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NC State heads to Louisville for rematch | Breakdown, Preview, & How to Watch

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NC State Wolfpack @ Louisville Cardinals
Time: 9:00pm | Wednesday, January 12th
Location: Louisville, KY
TV: ACCN
Ken Pom Line: Louisville -7

NC State took Louisville to the wire in their ACC opening 73-68 loss to the Cardinals and now head to Kentucky to look for revenge.

In their first meeting, NC State had 4 guys in double figures, led by Jericole Hellems with 18 and Terquavion Smith with 17. Cam Hayes added 15 and Seabron had his second-lowest point output of the season with 11.

The Cardinals had 5 guys in double figures, led by Malik Williams with 14 and Matt Cross with 13. Louisville hit 11 3s in the game, and limiting them from beyond the arc will be important for the Pack in this one.

Louisville is 4-1 in ACC play, good for second place in the conference. They’ve won 3 of their last 4, but most recently fell to FSU by 9.

Meanwhile, NC State is looking to stop the bleeding. The Pack has lost 6 of their past 7 and most recently fell to Clemson in a sloppy 70-65 loss.

Keys for the Wolfpack

If NC State wants to have any postseason hopes, this is really a must-win game. Next up for them is #8 Duke, in a game where they really don’t match up well with the Blue Devils. If they were to drop this one to Louisville, they will face a rough uphill climb going forward. Here are the keys to the game.

  • Seabron needs to be aggressive early. Kevin Keatts mentioned in the Clemson post-game that he’d like to see Seabron be more aggressive in the first half. Up until now, the sophomore forward has done most of his damage in the second halves, when he seems more willing to want to take over games. So far, this hasn’t worked out well for NC State, as far as wins go. It’s likely that Seabron is trying to stay out of foul trouble (charges) and let the game come to him in the first half. Usually, this is a smart approach, but with NC State struggling offensively, they need him to have his foot on the gas from the opening tip. He’s going to have to be a high-volume shooter, whether he likes it or not. It’s really NC State’s only efficient option this season.
  • Terquavion Smith needs to get back on track. Aside from Seabron (and at times Hellems), Smith is NC State’s best scoring option. However, he’s coming off his worst game of the season where he went 0-7 from the floor (all 3s). Smith had been hot from downtown, but he’s too good of an all-around scorer to be just hoisting up 3s. The Pack needs him to put pressure on defenses by getting in the lane and looking to score. He’s just a freshman, so he’s still learning, but you can bet the staff has gone over the film with him and will be pushing him to be in attack mode off the bounce.
  • It’s time for Ernest Ross. Ebe Dowuona has done a decent job filling in for the injured Manny Bates as a rim protector, but since ACC play started, it’s been obvious that he’s not nearly ready to take the reigns. He only had 2 rebounds and not a single block against Clemson, a team that you knew coming in was going to attack from the block. It’s certainly not time to give up on Dowuona. He didn’t have a great game defensively the first time out vs. the Cardinals (he did have 7 points, however). But there is no reason that Ernest Ross shouldn’t be getting more minutes. Ross is very raw still, but the Pack needs an interior presence, and next year, when Hellems leaves, it’s likely Ross is going to have to fill that role full time. Whether it truly helps you immediately or not, you have to start getting the kid acclimated to this league, and fast. We expect to see a lot more Ross in this one.
  • Casey Morsell, it’s your time. Morsell was finding his footing for NC State earlier this season, but an ankle injury that sidelined him for a couple of weeks really set him back. Since his return, Morsell has struggled with his shot and hasn’t had a double-figure scoring game yet. This has to change. Morsell is too good defensively to keep him on the bench, and his offensive ceiling is much higher than we’ve been seeing. Against Clemson, the junior did have 9 points, but on only 2-7 shooting (both 3s). Hopefully seeing the ball go through the hoop a couple of times will help him regain his confidence. He is a guy that can and should be giving you 12 points per game, and they’ll need him to start getting to that level in this one if they want to come away with the road win.
  • No more long offensive lapses! NC State has a trend going. They come out hot, and then they go into a long funk, allowing teams back in the game. This is tough because, without a post option on offense, they really are forced to live and die by the jumper. This is where you need Dereon Seabron. Seabron isn’t a selfish player, but he is the only guy who can constantly get to the rim. When the Pack starts going into these funks, it needs to be Seabron who gets to the line, stops the bleeding, and gets them back on track. This piggybacks on our first point, but we are looking to him to recognize these situations and force the issue a bit more, especially early on. Seabron should be getting around 20 shots per game. It seems like a lot, and he might feel like he wants to get others involved a little more, but with this roster, at this point, there is no other choice. It’s time for him to be shooting for 25 to 35ppg. I know that sounds crazy, but unless other guys step up and score it, it’s your best shot at winning.
  • Limit Louisville 3s. As we stated, the Cardinals hit 11 3s in the first matchup, and they shot nearly 40%. This is where they want to be, and NC State needs to make sure they don’t hit those numbers this time around. They really don’t have a huge advantage inside, so staying home and taking away the 3 ball is NC State’s best option. If Louisville beats you by going down low, so be it.

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whatarewedoinghere
whatarewedoinghere
1 year ago

I can’t listen to this one commentator. She’s terrible. Wrong players, wrong plays, everyone’s interrupting. What’s going on here?

whatarewedoinghere
whatarewedoinghere
1 year ago

Ok I maybe should find another board I guess lol

Papajohn
Papajohn
1 year ago

Must Win” – Absolutely right. Every game the rest of the way. We’re already 1-4, and we’ve now got 3 in a row against teams expected to be in the NCAAT. And there’s two games yet against UNC who is exactly the type team we struggle against. Bacot will be unstoppable. Wake is 13-3, with 2 7 footers and a 6’10” guy playing well for them.
Keatts has never lost more than 12 here, but at 8-8 now, and with the schedule in front of us, I don’t know how he’s going to avoid a very ugly season.

NC State Basketball

NC State’s NET Ranking After Defeating Maryland Eastern Shore

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NC State defeated Maryland Eastern Shore 93-61 last night, improving to 6-2 on the season. Ironically, they fell one spot in the NET Rankings, from 51st to 52nd.

(NCAA)

NC State’s two losses were against #1 BYU (!) and Ole Miss (#89). BYU was a Quad 1 loss, and Ole Miss was a Quad 2 loss.

The Wolfpack currently rank 7th in the ACC.

ACC Teams in NET Rankings

17) Clemson
23) Virginia
37) UNC
38) Miami
42) Duke
46) Pittsburgh
52) NC State
71) Virginia Tech
91) Boston College
105) Wake Forest
107) Florida St.
114) Syracuse
159) Georgia Tech
212) Notre Dame
276) Louisville

For a refresher on how the NET Rankings are calculated:

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Using the quadrant system, which was in its fourth season in 2020-21, the quality of wins and losses will be organized based on game location and the opponent’s NET ranking.

Quadrant 1: Home 1-30, Neutral 1-50, Away 1-75
Quadrant 2: Home 31-75, Neutral 51-100, Away 76-135
Quadrant 3: Home 76-160, Neutral 101-200, Away 135-240
Quadrant 4: Home 161-353, Neutral 201-353, Away 241-353
The number of Quadrant 1 wins and Quadrant 3/4 losses will be incredibly important when it comes time for NCAA tournament selection and seeding. (NCAA)

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NC State Basketball

Kansas Transfer MJ Rice Makes Quite the Impression in his NC State Debut

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We’ve seen a lot of new faces on the NC State Men’s Basketball team this season, but one face we haven’t seen yet is Kansas Transfer Guard/Forward M.J. Rice (6’5″/215)…until tonight.

Rice stepped away from the program for personal reasons earlier this Fall, and when he returned, he had a little catching up to do. It wasn’t until today during shoot around that Rice and Keatts both knew that tonight would be his debut.

“He’d been practicing for the last couple of weeks, and you know, I was just trying to figure out when he was ready. He and I, we talked a little bit after shoot around today and I said ‘MJ you ready to go tonight?'” said Kevin Keatts. “and he had this big huge smile on his face. He’s like ‘You sure you ready?’ He’s like ‘Ask me some plays.’ So he and I sit over there on the scores table at the Dale and we went over plays and I was like ‘You know what, you are ready to play.'”

Out of all the transfers Keatts brought in this offseason, Rice might have the highest ceiling. Rice was a 5-Star prospect in the 2022 recruiting class, and ON3 ranked him as the #24 overall prospect nationally. He committed to Kansas, where he played in 23 games for the Jayhawks as a Freshman in 2022, averaging 2.2 points in 7.6 minutes per game. Rice was a huge pickup in the Transfer Portal, ranked as the #2 player in the Portal, with three years of eligibility remaining.

Rice also isn’t new to the area either, playing high school ball at Durham Academy, before heading off to Oak Hill Academy and Prolific Prep.

In a short sample size, Rice gave us a glimpse of what the hype is all about tonight. He scored 11 points in 11 minutes of play, also grabbing 6 boards. Rice was 5-6 from the field, and hit the only three he took. In the most electrifying play of the night, Rice took it coast-to-coast, finishing with a soaring dunk.

“He gives us another dimension. We’ve been playing with six of our new dudes. Now we added the seventh and I’m happy for him. He’s going to help us. He’s going to be really good for us.” said Keatts. “I said this on the radio just now…we’ve got some older guys, but two really good young players in Dennis Parker Jr. and also MJ Rice. It was good for MJ to see the ball going in. I think he played 10 minutes had 11 points. He made a three. He had a big time dunk, so I was excited for him.”

“He gives us the ability to play a little bit more small ball. If we have to, we can play him and Dennis Parker both at the three and four. Really good defender at that position and can rebound the basketball,” said Keatts. “It’s going to take time. I’m trying to figure out how to kind of put him into the rotation, and now we’ve added another really good exciting piece to it, but it was good to have him back out there.”

Welcome to the Pack MJ! We’re glad you’ve arrived!

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NC State Basketball

NC State 93 UMES 61: BOX SCORE

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NC State improved to 6-2 on the year tonight, defeating UMES 93-61 in Reynolds Coliseum. Below is the Box Score.

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NC State Basketball

Pack Insider’s Highlight Reel of NC State’s Win Over BC

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Ready to watch NC State’s Men’s Basketball team play in the ‘old barn’ tonight against Maryland Eastern-Shore? Well, until 7pm, go ahead and get yourself hype by watching Pack Insider’s Highlight Reel of the Wolfpack’s ACC opening win over BC this past Saturday. Check it out above.

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