NC State’s miracle run last spring created memories for a lifetime, and the returning players will get one more reminder tonight.
NC State returns seniors Jayden Taylor, Michael O’Connell, Ben Middlebrooks, Breon Pass and sophomore Dennis Parker, from last year’s team that went 18-14 overall and 9-11 in the ACC, but then exploded to win five straight ACC Tournament games to win the title and qualify for the NCAA Tournament. The Wolfpack then topped Texas Tech, Oakland, Marquette and Duke in the Big Dance, before falling 63-50 to Purdue on April 6.
NC State opens the season tonight against South Carolina-Upstate at the newly named Lenovo Center. The ACC Championship banner and Final Four banner will get raised at 6:45 p.m. The Wolfpack hope the aura from last year carries over to this season and future teams.
“You can kind of feel it,” Taylor said. “It’s a different energy coming off a Final Four and ACC Championship. Going into the new season, we want to click on game one instead of going into the ACC Tournament.”
Taylor said he often sees videos of what NC State achieved on social media on his phone, and he enjoys seeing the pictures that are up from last year at the Dail practice facility.
“It means a lot to me,” Taylor said. “I go back and watch games all the time.”
NC State will have a blend of quality opponents and some of the weaker teams in college basketball on the non-conference schedule this season. The first key game will vs. Purdue on Nov. 28 in San Diego, Calif., and then play either BYU or Ole Miss the next day. NCSU will also host Texas on Dev. 4 as part of the SEC/ACC Challenge, and play at Kansas on Dec. 14. The first ACC game is home against Florida State on Dec. 7.
“It’s huge,” Taylor said. “Games like Kansas, Texas, Purdue, [those] are the games where you can show ‘We can compete with the best teams in the country.’ That is what we did at the end of last year.”
Taylor arrived from Butler last year, and O’Connell previously played at Stanford. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Taylor had averaged 12.9 points and 3.8 rebounds per game for the Bulldogs, but the squad struggled to go 14-18 overall and 6-14 in the Big East.
The 6-2, 195-pound averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 assists a contest at Stanford his junior year, but the Cardinal went 14-19 overall and 7-13 in the Pac-12, and fired coach Jerod Haase.
Neither Taylor or O’Connell had much change in their game statistically, but they learned in ways they didn’t know, resulting in the run to the Final Four.
O’Connell said the key is to control what the players can control and not get affected by what others are saying around them. He also pointedly said preparation is crucial.
“There might be a little different target on our back this year, but for us, I don't think it's going to matter much,” O’Connell said. “From all the things people were saying about us because of that last year, it never really impacted too much how we competed on the floor.”
O’Connell will always be an enduring figure in NC State’s basketball history for his heave against Virginia that went in to tie the game and force overtime. NC State went on to win the ACC Tournament semifinal contest 73-65 in overtime March 15. NC State completed the five wins in five days journey by knocking off North Carolina 84-76 in the title game.
O’Connell has watched the replay of his shot countless times, and joked he always knows it is going in. The ultimate pass-first teammate became the clutch shooter when needed.
“If my role is got to be the guy who's getting all the assists and doing all the dirty work, in a sense, sign me up for it,” O’Connell said. “That's what I'll do because it's great in all having individual moments, but winning an ACC championship like that is more meaningful than any of the other moments I've had throughout this past season.”
Taylor embraced being a defensive-minded perimeter force and started 29 of 41 games. He averaged 11.2 points and 3.6 rebounds per game, and shot 36.4 percent on three-pointers. When his team needed him most — when senior guard D.J. Horne was injured in the first round of the ACC Tournament against Louisville — he stepped up the most.
Taylor had 18 points and eight rebounds in helping the Wolfpack win 94-85 on March 12, the start of a nine-game winning streak. Taylor had carried over the momentum of scoring a season-high 28 in the loss to Pittsburgh to close out the regular season.
Taylor knew negative things would occur if the Wolfpack didn’t make a run in the ACC Tournament. That is how they created “Why not us?”
“We were playing with our backs against the wall, knowing nobody was ready to go home,” Taylor said. “That is what gave us the edge to keep playing hard and fighting. It just clicked at the perfect time.”
O’Connell will forever be known for his shot against Virginia, which sent the game to overtime in the ACC Tournament. He scored in double figures in all five ACC Tournament games and shot a collective 9 of 16 on three-pointers. He didn’t score at the same rate in the NCAA Tournament and was limited to 12 minutes due to an injury against Purdue in the Final Four.
O’Connell finished with 16 three-pointer’s made during the 10 postseason games, which surpassed the 14 he made during the regular season. Of the 14, seven came in two games when he got hot against The Citadel in the season opener and made all three attempts against Louisville on Jan. 13, 2024.
O'Connell enters this season knowing what his role could be and what is expected of him.
"The coach and team know what I can provide and help out with, and what I'm capable of doing," O'Connell said. "It's great that you don't have to worry about being perfect every day. I obviously want to play the best I can and do everything right, but you're going to make mistakes. That's just how the game goes."
Taylor also showed that he is almost as superstitious as coach Kevin Keatts. Taylor and former guard Kam Woods bought headbands, and Keatts wouldn’t let them wear them in the games, but they wore them for every film session while the wins built up.
“He liked it and Coach Keatts is a player’s coach,” Taylor said.
Taylor and Keatts both credited O’Connell for using his voice in urging the team to succeed down the stretch after getting inserted into the starting lineup for good Jan. 30 He didn’t feel like an outsider any more and the team went 14-8 in games he started.
“I think the biggest thing, one of the biggest things is that people want to follow you,” O’Connell said. “They want you to be the person leading them.
“I think if you're doing that, you're accomplishing a good enough job where they believe in what you're doing, but then also respect you in a way.”
Taylor said the key is for the newcomers to learn the culture quickly. He credited seniors Dontrez Styles and Marcus Hill for showing what they can do in practice, with the Wolfpack having eight newcomers this season. Styles previously played at North Carolina and Georgetown, and Hill played at Southern Union State junior college and Bowling Green.
“Everybody has to bring something and impact the game in some way,” Taylor said. “It might be a different way every night. What can you do to help us win?
“Obviously, having guys that are open minded and want to learn and do what we did. You can’t just talk about it, you have to be willing to do it.”
Louisville transfers Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, a senior center, and redshirt junior wing Mike James will also play key roles, though James will have his season delayed a few weeks due to a knee injury. Huntley-Hatfield will be different than the departing D.J. Burns, and likely weighing 90 pounds less.
“It has been easy to get guys to buy into the culture,” Taylor said. “We have Brandon Huntley-Hatfield from Louisville, and he’s been in the conference. He’s way more athletic than our guys big. We’ll be able to get up-and-down more and he can play.”
O’Connell echoed what Taylor said about the team playing faster this season.
“I think one thing for us is we hopefully can play a little faster,” O’Connell said. “Hopefully even faster than we want to, like get up and down, fly, pressure the ball.”
Styles received praise for having the versatility of mostly playing the small ball four role, but also some at small forward.
“I like Dontrez Styles,” Taylor said. “He’s a really good player and will be good for us. He’s tall, versatile, can shoot it and quick.”
Taylor said he knows he can’t get away with being low energy in practice and not communicating well in practice. He’s come out of his comfort zone to fulfill that role with O’Connell, and returning seniors Ben Middlebrooks and Breon Pass.
“Being a senior guys are kind of are leaning on me and listening to me and trying to hear my voice,” Taylor said. “When things are going well, I have to be the guy that gets us back on track.”
NC State got a taste of adversity by being tied 69-69 against Lees-McRae with 3:40 left in the game. NCSU pulled off the 79-75 exhibition win last Wednesday.
“We are all in this together,” Taylor said. “I want our own identity. I don’t know what our identity will be, but I want us to win. It won’t be the same as last year.”
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