NC State Basketball
NC State lands combo guard DJ Horne from the portal
With Jarkell Joiner graduating and Terquavion Smith heading to the NBA, NC State needed to replace their guards.
Last week, they landed Butler’s Jayden Taylor to slot in at SG, and today they landed DJ Horne, a 6’1 combo guard, who will likely slot in at the point.
Horne is from Cary, NC so this was really a ‘come home and play in front of friends and family’ sell from NC State. He’s coming from Arizona State where he averaged 12.5 points, 3.4 rebounds and 2.4 assists last season. Horn shot 35.5% from long range as well.
Watching some DJ Horne you will surely get some Jarkell Joiner vibes. He was tied for the second-leading scorer on the Sun Devils roster last year and is a true combo guard. This was just like Joiner, who was listed as a PG, but really was more of a scoring guard at Ole Miss. In fact, Joiner’s highest assist average in his college career was 2.3 before last season. Horne’s highest is 2.7 during his sophomore year.
I believe at this point, Horne is your starting PG. Some analysts think the Pack is still in the market for a true PG, and maybe they are, but Horne wouldn’t be much different, in terms of style, than Joiner was last year at the point. Horne’s handle is more than fine for what Keatts would be asking of him, and he is pretty slippery on the drive. I think
Horne and Taylor give the Pack a very good scoring backcourt, with good size, and while it might seem like there is no way to replicate last years backcourt, they really only shot 3% better combined from the field than the two new additions and 1% better combined from 3 point range.
Horne is a much needed addition for the Pack, but to truly improve from last year, they’re going to need someone who can distribute the basketball. They are losing 4.1 assists per game from Smith and 3.6 per game from Joiner. Horne dished out 2.3 last year and Taylor just 1.3. State fans do not want to see another team that just isolates and shoots. They want to see team basketball, and right now unless Horne wants to come in and show off a different side of his game, the Pack is a true PG away from being able to play that way.
Saw an article saying we’re in the mix for Jaden Bradley. (although we do have our quota of Jaydens) He’s a 5 star, pass-first PG from Concord that played one season at Bama. Sounds too good to be true. And we might have backed off after Horne signed.
Not sure how we could fit him into the scholarship mix.
I’m hoping LJ and Breon stick around and can deliver those missing assists. We need guards that can draw fouls as well.
If Miranda can score inside, and maybe another PF, maybe we can generate more assists through them.
Yes! I thought LJ played with a lot of poise for a freshman. I hope he stays too. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he wins a starting role. On the other hand, I am glad Horne is a great addition. Having three people who can bring the ball up the court and start the offense is good insurance against fouls and, God forbid injuries. So we lost two guards (I really hope Morsell comes back) and now we have two transfers and a freshman coming in. Even with Miranda stepping up, we need another bruising big (or two)… Read more »
Last year the only transfer I was truly excited about was the Big South Player of the year, Burns. Joiner was a CG brought in to play point – did not have good assist numbers, Clark was too skinny to fight for the tough boards and his 3PT % was in the high 20s, and Mahorcic was a total unknown having only played 13 games at Utah. And none of those three were highly sought after HS recruits. And then, when the season started, those three started and Burns didn’t. And it worked well. You just never know. But I… Read more »