After an offseason that brought the loss of all five starters, the N.C. State men’s basketball team includes many new faces. One of the most notable newcomers is freshman forward Lennard Freeman.
Freeman is a native of Washington D.C. and attended Oak Hill Academy in Virginia during his high school years. During his junior year, the Warriors went undefeated and finished the season with a No. 1 overall national ranking.
Oak Hill has produced many star basketball players, including New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Kevin Durant. State’s sophomore guard Tyler Lewis also attended Oak Hill.
Freeman was the No. 3-ranked recruit coming out of Washington D.C. in the 2013 class. Many schools from the New England area, such as No. 14 Villanova University and Xavier University, gave offers to Freeman. In the end, Freeman’s decision was influenced by something other than closeness to home.
“I chose State because of the opportunity to play,” Freeman said. “With [former Pack players] C.J. [Leslie] and Richard [Howell] leaving, [the power forward position] was wide open.”
Since arriving at State, Freeman said that his favorite things have been the people and the environment around campus.
“The Triangle is a basketball area, so we got a lot of fan support,” Freeman said. “The students know who you are and treat you good.”
The road to the starting position was not a simple one for Freeman, as two of State’s other five freshman recruits, forwards Kyle Washington and BeeJay Anya, play the same position as Freeman and have vied for the starting job. However, Washington said the battle for the starting job did not prevent the State newcomers from bonding.
“We’re like brothers,” Washington said. “We go out everywhere and hang out together during the week. Everybody likes everybody on our team.”
The three freshmen had all played together before in AAU, and Freeman had been especially close to Anya. Anya said Freeman’s decision to sign with State influenced him to join the Pack as well.
“With BeeJay Anya coming in with me, I got someone to relate to,” Freeman said. “I’ve been playing with him since the 10th grade, so I felt like [joining the Pack] was like family.”
Freeman didn’t start the first three regular season games but made a big impact coming off the bench. In the season-opener against Appalachian State, Freeman made all three of his shot attempts and hauled in six rebounds in 19 minutes on the floor.
Following a strong performance against Campbell in which he scored eight points and grabbed seven rebounds, Freeman was named as the starter for the following three games. He has averaged 2.3 points and 4.6 rebounds per game since then.
Looking back, Freeman said his favorite memory of the season has been Primetime with the Pack because it was the first time he played in front of a college crowd. Looking forward, however, Freeman said he concentrates on each upcoming game.
“We’re just trying to take it one game at a time,” Freeman said. “I know a lot of people are talking about the Duke and UNC-Chapel Hill games since they are our rivals, but we’re just trying to take it one game at a time.”
The next game for Freeman and the Pack will be Wednesday at PNC Arena against Northwestern. The game is a part of the annual ACC/Big Ten Challenge and will be aired on ESPNU at 7:30pm.
