NC State basketball picked up its second straight win with a 73-58 victory over Syracuse on Wednesday night. From both its rotation to the number of chair occupied on the bench, though, the Pack looked different. First off, reserve point guard Blake Harris missed the game with the flu; backup wing Eric Lockett was absent, too. According to NC State, Lockett missed the game due to personal reasons.
However, the biggest absence — both in terms of name and literal size — was redshirt big Man Sacha Killeya-Jones. The 6-foot-10 center.
Kentucky transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones is also not on the team bench tonight for NC State. He was redshirting this season.
— The Wolfpacker (@TheWolfpacker) February 14, 2019
After the game, Kevin Keatts briefly addressed the subject but stayed deliberately mum. Killeya-Jones, a former 5-star recruit, elected to transfer to NC State last May after two seasons at Kentucky. Due to NCAA rules, Killeya-Jones, who hails from Chapel Hill, is sitting out this year; however, he was expected to be a major contributor for NC State in the 2019-20 season.
"Sacha is currently not a member of our program, and that's all I can say right now," Keatts said of Kentucky transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones. Also won't comment further on absences of Blake Harris or Eric Lockett.
— Lauren Brownlow (@lebrownlow) February 14, 2019
SKJ has already transferred once; without a degree, his Division I basketball options outside of NC State are limited — assuming he never returns to the program. If this is it for Killeya-Jones, it opens up another scholarship for Keatts and his coaching staff.
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