Team Banquet Readies Pack For ACC Tournament

In preparation for what it hopes to be a deep tournament run, the NC State men’s basketball program celebrated its season with a banquet on Monday night.

Just hours after being named first team All-ACC by the conference’s coaches and media,T.J. Warren claimed a number of awards. The 6-8 sophomore was named the David Thompson Team MVP in addition to winning awards for leading the team in steals and rebounds.

The event, which took place at NC State’s McKimmon Center, featured remarks from head coach Mark Gottfried and Wolfpack director of athletics Debbie Yow. The night’s keynote speaker was 2004 ACC Player of the Year Julius Hodge, who will be among the conference’s ACC Legends this week at the conference tournament in Greensboro. The always-entertaining Hodge urged the current players to keep working and put in the time to improve.

After a season highlight video, Gottfried spoke about the upcoming week.

“We’re going over there to win a championship,” the coach said. “That’s our goal.”

NC State (19-12, 9-9) will be the No. 7 seed in the 2014 ACC Men’s Basketball Championship. The Wolfpack will play the winner of Wednesday’s Miami-Virginia Tech game Thursday, March 13 at 7 p.m.

Here’s a list of the team awards handed out at Monday’s banquet:

Thurl Bailey Most Blocks Award: Jordan Vandenberg and BeeJay Anya (tied)
Chris Corchiani Most Steals Award: T.J. Warren
Ronnie Shavlik/Tommy Burleson Most Rebounds Award: T.J. Warren
Scott Wood 3-point Shooter Award: Ralston Turner
Terry Gannon Best Free Throw Shooter Award: Tyler Lewis
Kevin Thompson Field Goal Percentage Award: Jordan Vandenberg
Chris Corchiani Most Assists Award: Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber and Tyler Lewis (tied)
Everett Case Scholar Athlete Award: Chase Cannon
6th Man Award: Lennard Freeman
Nate McMillan Best Defender Award: Desmond Lee
Norm Sloan Most Improved Award: Anthony ‘Cat’ Barber
Jon Speaks/Julius Hodge Award: BeeJay Anya
Jim Valvano Coaches Award: Kyle Washington
David Thompson Team MVP Award: T.J. Warren