The season opener proved to be a special night for the returning NC State players, who helped propel the Wolfpack to nine straight wins en route to an ACC Tournament title and berth in the Final Four.
NC State returns senior guards Michael O’Connell, Jayden Taylor and Breon Pass, senior center Ben Middlebrooks and sophomore forward Dennis Parker from last year’s historic squad. The players and coach Kevin Keatts and his staff were able to see the banners raised Monday from the two milestones prior to playing South Carolina-Upstate at the Lenovo Center.
“It’s not very often that you get a chance to drop two banners,” Keatts said. “For us here at NC State, it's been 37 years. It was beautiful. I knew that those banners would look good, but they looked great.
“It took everything I had, and I got really emotional.”
Keatts recalled that when he was hired at NC State in 2017 he declared “Kevin Keatts is a winner.” He felt the presence of his past players along this Wolfpack journey were with him Monday night.
“Those banners represent everything about NC State,” Keatts said. “They represent everything about me. I'm just fortunate to be the guy that was behind the wheels of, you know, driving the car.”
Keatts wanted to reward his returning players, which led to Middlebrooks starting at center, and Pass also took advantage of an increased role off the bench in a dominating 97-66 victory.
“I wanted to play the guys that helped us win those banners,” Keatts said.
Middelbrooks finished with 10 points, 10 rebounds and three blocked shots in splitting time with Louisville transfer Brandon Huntley-Hatfield. The latter got a tip-in and eventually a dunk to give NC State a 31-14 lead with 7:53 left in the first half, and the Wolfpack were never truly challenged. The closest the Spartans got was within eight points, but still lost by 33.
“I thought we flew around. You know, this is what I wanted with this team,” Keatts said. “I mean, it's a great start to it. We made them play a little bit more one-on-one basketball. They had five assists and 17 turnovers. On our end, I thought we shared the ball. Those 20 assists is more than we've had.”
Pass is a rarity in Keatts’ program. Keatts used to half-joke that Jericole Hellems was going to be his last four-year player when he graduated in 2022. Pass has also been able to accomplish the feat.
Pass scored a career-high 14 points and dished out two assists in 21 minutes. He doubled his playing time and was able to avoid the NC State tradition of getting doused with water for setting a new career high in points.
“I just got my hair done, so I couldn’t do it,” Pass said.
Pass grew into being a trusted reserve guard, but has never been a big scorer at NC State — he had 40 points in 31 games played last year. However, he averaged 32.6 points per game at Reidsville (N.C.) High his senior year and accumulated 2,219 career points. He was also a standout in football at wide receiver and cornerback, earning a NC State scholarship offer in that sport.
Pass also has perspective on life. He tragically lost his father, Curtis Pass, on June 21, 2019. Coach Pass, who played at Old Dominion and West Georgia, was the prep basketball coach and cross country coach at Reidsville High. Breon’s bond with his father might have tipped the scales to playing basketball over football in college.
Having dealt with real-life adversity allowed Pass to wait his turn at NC State and not transfer to a new college. He generally loves NC State and will graduate in sports management next May.
“I stayed down and trusted the process,” Pass said. “Now, it is my time to perform and do what I do best.
“It’s just losing my dad when I was 15 years old. I know what he wanted for me. Whenever I look down and have a bad time, I just remember he is proud of me. That keeps me going all the time.”
Keatts has watched Pass have to play against Jarkel Joiner or D.J. Horne in practice the last two years, and incrementally get better. He did a deep self-reflection on what he needed to work on going into his senior year.
“Breon has been very patient and is probably our best ambassador in our program,” Keatts said. “When recruits come on campus, he does a great job with them. I’m happy and his hard work paid off.”
Pass played traveling team basketball with past NC State standout Terquavion Smith, and with newcomer Dontrez Styles on CP3. His prep class got affected by the sports world getting shut down by COVID.
Pass was one of the first people to contact Styles when he announced he was leaving Georgetown last spring.
“I’ve known him since early high school,” Styles said. “It’s great to see him go out there and compete at a high level. I see the work he puts in every day.
“It’s not common, but he stayed all four years and waited his turn. Now is his time to shine.”
Pass and senior guard Marcus Hill scored 14 points apiece, and Huntley-Hatfield added 13 points off the bench. Freshmen perimeter players Bryce Heard, Treymane Parker and Paul McNeil all made their first NC State basket and combined for 18 points.
The Wolfpack played without injured wing Mike James, a Louisville transfer, and junior power forward Ismael Diouf is serving a two-game suspension from the NCAA. Diouf’s absence meant a commitment to playing small ball on the court.
“I knew we were going to play a smaller team that really was going to roll out four guards,” Keatts said.
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