NC State is down to having three returning players from this past season’s breakout campaign.
Freshman point guard Lavar Batts Jr. asked for his release Monday per his father, Concord (N.C.) Robinson High head coach Lavar Batts Sr. The timing came a little over 13 months, a little over a year before he became the first recruit of the Kevin Keatts’ era.
The 6-foot-2, 170-pounder led Concord (N.C.) Robinson High to a NCHSAA state title, and had signed with Virginia Commonwealth. Following VCU head coach Will Wade leaving the Rams for LSU, and Keatts getting hired at NC State, he became a hot spring target for the Wolfpack, committing April 1, 2017.
Batts, who Rivals.com ranked No. 96 nationally in the class of 2017, averaged 3.7 points and 1.5 assists in 13.2 minutes per game for the 21-12 Wolfpack. He played in all but three games, but his minutes were reduced upon the return of suspended sophomore point guard Markell Johnson on Jan. 14, plus emergence of fellow freshman point guard Braxton Beverly.
NC State also landed Missouri freshman point guard Blake Harris during the second semester, ensuring increased depth at point guard moving forward.
Johnson, Beverly and redshirt junior power forward Torin Dorn, who is testing the NBA Draft waters, could be the lone returning players for NC State. Transfers have become common place for the Wolfpack program over the years, and Batts is the fourth to depart. Sophomore center Omer Yurtseven previously transferred to Georgetown, sophomore power forward Darius Hicks is going to Eastern Kentucky and junior small forward Shaun Kirk is going to play with his brother at North Carolina-Pembroke.
The departure of Batts leaves the Wolfpack with one scholarship for next year, and two for the class of 2019 (depending on how the last one is used).
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