again; Da Ground sunk four free throws in the waning seconds to secure the victory.
“We played a very tough game versus a collection of talented Italian pros tonight,” Keatts said. “This game will help more this upcoming season than winning by 36 points in our first game will.”
In the Pack’s final overseas contest, NC State crushed Stella Azzurra, 90-46, on Aug. 10 in Rome.
The temperature in Rome reached 100 degrees during the game and the venue the teams were playing on did not have air conditioning, resulting in a buildup of condensation on the floor which forced the game to be called one minute into the fourth quarter after players were slipping on the hardwood. The Pack was well on its way to reaching the century mark until player safety became the primary concern.
Keatts’ Wolfpack had a well-rounded attack on offense as 13 of the 14 players scored in the win; in fact, 11 Pack players scored at least 5 points.
The Pack led 50-31 at the midway point and outscored Stella Azzurra by 23 points in the third quarter to continue the blowout before the game was called in the final frame.
The trip to Italy wasn’t all about basketball however. NC State got the chance to sightsee along the way. Team members traveled to Lake Como, Venice, Florence, Pisa, the Vatican and Rome. The Pack’s trip was postponed last year due to safety concerns in the region at the time.
