NC State Basketball
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.
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.
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Like 4 or 5 of the offensive tebounds for AcU came in the last 5 minutes of the game when walkons were on