NC State basketball still active in the transfer market

NC State's 2020-21 basketball season ended last Thursday with a loss to Colorado State in the NIT quarterfinals, but the Pack is now in the thick of "silly season."

The NCAA's ruling that the 2020-21 season won't count toward a winter athlete's four years of eligibility limit has made the transfer portal active as ever this spring. It is also antiquated that the NCAA will allow a one-time transfer waiver for players, which will allow them to play right away rather than sit out a season.

The Wolfpack has already been on both sides of the transfer portal equation less than one week after its season ended.

Senior guard Braxton Beverly announced Tuesday that he will graduate from NC State this spring and transfer to Eastern Kentucky to finish his collegiate career. Providence sophomore forward Greg Gantt, who was featured on this list earlier this week, then announced he was transferring to the Wolfpack Wednesday morning. That was quickly followed by Pack freshman forward Nick Farrar's announcement that he would enter his name in the transfer portal.

The Wolfpack had one remaining scholarship for the 2021-22 season at the beginning of the week. That was filled by Gantt following his commitment, but Farrar's transfer announcement now opens up another scholarship vacancy.

Here are the updated names to know that NC State has reached out to already:

Locke has been a three-year starter for the Gators and has posted consistent numbers thus far in his collegiate career.

The former four-star that was ranked No. 64 overall in the 2018 class according to Rivals averaged 10.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.7 assists per game for Florida last season.

The 6-2, 175-pounder is a shooter. Locke has shot 40.3 percent on 538 three-point attempts over three seasons in Gainesville. He's also a 75.8 percent career free-throw shooter.

A long list of high majors are pursuing the transfer guard, including UNC, Kansas, Virginia, Illinois, UCLA and Clemson, among several others.

Lander will bring five-star talent to whichever program he ends up transferring to. The freshman guard with four seasons of eligibility remaining was the No. 7 point guard and No. 26 overall prospect in the 2020 class according to Rivals.

He didn't see much time on the floor during his rookie campaign for an Indiana team that failed to even make the NIT.

The 6-2, 185-pounder averaged just 10.2 minutes per game off of the bench for the Hoosiers.

He finished his freshman season averaging 2.1 points, 1.2 assists and 0.8 rebounds per game in 26 appearances with no starts. He shot just 25.7 percent from the field and 27.3 percent from the perimeter, but he also made 87.5 percent of his free-throw attempts.

Along with NC State, Florida, Pittsburgh and Nebraska have reached out to Lander according to Tipton Edits.

A devastating blow to East Carolina's rebuild efforts could end up being a blessing for a Power Five program like NC State.

Gardner was a three-year starter for the Pirates and finished second in the American Athletic Conference in scoring average last season after leading the league in 2019-20.

The 6-7, 235-pounder earned first-team All-AAC honors in 2020-21 a year after HoopsHD.com named him the conference's Player of the Year in 2019-20. The Athletic also named him the North Carolina Player of the Year in 2019-20.

Gardner has a career average of 18 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Most recently, he averaged 18.3 points and 8.3 rebounds per contest during his junior campaign. He also reeled in a season-high 15 rebounds in East Carolina's upset win over then-ranked No. 5 Houston, a Final Four team that is arguably the nation's best rebounding squad.

He's shot 50.1 percent from the field over three years in Greenville and has a career free-throw shooting percentage of .741.

The former Pirate has an elite ability to get to the free-throw line. Gardner averaged six fouls drawn per 40 minutes in 2020-21 according to KenPom.com. That average ranked No. 48 nationally and would have led the ACC. Ironically, NC State fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk, who held the role Gardner would likely fill if he picked the Pack, led the league, averaging 5.6 fouls drawn per 40 minutes.

Get the updates on Jayden Gardner inside the State of Basketball message board.

A four-year starter for Charleston Southern, Fleming was the 2020-21 Preseason Big South Player of the Year. Winthrop's Chandler Vaudrin ultimately won that postseason honor, but Fleming was still able to claim his second consecutive Big South Defensive Player of the Year award last season.

In 18 games last season, Fleming averaged 20.1 points, 7.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.8 steals per game. He also averaged 39.5 percent from the field, 32 percent from three and 80.6 percent on free-throw attempts.

He was noticeably absent due to injury when NC State opened the season with a 95-61 win against Charleston Southern in the Mako Medical Wolfpack Invitational.

However, Fleming was able to put together one of his best stat lines of the season against Big South champions Winthrop. The 6-4, 210-pounder had 33 points on 12-of-20 shooting, including a 5-of-9 mark on three-point attempts, seven rebounds, four steals and three assists in Charleston Southern's two-point loss to the conference champs on Jan. 5.

Wahab was a four-star prospect that was the 19th-ranked center in the 2019 class by Rivals.

After appearing in all 32 of Georgetown's games and starting seven as a freshman in 2019-20, Wahab became an every-game starter for the Hoyas in 2020-21.

The 6-11, 237-pounder averaged 12.7 points, 8.2 rebounds and 1.6 blocks per game during his sophomore campaign while shooting 59.1 percent from the field.

His play in March helped Georgetown in its magical run to the Big East Tournament title, which granted the Hoyas an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.

Wahab averaged 14.3 points and 8.25 rebounds per contest in Georgetown's four-game Big East Tournament run, including a double-double in the championship game win over Creighton.

He followed it up with another double-double in the NCAA Tournament, posting a season-high 20 points and 12 rebounds in the Hoyas' first-round loss to Colorado.

A coaching change at Penn State has a pair of Nittany Lions on the transfer market with whom NC State has been connected.

Harrar averaged 8.8 points and 8.8 rebounds per game this past season and led the league in offensive boards (3.8). He shot 54.9 percent from the field and recorded five double-doubles in league play, three of which came against teams that were in the NCAA Tournament.

That has led numerous colleges to reach out, including (among others) NC State, Maryland, Miami, Michigan State, Ohio State, Pittsburgh, Rutgers, Tennessee and Wake Forest.

Harrar checks in at 6-foot-9, 240 pounds and is from Wallingford, Pa.

The 6-foot-3, 180-pounder from Birmingham, Ala., brings high-level scoring to the transfer portal.

As a sophomore at Penn State, he averaged 13.3 points per game while shooting 40.3 percent on threes (56 of 139). This past season, Jones contributed 15.3 points a contest and connected on 60 of 152 from beyond the arc (39.5 percent).

Jones scored in double figures in all but two of Penn State's 25 games, including 14 points in a win at Virginia Tech from the ACC, and in all but one of the Nittany Lions' 20 Big Ten contests.

Understandably, there has been a long list of schools to reach out to Jones, besides NC State. They include Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgia, Houston, LSU, Maryland, Ole Miss, South Carolina, Stanford, St. John's and Texas A&M, per Jake Weingarten.

Powell only played in 10 contests for Auburn this season due to injuries before the freshman decided to transfer.

The 6-6, 205-pounder averaged 11.7 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.7 assists per game for the Tigers. He was also a strong shooter. Powell shot 44.2 percent from three and 76.5 percent from the foul line in his freshman campaign in the SEC.

Powell is a sought-after transfer. Along with NC State, Gonzaga, Kentucky, Baylor, Virginia, UConn, Georgetown and Louisville, among several others, have reached out with interest according to Jake Weingarten of StockRisers.com. Kentucky, though, could reputedly be a frontrunner for the native of Prospect, Ky.

Powell told Weingarten he has talked with Tennessee and is expected to have a meeting with Syracuse, where his family is originally from.

Per Jake Weingarten, NC State recently held a virtual meeting with Warren, as has Texas A&M.

He's also been in contact with Arkansas according to Weingarten.

The 6-foot-6, 210-pound native of Buffalo, N.Y., is in the portal after averaging 21.2 points, 6.3 rebounds and 3.0 assists per game this season for the Pirates. The former junior college transfer averaged 10.2 points and 6.2 rebounds in his debut campaign (2019-20) for Hampton.

After making 37.0 percent of his threes a year ago (30 of 81), his accuracy dipped some to 30.2 percent this past season (48 of 159), but he was a good shooter at the line, connecting on 75.5 percent of his attempts (108 of 143).

He scored in double figures in all but one game this year, had at least 20 points in 18 of 25 games and scored over 30 three times.

Justin Byerly tweeted out that NC State was among the long list of programs to have reached out to Carter since he entered the transfer portal. Others from the Power Five ranks on the list include Boston College, Georgia and South Carolina, and UAB and Weber State have reportedly offered.

The 6-foot-2, 190-pounder from Columbia, S.C., made a nice jump from his freshman to sophomore seasons. After averaging 6.3 points in 18.1 minutes of action in 2019-20, Carter contributed 12.7 points per game in 24.1 minutes this past year.

He also showed off a strong jump shot. Carter made 46 of 104 threes, or 44.2 percent, and is an 84.0 percent career free-throw shooter.

——

• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook