NC State Basketball
NC State falls to #25 Miami 86-81
NC Stqte fought as hard as they could against the 25 ranked Miami Hurricanes, but they just couldn’t get over the hump, falling 86-81.
The Pack played the scouting report correctly, pinching down and making Miami beat them from the perimeter. The Canes, who came in shooting 34.7% made them pay, shooting almost 53% (10-19) from beyond the arc.
NC State did a lot of what they wanted to do. They shot 54.4% from the floor, 39% of their 3s, they won the battle of the boards 29-24, they won on the offensive glass 9-5, and they had 22 assists on 31 FGs. If you told Keatts these were his stats before the game, he’d have taken them and assumed the result would be a W. However, Miami played just as well.
NC State really struggled to stop the Canes form scoring. They allowed them to shoot 58% from the floor and 53% from beyond the arc.Allow them is a strong word, because although they didn’t defend the pick and roll very well (again), they were mostly just the victim of a hot shooting night for the Canes.
Two areas that made a difference where FT shooting and turnovers.
NC State did shoot 75% from the line, but they missed the front one of two 1 and 1s down the stretch, which killed momentum over the final 6 minutes.As for turnovers, Markell Johnson turned it over 6 times, and although he had 14 assists, a good deal of his TOs wasn’t him trying to make plays, they were him being a little loose with the basketball.
NC State made a late push thanks to a streak by Al Freeman and some buckets from Omer Yurtseven, but it wasn’t enough as Miami kept on filling it up.
As for individual performances…
- Omer Yurtseven finished with 28 points and 6 boards. He was once again NC State’s go-to scorer.
- Markell Johnson had 0 points and 14 assists. That’s a nice line, but if Markell wants to become dominant he needs to score a little in the lane. You can tell that that scouting report is out. When he gets in the lane, he’s passing out. Miami jumped a lot of those passes, resulting in 6 turnovers for the sophomore. Johnson is a capable scorer, so just getting a few buckets in the lane would quickly change the way the defense reacts on drives, and allow him even more opportunities to take over a game.
- Al Freeman played a little better in this one, finishing with 13 points on 4-10 shooting and 3-6 from long range.
- Torin Dorn had another positive outing, finishing with 13 points and 4 boards.
- Abu, where are you? Not much to say here. NC State needs much more from their senior big man, who finished with zeros across the board, except in the foul column, where he committed 3
Where to go from here…
The Pack could have used this one, but as we explained earlier this week, they need to come out of this 3 game stretch with 2 wins. They beat Wake and now they suffered this loss to Miami. That makes the upcoming game at Pitt, a must win if they want to stay in the thick of things in the ACC and keep their tournament chances within reach.
Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!
Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.
This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.
For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.
247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.
Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.
Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.
With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.
NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.
Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.
Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.
Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.
The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross. Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.
With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!
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This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.
James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.