NC State basketball will tip off its season Tuesday against Mount St. Mary’s, a game that is unlikely to present a challenge to the Wolfpack. Its non-conference slate consists of four notable games: at Wisconsin Nov. 27, Vanderbilt (Miami on Dec. 1) and Penn State (Atlantic City on Dec. 15) on neutral locations and Auburn at home Dec. 19. The rest of the out of conference games should be cakewalks.
The Wolfpack started warming up for the season with an easy exhibition win over Chowan last Monday. That game offered some glimpse of what to expect in November and December. Among them:
- The continuation of the small-ball lineup. Head coach Kevin Keatts used it at UNC Wilmington and went to it last year for the Pack despite multiple post players available to run a more traditional lineup. The rotations against Chowan Monday made it abundantly clear that NC State will continue with its four guard lineups.
- Among the big men, junior Wyatt Walker and sophomore DJ Funderburk seem clearly ahead of freshman Ian Steere in the battle for minutes. Steere was the last player off the bench for the Pack and looked raw compared to Walker and Funderburk.
- Keatts will likely have a balanced lineup that could feature different stars on a nightly basis, but Utah transfer and sophomore wing Devon Daniels looked most comfortable in the exhibition game. This came after reports behind the scenes during last season that Daniels was the most impressive player in practices among those sitting out, a somewhat surprising development since most of the focus was on C.J. Bryce, the UNC Wilmington star that followed Keatts to Raleigh.
- Missouri transfer and sophomore guard Blake Harris could be a boost to the Pack’s point guard depth. Last year Keatts clearly grew less comfortable with putting Lavar Batts on the court, resulting in less playing time and eventually Batts’ decision to transfer to UNC Asheville. Harris and Batts have similar size and shooting issues, but Harris seemed more in control on offense than Batts. With Harris and sophomore Braxton Beverly, who is expected to miss up to the first month of the season with a broken left hand, Keatts will have good point guard options.
- The Pack may be able to dial up the pressure a little more frequently than it did a year ago, especially in ACC action when Keatts backed off the full court defense quite a bit. That said, NCSU’s lack of a shot blocker, which Keatts readily acknowledges, could present problems in the half court defense. Thus Keatts has the Pack working hard on drawing charges in the lane to offset that.
Read more: NC State’s CJ Bryce ready for the opportunity to play next to Markell Johnson