NC State’s defense could be the name of the game Wednesday against North Carolina at PNC Arena.
NC State has two crucial matchups in facing off against No. 7-ranked UNC, with both teams at 11-3 overall and 3-0 in the ACC.
The Wolfpack have 11 different opposing scorers reach at least 20 points this season. The majority of the 11 have been wings or stretch fours, but a few point guards and one post player are mixed in. Keeping that number at 11 will be put to the test against UNC.
NC State has played a few good scoring lead guards, but not at the level of UNC’s R.J. Davis. The task of guarding Davis will likely fall on junior Jayden Taylor, the Butler transfer. Davis is averaging 20.6 points and is shooting 39.6 percent from three-point land this season.
“He [Taylor] can really make it tough and he has great size,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “He anticipates well and he can turn you as we get up and down the court. He really fits into what we want to do defensively.
"It's hard to believe that R.J. Davis is playing his best basketball because he's played well every year, but he is."
NC State had Jarkel Joiner on the ball against top scorers, and the coaches showed Taylor how they wanted him to not just be an offensive player.
“I think Jayden has embraced that role, but it wasn’t always that way,” Keatts said. “When he first got here, everything was about scoring. We showed him a lot of clips how Jarkel Joiner was able to defend the best and pick up pressure, and defend the point guard of the other team.”
NC State coaches are well-versed on what UNC center Armando Bacot tries to get done in the paint. He’s averaging 14.9 points and 11.1 rebounds per game this season. Bacot had a combined 39 points and 32 rebounds in splitting the series last year.
The Wolfpack will be able to rotate senior D.J. Burns and junior Ben Middlebrooks and Mohamed Diarra on to Bacot, if they so choose to.
“Are we calling D.J. Burns a post defender?” Keatts joked Monday. “We have different guys that can play different ways. The more physical guy in the post is probably Ben. Mo can switch a lot of screens, but can front you. D.J. will obviously try sometimes to use his size to make them shoot over him. It’s good to have guys that can give you different looks.”
Boston College center Quinten Post has been the best post player the Wolfpack have faced this season. He had 18 points and seven rebounds, but the Wolfpack won 84-78 on Dec. 2. Maryland-Eastern Shore junior Troy Hupstead has had the most points with 22 in the Pack’s 93-61 win Dec. 6.
“You got guys like Quinten Post, who can step out and shoot, but then Armando who is really good around the basket, and then P.J. [Hall of Clemson], who can do both,” Keatts said.
NC State had three different players reach 23 points in its three losses this season.
• Ole Miss stretch four Jaemyn Brakefield’s had 25 points for the Rebels in a 72-52 win.
• Point guard Zakai Zeigler and small forward Josiah James of Tennessee combined for 43 points and 11 assists in the 79-70 victory.
• BYU got hot in the second half from three-point land and small forward Jaxson Robinson pumped in 23 points off the bench in the Cougars 95-86 victory.
Keatts believes the main non-conference games have prepared NC State well for the ACC.
“It shows us that we can play different type of games against different types of people,” Keatts said. “The three teams that we lost to, we think are really good basketball teams. It would have been better if we had beaten them. That would have helped our NET. It showed our guys that we have grown.
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