How Devon Daniels has turned into NC State’s ‘rock’
Devon Daniels never really figured out his role last season for N.C. State. In the past six weeks, the junior guard has decided to do a little bit of everything.
He has been the Wolfpack’s best on-ball defender, a steady scorer, a solid rebounder and overall the most consistent player on a not-so consistent team.
In the past 11 games, the 6-5, 205-pound junior from Battle Creek, Mich. has averaged 14.9 points and 6.2 rebounds and has made 45 percent of his shots for the Wolfpack (18-12, 9-10) who host Wake Forest on Friday night.
There is a certain toughness and discipline to Daniels’ game. He can trace those traits to his dad, Pete, who went from the Marines to the Kalamazoo police department in southwest Michigan.
But his mom, Tiffany, gets a good chunk of the credit for the recent surge. Daniels texts with his parents before every game. His mom, though, recently sent him a text that sparked him. “Be the rock today” was the text.
“When he comes out strong and plays with intensity, I feel like the other players feed off of his energy,” Tiffany Daniels said in a recent phone interview.
“That’s what I was trying to tell him ‘be the rock’ you set the tone.”
Daniels has done just that. He had a career-best 25 points and nine rebounds in the Wolfpack’s 88-66 win over Duke on Feb. 19. He turned in another strong game, 14 points and nine rebounds, in N.C. State’s loss to Duke on Monday.
The transition from Utah to NC State
Daniels grew up in Michigan but spent his final high school season at Napa, Calif. He is friends with Josh Jackson, who went to Kansas and was the fourth pick in the 2017 NBA draft, and they played AAU together and decided to play at Prolific Prep together.
Daniels went to the University of Utah out of high school, in 2016-17, before transferring to N.C. State the next year.
Utah had two players from Michigan on its roster, including star forward Kyle Kuzma who is from Flint.
“That’s my guy,” Daniels said of Kuzma, who is in his third season with the Los Angeles Lakers.
Daniels played one season with Kuzma at Utah and averaged 9.9 points and 4.6 rebounds. He was looking for a reset after his freshman season in 2016-17 when N.C. State assistant coach Takayo Siddle called, he decided to play for the Wolfpack.
In the past six weeks, Daniels has turned into the player N.C. State thought it was getting.
Sitting out a season, even while practicing, is never easy. The transition from Utah, which had more of a traditional inside-out ideology on offense, was difficult last season for Daniels.
He averaged 9.3 points and 4.4 rebounds and shot significantly lower (40.9 percent) for the Wolfpack last season. He hit 57.1 percent of his field-goal attempts in his lone season with the Utes.
“I just think that last year was kind of a struggle for him,” Tiffany Daniels said. “He was having a hard time finding his place and finding his rhythm. I think he understands his role this year and has settled in and focused on what he needs to do.”
From soft to aggressive
With players coming in and out of the lineup with injuries and other issues, Daniels has been the one constant for coach Kevin Keatts this season.
With point guard Markell Johnson running hot and cold and senior guard C.J. Bryce missing four games with a concussion, Daniels has had to do more this season.
“Honestly, I have just turned my energy up and focused on giving the most I can,” Daniels said. “I want to be a consistent player and do what I can to help the team win. That’s really all there is to it.”
There was an assist from his mom and a motivational nudge from graduate manager Craig Ponder, Daniels said. After Daniels was a non-factor in a home win over Notre Dame and a road loss to Virginia Tech in early January, Ponder gave him an honest assessment.
“Craig told me I was playing soft,” Daniels said.
That wasn’t easy to hear but Daniels took it to heart. He agreed he had to be tougher and more aggressive. It’s not that he didn’t have some good moments in the first half of this season, or last season, but not enough of them.
He had 12 points and seven rebounds in the win at Wake Forest on Dec. 7 but was limited to four points and four rebounds in a road loss to Auburn 12 days later.
His defense has been consistent throughout the season.
“What I’ve learned about defense is it’s just effort,” Daniels said. “I hate when my man scores on me. That’s the one thing that gets me mad.”
Since the end of January, Daniels has been able to match bring the same intensity on offense as he has on defense. He has been more consistent in attacking the rim and driving to the basket instead of settling for jumpers.
“Once you figure out your game and what your strong parts are, you just have to keep doing what works,” Daniels said.
Wake Forest at NC State
When: Friday, 7 p.m.
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh
Watch: ACC Network
Listen: WRAL-101.5, WXRC-95.7
Wake Forest (13-16, 6-13 ACC)
G Brandon Childress 15.4 ppg, 4.7 apg
G Jahcobi Neath 5.0 ppg, 1.8 rpg
G Chaundee Brown 12.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg
F Isaiah Mucius 7.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg
F Olivier Sarr 13.5 ppg, 8.9 rpg
NC State (18-12, 9-10 ACC)
G Markell Johnson 13.0 ppg, 6.5 apg
G Devon Daniels 12.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg
G C.J. Bryce 13.4 ppg, 6.1 rpg
F D.J. Funderburk 12.6 ppg, 6.1 rpg
F Manny Bates 5.2 ppg, 4.0 rpg
This story was originally published March 5, 2020 at 4:58 PM with the headline "How Devon Daniels has turned into NC State’s ‘rock’."
