For once, return to Reynolds is about the future for NC State
So much of every trip back to Reynolds Coliseum is about the past for N.C. State.
It was the home of both of N.C. State’s national title teams and all 10 of its ACC championship teams.
Tuesday’s 87-64 win over Alcorn State had a different feel and it had nothing to do with a throwback effort from senior guard Markell Johnson (16 points, eight assists) or a game-high 23 points from junior guard Devon Daniels.
The anticlimactic win, over the No. 336 team in the KenPom ratings, felt secondary to N.C. State’s future. Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts reinforced as much when he began his press conference by talking about the five players in the 2020 recruiting class.
The signing of highly-touted wing Josh Hall (6-9, 190) on Tuesday, to go with guard Cam Hayes (6-1, 160), guard Shakeel Moore (6-1, 185), forward Nick Farrar (6-7, 230) and forward Ebenezer Dowuona (6-10, 220) gives Keatts the No. 5 class in the country, according to 247 Sports.
“I’m excited,” Keatts said. “I’m pumped about this class. It was one that we needed to have.”
After losing out on guard Jalen Lecque to the NBA G League and with guard Dereon Seabron on an academic redshirt, Keatts doesn’t have an eligible scholarship freshman on the roster from the 2019 recruiting class.
The 2020 class has taken some time build. Keatts said on Tuesday that he and his staff have been working on this homegrown class (all but Dowuona are from North Carolina) since they were hired from UNCW in 2017.
After a quick turn-around in Year 1 under Keatts, with 11 ACC wins and trip to the NCAA tournament, N.C. State wound up in the NIT in Year 2.
Keatts has patched together his rosters with transfers, while also losing his share of transfers (or in the case of Lecque and Saddiq Bey, high-caliber players before they even got here).
Yes, both Duke (No. 2) and North Carolina (No. 3) are still ahead of the Wolfpack but the No. 5 class ranking represents a significant jump from Keatts’ other classes.
Keatts needed a boost after opening the season with a loss to Georgia Tech. Tuesday’s win was the four straight since, but against less-than-stellar competition. The recruiting jolt was well-timed.
Moore, a combo guard from Greensboro, provided the first boost on Saturday, when he committed. Hall, the No. 42 player in the class, moved the needle on the national recruiting scene when he committed on Monday night. The Durham native made the paperwork official on Tuesday by signing.
Hall and Hayes, a point guard from Greensboro, are both top 50 recruits. Farrar, from Apex, and Dowuona, both add size and some raw talent.
“We signed five really good basketball players that can cerainly help us in the future,” Keatts said. “It helps us continue to develop our culture.”
With PNC Arena occupied by the English band “The 1975” on Tuesday night, the Wolfpack played its second straight game at its former on-campus home. For once some form of the past was at N.C. State’s new home and the night at its old home was only about looking ahead.
And one
Johnson had his best shooting night of the young season. He made 7 of his 14 attempts for a season-high 16 points. He went into the game shooting 22.9 percent.
Lane violation
The Braves went to a zone and bothered N.C. State for a stretch in the first half. Keatts has been reluctant to play both Braxton Beverly and Pat Andree at the same time (for defensive reasons), but when teams go zone he might not have a choice but to put his two best shooters on the floor.
ICYMI
During a second-half timeout, the Sheraton Raleigh and Jimmy V’s Osteria presented a check to the V Foundation for more than $382,800, which represented the six-year total the hotel and restaurant have raised for the cancer research foundation started by the late N.C. State coach Jim Valvano before his death in 1993.
Making sense of the numbers
63.6 Daniels has made 63.9 percent of his shots (23 of 36) and averaged 17.6 points in three regular-season games at Reynolds Coliseum.
336 To get the marquee Thanksgiving Day matchup with Memphis in the Barclays Center Classic in Brooklyn, N.C. State had to play Alcorn (No. 336 in the KenPom ratings) and St. Francis, N.Y. (301). The only 300-plus KenPom team N.C. State actually put on the schedule this season is The Citadel (314). N.C. State played six 300-plus teams outside the league last season.
This story was originally published November 19, 2019 at 8:49 PM with the headline "For once, return to Reynolds is about the future for NC State."
