NC State shook up the lineup a bit after its successful trip to the Bahamas.
NC State redshirt junior wing Casey Morsell drained six three-pointers to finish with 23 points to help the Wolfpack cruise to a 85-64 victory over visiting William & Mary. NCSU improved to 7-1 overall and shot an impressive 49.2 percent from the field. Five different players reached double digits.
Morsell made six three-pointers in the second game this season.
“I have always prioritized defense, but it’s good that it is clicking on offense too,” Morsell said. “We are looking forward to conference play starting on Friday [vs. Pittsburgh].
NC State got off to a slow start, but gradually pulled away to take a 43-28 halftime lead. The Wolfpack led by as much as 38 points.
“Once the energy picked up, and guys were finding each other on the offensive end, things started clicking,” Morsell said.
For the first time this season, coach Kevin Keatts made a change in the starting lineup and a subtle move in the rotation.
Redshirt junior center D.J. Burns was inserted into the starting lineup for senior Dusan Mahorcic for the first time this season. Burns had carved out a role as a scoring spark off the bench, where he could go against backup centers at times. It also helped him avoid getting into early foul trouble or opposing teams attacking him after tip-off. Burns picked up two fouls in six minutes Tuesday.
Mahorcic got the start in the second half, which Burns had been doing, so that role had also been flipped.
“The way I look at it right now, I have six starters,” Keatts said. “I just felt like in this game, I wanted to go with D.J. over Dusan. Both of those guys are going to play half of the game anyway. It is just a matter of who starts and who I sub first.”
The Wolfpack also turned to redshirt junior power forward Greg Gantt as the first power forward off the bench, leaving sophomore Ernest Ross to log two minutes of action before halftime.
When redshirt junior power forward Jack Clark picked up his third foul with 16:34 left in the game, Gantt came in off the bench, and he finished with two points and three rebounds in nine minutes.
NC State had gone 2-1 in the Bahamas with a narrow loss to Kansas, and wins over Dayton and Butler. Playing William & Mary will keep them engaged with the ACC opener happening Friday with Pittsburgh coming to town. Pitt improved to 5-3 with a 87-58 road win over Northwestern in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge on Monday.
“Do I think we have a long way to go in certain areas? Absolutely,” Keatts said. “It’s early. It’s a little bit early for a conference game. I do think we’ve grown in the last two or three weeks. We’ve gotten better.”
The coaches and players were also well aware that the ACC/Big Ten Challenge was happening this week and they weren’t in it. The Pack finished 4-14 in the ACC last year for last place and didn’t qualify for the event, which is in its last year. The ACC will play the SEC in the future, which will mean the last place ACC team won’t qualify in that series either.
“It’s the reality of it and someone isn’t going to be in it,” Keatts said. “We just aren’t in it and it doesn’t bother me at all. I’m rooting for our conference to do well.”
Pittsburgh transfer Noah Collier led William & Mary with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and the Tribe shot just 38.6 percent from the field and had 17 turnovers. Leading scorer Ben Wright was limited to two points in seven minutes played.
William & Mary ended the game on a 17-1 run against the Wolfpack reserves.
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