NC State Basketball
NC State Opens Keatts Era vs. VMI: Preview, Info & Streaming Options
NC State opens the 2017-18 basketball season vs. Virginia Military Institue tonight in Raleigh. NC State will be without star forward Malik Abu.
Gametime: 7pm
How to Watch: Streaming online @ ACC Network Extra (WatchESPN app)
Location: PNC Arena
Tickets: Available here
Get to know VMI:
This is a very young VMI team consisting of 9 freshmen, 4 sophomores, 1 junior and 3 seniors.
The Keydets, frankly, are going to struggle this year. They will likely be starting 4 sophomores and a freshman vs, The Wolfpack.
Their top returning scorer is guard Keith Smith. Smith was the only freshman to start a game for VMI last season and finished the campaign averaging 4.8 ppg.
No one in their starting five averaged over 3 rebounds per game last year, although they will trot out 6’8 Will Miller and 6’10 Tyler Cremmar.
This game will also be a homecoming for Raleigh native, Fred Iruafemi, who played at Middle Creek HS and is now in his final year at VMI (and also is 10th in school history for blocked shots.)
History vs VMI
- NC State leads the all-time series with VMI, 22-8.
- NC State has won the last eight meetings between the two teams.
- VMI last beat NC State in the 1940-41 season.
- The Pack won the last meeting between the two programs, 75-55, on Nov. 23, 2005.
Probable Starters for NC State
NC State will likely go with the same lineup you saw them start in the exhibition game. That means Johnson, Batts, Al Freeman, Torin Dorn, and Lennard Freeman. Yurtseven should be the first guy off the bench.
What to watch for
If this game ends up being competitive whatsoever, then NC State has a problem. This VMI team is small in the backcourt and inexperienced all over.
Keys for NC State will be to show sustained intensity throughout the game even if/when the score gets lopsided.
The Wolfpack will also be looking to work on their defense and their press. They are longer, faster and quicker than this VMI team at every position. This should mean deflection on deflections and ton of turnovers.
VMI may end up showing the Wolfpack a good deal of zone. How does that affect them? It’s likely that teams will try to slow down what Keatts wants to do by throwing a lot of zone at them. Can they keep their pace up with defenses doing all they can to slow them down?
These are the types of things we’ll be looking for in tonight’s game.