Head Coach Kevin Keatts took time to break down NC State’s 2020 Men’s Basketball Recruiting Class after the Alcorn State game yesterday. You can watch what he said about the #5 class in the nation here, or check out the bulleted breakdown below.

• I’m excited too about our future. It’s an exciting class. I’m ecstatic about those guys. I know we are headed in the right direction.
• We signed 5 really good basketball players that I think can certainly help us in the future.
•  All five of those guys fill a need for us.
• When I took the job, I wanted to get some homegrown guys that could be able to certainly help us win a championship someday.
  • 4 of those 5 guys are from the state of North Carolina, and that was a priority from our staff and me.
• Give our staff a lot of credit.
  • Our assistant coaches did a tremendous job recruiting those guys.
• When you look at the guys that we have in the program…
  • Thomas Allen is sitting out. He’s going to be a really good player from Nebraska.
  • Dereon Seabron, who is an academic redshirt, has a really good chance to be good.
• I’m pumped about this class. It was one that we needed to have.
• There’s not a guy that we recruited in this class that we really wanted, that we didn’t get.
  • They were all guys that we prioritized and knew we were going to have a chance to get.
• Not only are those guys good basketball players, but they’re good people and all of them are coming in with really good academic background.
• I would love for those guys to develop a relationship before they get here, because I think if they do they’ll come in as a strong unit and get better in a lot of areas.

In-State recruiting…

• It’s becoming popular for guys in state to come to NC State.
  • That’s one of the things I wanted to happen.
  • We’ve lost some of those recruiting battles.
  • It’s always been tough, because we’ve got some pretty good programs in this state.
  • A lot of times some of those guys have decided to go elsewhere instead of coming to NC State.
  • We won a couple recruiting battles here.
• I’m excited that all 4 of the in-state guys felt like this program was good enough for them to come here.
• It all started with Manny Bates.
  • He could have gone to a lot of programs, but he decided to stay in state and I’m happy for him.

Ebenezer Duowona compared to Manny Bates…

• He’s a little bit more skilled offensively at this point than Manny.
• He actually can step out and do a few more things than Manny, but he’s a tremendous shot-blocker similar to Manny.

Been recruiting these kids since he arrived…

• A majority of these guys that we signed, we started from the day we got here recruiting.
• We started building a relationship with them.
• We started selling them on the opportunity of coming to NC State and getting a great education.
• We started talking to them about a lot things, about our fan base.
• We talked to them about the opportunity to play our style of play.
• We talked about being an alumni of NC State.

Josh Hall…

• 2 or 3 years ago I think he was in team camp, and that kid has gotten a lot better.
• He’s grown, he’s gotten more talented, he’s put on a little bit of bulk. He’s gotten a lot better.
• Cam Hayes texted me when Josh committed and said ‘Man, I did a great job.’ I was like ‘what are you talking about, Cam.’

Nick Farrar…

• Nick Farrar is a kid that came out of nowhere.
• I’m disappointed in Nick tonight a little bit, because he played against Broughton and it was KJ’s first varsity game and Nick came and beat him bad.
• We’re going to have a little extra suicides for him when he gets here.
• You can never beat the coaches son on his 1st game ever, and Nick won the game.

Cam Hayes…

• Cam Hayes is a talented guard.
• He reclassified back up to his regular class.
• He can play the 1 and the 2.
• He’s a really great basketball player.

Shakeel Moore…

• He’s probably one of the best defensive guards in the country.
• The last time I watched him before this weekend, he’s a guy that stepped out and made 7 3’s.
  • That’s not who he is. Certainly you know that he’s able to do those types of things.

Head Coach Kevin Keatts spoke with the media after NC State’s 87-64 victory over Alcorn State yesterday. You can watch it here, or check out a bulleted breakdown below.

• We played good in stretches. We did some great things.
• My team is a little tired.
  • Three games this week, so we didn’t have our traditional day off.
  • We had to take two off the previous week.
  • Tomorrow, I told everybody in the locker room to stay away from basketball for a little bit.
• We got going in the 2nd half. Shot the ball well from three.
• We settled a little bit in the first half, where I thought we should have drove it and got some easy baskets.
• I’m happy with our win and I like where we are at. I think we are moving in the right direction.

Bench production…

• When you look at Devon Daniels and you look at D.J. Funderburk, they could both certainly be starters, and they probably will end up starting some games.
• All 8 guys could be starters.
• The 3 guys that are coming off the bench, they’ve been tremendous.
• Our bench is scoring just as much as the guys starting the game.
• I give Pat Andree, Devon and D.J. a lot of credit, because not once have they pouted about coming off the bench.
  • They just come in and do their job.
  • Everybody knows that they are going to play, so nobody complains.

Devon Daniels…

• Devon was really good tonight.
• He was aggressive. He made shots. He mixed his game up.
• He was very solid on the defensive end.
• He’s a good player. He’s starting to buy in and understand what I’m looking for.

Markell Johnson…

• It was good to see Markell Johnson score 16 points.
• He felt a little bit better, looked a little more confident shooting the basketball.
• I don’t worry about him, because he’s going to be ok.
• I still don’t think he played great tonight.
  • I thought he played good.
• It was good to see him play better, and it was good for him to see the ball go in the hoop.
• What’s lost, is that he’s passed the ball well.
  • He’s had a few more turnovers than I would like.
  • He’s passing the ball at a high level.
  • I can’t get him to go back. I don’t want him to be sophomore Markell where he thinks he’s got to lead the league in assists.
• On this particular team, we need him to have a balance of scoring and passing the basketball.

Reynolds Coliseum…

• This is a great venue to play in.
• We also have a really great venue to play in at the PNC.
• This is great because everybody is right on top of you and it’s a legendary place.
• I love playing here.
• We’ve got contracts where we’ve got to play a certain amount games at PNC.
• I’m not giving up on PNC, because I love PNC.
  • PNC helps us with recruits. It’s a pro arena.
  • It’s a chance to play in front of 20,000 when we sell out.
  • It’s a great place.
• We’re fortunate to be one of the few programs that has 2 great arenas to play in.
• I wish it was a little bit bigger.
  • I wish it held 10,000, but it doesn’t.
  • It’s a beautiful place the way it is.

Alcorn’s run at the end of the game…

• It’s crazy, because I don’t think that they beat us on the backboards or made shots inside during that time.
  • We just had too many breakdowns.
• We didn’t do a great job tonight of rotating out of the press finding guys.
  • Left some guys open for some wide-open shots.
  • They were 5-7 from the 3 going into the half.
    • A lot of them were because of the press.
    • We just didn’t rotate out of it.
• I thought we did a solid job of pressing, but out of the press we gave up some easy shots.
• It’s different when we’re playing Jericole Hellems or Pat Andree at that 4 or 5 position, they’re really not used to it so they don’t know where to rotate to.

The NC State Women’s Basketball Team stayed put at #14 in the Week 3 AP Poll. NC State beat Lamar 81-40 in their lone game last week.

The Wolfpack finished 10th in the AP Poll last season, which was the highest finish since the 1997-98 season (#10 as well). The highest NC State has ever finished in the AP Poll is 3rd in 1977-78.

ACC Teams in the Week 3 AP Poll

8) Louisville (+1)
12) FSU (-)
14) NC State (-)
15) Notre Dame (+1)
17) Syracuse (+3)
26) Miami (-10)

5-Star F Josh Hall has officially signed his National Letter of Intent to play basketball at NC State.

Welcome to #WPN, @jay5mula pic.twitter.com/pec5xPxEtG

— NC State Men's Bball (@PackMensBball) November 19, 2019

All 5 of the Wolfpack’s 2020 verbal commits have now signed their letters of intent in the early signing period.

NC State’s 5-man class currently ranks 5th nationally according to Rivals and 247Sports’ Composite.

With the addition of Hall, NC State has signed 4 of the Top-10 players in the state of North Carolina in 2020:

2) Josh Hall
3) Cam Hayes
7) Shakeel Moore
8) Nick Farrar

Hall is the #26 overall player in the 2020 recruiting class according to Rivals.

Barring any attrition, NC State’s 2020 class is complete.

💖 don’t worry about fitting in when you’re custom made pic.twitter.com/wlLkAOlwYj

— Josh Hall (@jay5mula) November 12, 2019

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5⭐️ Josh Hall & 4⭐️ Shakeel Moore

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