NC State men’s basketball will take on The Citadel at home in PNC Arena Sunday, Dec. 22 for its second-to-last nonconference matchup.
The Wolfpack (8-3, 1-1 ACC) is coming off a 79-73 loss on the road to No. 12 Auburn. The main reason for the Wolfpack’s loss was the 36 free throws it gave to Auburn coming from 28 fouls. It also put the Pack in significant foul trouble, with redshirt junior guard Devon Daniels fouling out with 10 minutes left in the game and redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce fouling out in the final two minutes.
The Citadel (6-5, 0-1 Southern) is coming off a 102-99 road win in triple overtime to Longwood. The Citadel will have to battle fatigue after playing three extra periods and traveling to the second game of its road trip.
The Citadel has an extremely high-scoring offense, averaging 87.1 points per game, with five players averaging in the double digits. Its leading scorer, forward Hayden Brown, has been out due to injury, but that has not slowed down its offense, which is scoring more than 100 points per game in the last three games without him.
The offense is currently led by guard Kaiden Rice, with 14.6 points per game, and guard Kaelon Harris, with 14.1 points per game. Both guards are coming off stellar performances against Longwood, as Harris put together a 27-point double-double and Rice scored 21 points with six 3-pointers.
Despite having an efficient and high-scoring offense, The Citadel significantly lacks height and rebounding from the frontcourt. Its tallest player in the starting lineup is 6-foot-7 forward Eddie Davis III, who averages 6.1 rebounds per game. The backcourt has two of the top three rebounders on the team, with guard Harris averaging 8.2 rebounds and Tyson Batiste averaging 4.5 rebounds.
Look for NC State to take advantage of the severe height advantage that it has over The Citadel. However, the Wolfpack also struggles to rebound in the post, with two of the top three rebounders coming from the backcourt as well. The height advantage the Pack has over The Citadel should allow the NC State big men to get more rebounds than usual.
The Wolfpack offense has been potent as well, averaging 81.6 points per game with five players averaging double digits. The offense is led by senior guard Markell Johnson and redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce. Johnson has been the main facilitator on offense with 13.4 points per game along with 6.6 assists. Both of them are coming off double-doubles against Auburn. Johnson had 17 points and dished 10 assists, while Bryce dropped 21 points and grabbed 11 boards.
Both defenses allow more points than most teams, with The Citadel allowing 78.8 per game while NC State allows 71.4 per game. However, NC State has more blocks per game, with 4.8 compared to The Citadel’s 2.4. There probably will not be much production from The Citadel’s big men on offense due to the Wolfpack’s defense presence in the paint and the frontcourt’s height advantage.
The game will tip off at 6 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 22 at PNC Arena and will be televised on the ACC Network.
