NC State had a mini-reunion of its Final Four team and it provided the spark the current team needed.
Former Wolfpack standouts D.J. Burns, D.J. Horne and Casey Morsell attended the Boston College at NCSU game Saturday at the Lenovo Center. The return helped fire up five of their former teammates from last year’s team, which shocked the nation and won nine-straight games to win the ACC Tournament title and reach the Final Four.
Horne and Burns, who are both playing overseas, took some timeout to sign autographs for the fans, but also watched what proved to be the start of the “Jayden Taylor Show.”
Taylor scored 16 of his team-high 19 points to go with four steals in a 70-62 win over Boston College. The Wolfpack snapped a nine-game losing streak and improved to 10-15 overall and 3-11 in the ACC. NC State plays at North Carolina on Wednesday.
“I just wanted to win,” Taylor said. “I'm not gonna lie, having D.J., D.J., Casey in here just gave me a lot of energy too. Just like we did, we made history with those guys.
“Seeing them in the building, It's their night. I don't want to spoil that to come back home from another country and see their old school get a win, I know that feels good. Always love, always just positive energy, just helping us get out of the situation we're in right now.”
NC State returned five players from last year’s team, who played with Morsell, Burns and Horne.
“It was great to have those three in the building,” Keatts said. “It reminds you seven, eight, nine months ago we just cut down nets as ACC champions and the Final Four. It also reminds you that at one point a lot of people were down on that team, and then obviously we ended up winning nine straight games.”
Taylor came out with incredible energy to score eight straight points and three steals to spark the Wolfpack. Taylor helped the Woflpack take an early 13-2 lead with 15:38 left — he has 11 of the points — and the vibes were the complete opposite of last Wednesday’s loss against Louisville.
“I just know that we got a lot at stake,” Taylor said. “This is my last year and I want to go back to the ACC Tournament.
“Every game is important. Now we gotta put something together and get out the bottom three. We will.”
NC State only had one other school scorer in double digits, with senior center Brandon Huntley-Hatfield chipping in 11 points in 12 minutes, but the defense helped carry the Wolfpack. NCSU forced 14 of its 16 turnovers in the first half, which led to a 44-29 hafltime lead.
“I thought our guys were completely locked in on the defensive end from the start,” Keatts said. “I thought Jayden Taylor kind of set the tone for us early and really got after those guys. It’s something to build on.”
Neither team shot well in the second half, but Boston College hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut it to 67-58 with 2:51 left in the game. NC State closed the game out from there.
Whether due to the energy of last year’s stars in the buildings, NC State turned to its vets Saturday. Freshman combo guard Trey Parker had three points in 10 minutes, freshman wing Paul McNeil had less than a minute of action and freshman small forward Bryce Heard didn’t play.
Keatts rolled with the veterans and was happy that senior point guard Michael O’Connell came through with six points, six assists and four rebounds, but most importantly, zero turnovers in 28 minutes.
O’Connell was one of the starters during last year’s run.
“You know Michael doesn’t start playing until March,” Keatts joked. “This is all exhibition games. He hasn’t played great offensively, but it was great to see him have six assists and no turnovers.
“It's hard to understand how a guy like Michael can get criticized so much when he was so — a part of something so special. Sometimes, I think we have short-term memory, 37 and 40 years.”
NC State had last won the ACC Tournament in 1987 and last went to the Final Four in 1983, cutting down the nets in Albuquerque, N.M.
Boston College fell to 10-15 overall and 2-12 in the ACC, and were led by redshirt sophomore wing Donald Hand Jr. scoring 22 points, and senior center Chad Venning had 14 points and eight boards.
Keatts knew that BC had been playing better — the Eagles lost in double overtime against Notre Dame on Wednesday and triple overtime at Syracuse on Feb. 8.
Keatts also knew his players would respond after playing with subpar energy in a 91-66 loss vs. Louisville on Wednesday.
“I challenged them a little bit,” Keatts said. “I just wanted to see what type of guys I’ve had in my locker room.
“It's the first time I seen in a long time that we got all in transition and had dunks and did all the other stuff. We looked like we were supposed to look. That's because we created so much off our defense.”
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