NC State Basketball
NC State looks to stay unbeaten vs. Bryant: Preview, Info & Streaming Options
Kevin Keatt’s Wolfpack will look to stay unbeaten as they take on the Bryant Bulldogs tonight at 7:00 PM in Raleigh.
Gametime: 7pm
How to Watch: Streaming online @ WatchESPN
Location: PNC Arena
Tickets: Available here
Get to know Bryant:
Bryant comes into this game 0-1, having lost to Georgia by 25 in their season opener. They are another group that is likely going to play small and rely on their guards for production.
Their go-to scorer is sophomore Adam Grant. He’s a 6’1 athletic guard with a very pretty jumper. He poured in 24 points on 18 shots against Georgia. He will team up with seniors guards Hunter Wear and Bosco Kostur, both of whom struggle to score consistently.
Bryant doesn’t really have much returning scoring to speak of. Only Adam Grant really shouldered any scoring load last season. They do however have a pretty decent freshman forward in 6’7 Ryan Layman who put up 12 points (albeit on 13 shots).
Overall this is a team that has some experience. The problem is, that experience isn’t all that talented.
Bryant will rely on their younger guys to emerge and lead them in scoring if they are going to stay in the game against the Pack.
History vs Bryant
- Tuesday’s meeting will mark the first meeting ever between the two programs.
- NC State has an all-time record of 9-1 against teams from the Northeast Conference.
- The Pack will face another NEC foe later in the season when Robert Morris visits PNC Arena on Dec. 19.
What to watch for
If NC State can rip off another 20 point victory, it would be the first time since the 2004-2005 season that they’ve beaten their first three opponents by 2o or more.
This Bryant team has some senior ball handlers, so it will be interesting to how they deal with press, however on paper it doesn’t look like they have the size or the horses to really exploit NC State’s aggressive defense.
The Wolfpack’s focus is going to be suring up the areas that they fell short in on Saturday. They need to do their best to dictate pace and flow. The bigs need to play a lot more physical to win the battle of the boards. And the halfcourt defense needs to keep up the intensity but play more under control. Too many times guys went flying past a shooter who pump-faked, leaving the help-side forced to shift and commit. Although the effort was good on recovery, it still forced too much chaos on the defensive end when a simple strong close-out would have been sufficient.
We’ll be keeping a close eye on Yurtseven. He’s putting up numbers in limited minutes, but he’s not passing the eye test just yet. We really want to see him show more confidence and physicality on the blocks. We believe he can and we hope he will. A productive Yurt could make NC State a contender.