NC State 84 Abilene Christian 64: Box Score (with statistical analysis)

NC State improved to 2-0 tonight, defeating Abilene Christian 84-64 at home. Check out the Box Score below.

Notes

• Junior Jayden Taylor led NC State in scoring with 22 points.
  • One of my critiques of the Wolfpack in their season opener was their inability to get to the free throw line, shooting only 7 free throws. Taylor himself shot 9 tonight, and made all 9.
  • He was also 3 of 4 from beyond the arch, and led NC State with 2 steals.
  • He played with evident intensity on both sides of the ball.
• D.J. Horne didn’t shoot well in the opener, but he cleaned that up tonight, scoring 15 points on 6 of 11 shooting.
  • He was also 2 of 5 from deep.
  • Like Taylor, Horne also attacked the basket tonight. His movement within the offense tonight was fluid.
• Casey Morsell was much more active tonight, scoring 16 points. He attacked the rim, and even showed off a midrange jumper inside the arch.
  • The Wolfpack was +26 when Morsell was on the court, which led the team.
• D.J. Burns was efficient, scoring 12 points, making 6 of his 9 field goal attempts. He also had 7 boards, and a team high 4 assists. Burns vision as a passer is outstanding for a post player. Sometimes he forces turnovers trying to thread the needle, but he didn’t turn the ball over a single time tonight.
• Mohamed Diarra was 1 point away from posting a double-double in his first two games at NC State. Diarra finished with 9 points and 11 boards (team high). He was 2 of 3 from the field, and 5 of 7 from the charity stripe.
• NC State was decent from the field (46%), poor from deep (27.3%) and great from the free throw line (83.3%).
  • Defensively, they were outstanding, holding ACU to 35.1% shooting from the field and 29.4% from beyond the arch.
• NC State had 8 turnovers tonight, making it 2 consecutive games with less than 10 turnovers to start the season.
  • They turned ACU over 11 times tonight (they turned The Citadel over 14 times).
• On a negative note, I’m not a fan of ACU’s 16 offensive rebounds, in comparison to NC State’s 14.
  • On another negative note, ACU took 3 more free throws than the Wolfpack (27/24).
  • Offensive rebounding and free throw rate are significant keys to victories on most nights.