Game Day: Wolfpack Opens Season Vs. Jackson St.

NC State Wolfpack vs. Jackson St Tigers
7pm – PNC Arena – Raleigh, NC
ESPN3 / WatchESPN App

NC State opens the season against Jackson State tonight at 7pm at the PNC Arena. Jackson State is coming off of an 11-20 season from a year ago in which they really didn’t have any quality wins. Their player to watch is junior guard and Arkensas transfer, Julysses Nobles who averaged 15ppg last season.

For the Pack, this should be your usual early season tune-up, however there is certainly a lot to watch for. Recently in practice Gottfried has been preaching unselfishness and togetherness. I think that is a key early this season. While this team may not have any true elite scorers, they do have a lot of very interesting pieces that could fit together rather nicely if the chemistry works.

Here are 3 things we’ll be watching for today:

1. Rotation- This is something we were watching closely in the scrimmage, but in the first real game tonight I think we’ll get to see a clearer picture of what Gottfried is planning to do. Will Lennard Freeman continue to start or will Anya move into that role. And if Caleb Martin continues to flash the type of talent he did last weekend, who’ s minutes will he be stealing.

2. Defense- I think this team has the chance to be a very special defensive team. They have the depth, they have the quickness at every position and they definitely have the length. The 30 turnovers they forced in the scrimmage was an eye-popping state, but that was against a D2 team. Tonight I really would like to see the same type of intensity and focus on the defensive end. This team is going to have to embrace that identity if they want to be in the ACC picture this season.

3. Barber and Washington– These two guys are our X-factors this season. Sure, Lacey and Turner may lead the team in scoring but if State wants to win they need Cat and Kyle to grow up fast. For Barber it’s just about finding his style of play. He’s played his whole life as a scorer, but if he wants to be a next level player he’ll need to become a floor general and distributor first and a scorer only when his team needs him. This means moving the ball faster and not having so many end of the shot clock situations where he just drives into the trees and forces a shot. I think and hope we’ll see the maturation of Barber early this season. Hopefully it starts tonight.

For Washington it’s not about ‘want-to’, this kid has that by the boatload. What Washington has to work on is shot selection and game flow. He’s the motor that’s going to keep this team going and when he’s hitting he’s going to be able to put up points, but he’ll need to pick and choose when to pull up and when to attack the glass.