NC State Basketball
NC State falls to #25 Miami 86-81
NC Stqte fought as hard as they could against the 25 ranked Miami Hurricanes, but they just couldn’t get over the hump, falling 86-81.
The Pack played the scouting report correctly, pinching down and making Miami beat them from the perimeter. The Canes, who came in shooting 34.7% made them pay, shooting almost 53% (10-19) from beyond the arc.
NC State did a lot of what they wanted to do. They shot 54.4% from the floor, 39% of their 3s, they won the battle of the boards 29-24, they won on the offensive glass 9-5, and they had 22 assists on 31 FGs. If you told Keatts these were his stats before the game, he’d have taken them and assumed the result would be a W. However, Miami played just as well.
NC State really struggled to stop the Canes form scoring. They allowed them to shoot 58% from the floor and 53% from beyond the arc.Allow them is a strong word, because although they didn’t defend the pick and roll very well (again), they were mostly just the victim of a hot shooting night for the Canes.
Two areas that made a difference where FT shooting and turnovers.
NC State did shoot 75% from the line, but they missed the front one of two 1 and 1s down the stretch, which killed momentum over the final 6 minutes.As for turnovers, Markell Johnson turned it over 6 times, and although he had 14 assists, a good deal of his TOs wasn’t him trying to make plays, they were him being a little loose with the basketball.
NC State made a late push thanks to a streak by Al Freeman and some buckets from Omer Yurtseven, but it wasn’t enough as Miami kept on filling it up.
As for individual performances…
- Omer Yurtseven finished with 28 points and 6 boards. He was once again NC State’s go-to scorer.
- Markell Johnson had 0 points and 14 assists. That’s a nice line, but if Markell wants to become dominant he needs to score a little in the lane. You can tell that that scouting report is out. When he gets in the lane, he’s passing out. Miami jumped a lot of those passes, resulting in 6 turnovers for the sophomore. Johnson is a capable scorer, so just getting a few buckets in the lane would quickly change the way the defense reacts on drives, and allow him even more opportunities to take over a game.
- Al Freeman played a little better in this one, finishing with 13 points on 4-10 shooting and 3-6 from long range.
- Torin Dorn had another positive outing, finishing with 13 points and 4 boards.
- Abu, where are you? Not much to say here. NC State needs much more from their senior big man, who finished with zeros across the board, except in the foul column, where he committed 3
Where to go from here…
The Pack could have used this one, but as we explained earlier this week, they need to come out of this 3 game stretch with 2 wins. They beat Wake and now they suffered this loss to Miami. That makes the upcoming game at Pitt, a must win if they want to stay in the thick of things in the ACC and keep their tournament chances within reach.
According to reports, NC State is adding UMASS’ Brett Nelson as an Assistant Coach.
Sources: Brett Nelson is leaving UMass to join Kevin Keatts’ staff at NC State as an assistant.
Matt Figger — who worked for Frank Martin at both South Carolina and Kansas State — will replace Nelson in Amherst.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) May 15, 2024
Nelson was only at UMASS for 1 season under Frank Martin. Prior to that, Nelson was the Head Coach at Holy Cross for 4 seasons, posting a 27-84 record.
Prior to taking the Head Coaching mantle at Holy Cross, Nelson was at Marquette for 5 seasons, spending the first 3 as an Assistant Coach, and the final two as an Associate Head Coach. Prior to Marquette, Nelson also served as an Assistant Coach at Ball St., Drake, Arkansas and Marshall.
Before coaching basketball, Nelson played for the University of Florida from 1999-2003. He was All-SEC twice, and earned Third Team All-American honors. When he left Gainesville, he was the Gators’ all-time leader in three pointers made, and ranked 2nd in steals.
As a Senior in High School, Nelson was a McDonald’s All-American.
Power Forward Ernest Ross announced this morning that he is returning to NC State for his final year of eligibility.
View this post on Instagram
Last Friday, Ross committed to UTSA after entering the Transfer Portal on April 17th, but it looks like he had a change of heart over the past couple of days.
NC State has been in desperate need to add a Big out of the Portal. They have hosted ECU’s Ezra Ausar and Georgia’s Frank Anselem-Ibe, but neither of them have found a home yet. With the addition of Ross, NC State has added depth in the Frontcourt, and unless something changes, their roster is full with 13 scholarship players.
Ross played in 14 games this past season, averaging 3.4 minutes per contest. After playing in 34 games last season, averaging 11.4 minutes per contest, Ross saw his participation dip to a career low this season, but that didn’t for a second break his infectious personality. On the sideline, you could count on Ross every single game to be the heart and soul of the Wolfpack on the bench. To watch a player who played as little as he did, care as much as he did, makes me super proud that this young man represented NC State so well.
Ross was a consensus 4-star player in NC State’s 2021 recruiting class, with 247Sports ranking him as the #60 overall player nationally. ESPN ranked him as the #5 overall player in the state of Florida.
