NC State Basketball
Markell Johnson Top-10 in Nation for Assist %
Markell Johnson re-emerged against South Carolina State after 3 sub-par performances with a season-high 12 assists.
During that 3 game dip, Johnson tallied 7 assists and 7 turnovers and only logged an average of 21 minutes per game. Put that against the other 6 games this season where Johnson put up 56 assists and 16 turnovers in over 28 minutes per contest, and you can see that something just wasn’t right.
There is no concrete explanation of what happened, but that dip did coincide with both the emergence of PG Braxton Beverly (after being granted eligibility) and some tougher competition.
The point is, Markell Johnson hasn’t been firing on all cylinders for the entirety of the season, yet he still sits at #9 overall in the nation in ‘Assist %.’ Think about that. That’s how good he’s been at putting his team in a position to score.
What exactly is ‘Assist % and why is it important? Here is what SportingCharts.com has to say about it:
Although the formula itself looks a bit more complicated, the basic idea is to look at all the shots made from the field while a certain player was in the game, and find the percentage of those shots the player assisted on. This value indicates how much “control” a player has over the offense in terms of how many scores are a direct result of his passing ability.
This shows you just how important it is to have a confident Markell Johnson on the floor. When he’s on, he’s controlling the basketball game with his quickness and his vision.
Surely, Kevin Keatts is well aware of this and the current handling of Markell Johnson (seeing fewer minutes per game) is more about building him into a true leader and holding him to the highest standard than it is about punishing him for a bad couple of games.
Markell Johnson is going to be a true star at NC State. You’re seeing the numbers and you’re watching it with your own eyes. The sooner he gets there, the sooner the Wolfpack becomes a legit ACC contender. We believe that correlation is direct.
Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!
Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.
This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.
For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.
247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.
Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.
Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.
With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.
NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.
Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.
Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.
Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.
The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross. Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.
With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!
View this post on Instagram
This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.
James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.