NC State 72 The Citadel 59: Breaking it Down By the Numbers

The NC State Men’s Basketball team kicked off their 2023-24 season tonight, defeating The Citadel 72-59 at home. Below is the Box Score, followed by a breakdown by the numbers.

The Good

• D.J. Burns finished the game with 16 points, which led NC State. He was an incredible 8 of 11 from the field, starting the game 6 for 6.
• Point Guard Michael O’Connell was exceptional tonight, scoring 14 points, shooting 4 of 5 from beyond the arch. He also had 7 assists with 0 turnovers. I couldn’t have been more impressed with his performance in his first game for the Wolfpack (transfer from Stanford). The Wolfpack were +20 when he was on the court, which led the team.
• Big Fella Mohamed Diarra posted a double-double of 10 points and 14 boards in his first game for NC State (transfer from Missouri). Diarra also had 3 blocks. I heard Diarra could hit a trey, but I didn’t expect him to shoot six in the opener, making 2 of them.
• True Freshman Dennis Parker Jr.’s numbers in the box score don’t do him justice. He is everywhere, deflecting passes, blocking shots and grabbing rebounds. He didn’t look rattled at all playing in his first collegiate game.
• This was a very unselfish performance. The Wolfpack had 19 assists on 29 made field goals.

The Bad 

• Until the very last stretch of the game, Casey Morsell struggled immensely. His shots were forced, and he looked unnatural trying to create his own shots. He also had 3 turnovers. With that being said, he finished the game strong, and ended up with 9 points on 4 of 9 shooting.
• DJ Horne shoots the ball a lot. I noticed this watching his tape at Arizona State. Horne led NC State with 12 field goal attempts, making only 2 of them. To give him credit, he did have 6 rebounds and 4 assists (0 turnovers).
• NC State only took 7 free throw attempts. The Citadel took 24. The Wolfpack is going to have to find a way to attack the basket. They didn’t show much of that in their offense in the opener.