NC State excited about kick-starting 2018-19 season Tuesday
NC State will have a chance to ease its way into the 2018-19 season against Mount St. Mary’s at 7 p.m. Tuesday night.
With Wolfpack having just two healthy returning players from last year — junior point guard Markell Johnson and fifth-year senior “big guard” Torin Dorn — everything will be new at PNC Arena. Mount St. Mary’s also is essentially starting over with its top seven scorers gone from last year, along with having a new head coach — Dan Engelstad, who arrived from Southern Vermont College. The Mountaineers went 18-14 overall last year and 12-6 in the Northeast Conference.
NCSU second-year head coach Kevin Keatts would like to see his team take some positive steps forward following last week’s exhibition game against Chowan.
“We’ve tried to improve on some things we didn’t do well in the Chowan exhibition, and hopefully we are getting there,” Keatts said. “I know our guys are tired of practicing against each other.
“They are all excited about playing basketball tomorrow.”
Incorporating new faces is one of Keatts’ best strengths, which resulted in NC State posting a 21-12 overall record and an 11-7 mark in the ACC last year en route to reaching the NCAA Tournament.
“I told our team the other day, what we did last year was a very special year, especially with some guys who were coming off a year where they didn’t have a lot of success,” Keatts said. “We don’t take it for granted that we won 11 games in the ACC. That is hard to do in a given year.”
Keatts’ expects a fast-paced game against Mount St. Mary’s, which topped Hood 87-81 in an exhibition game Nov. 1. Sophomore guard Jalen Gibbs had 23 points in the win.
“It should be one of those fun, exciting games,” Keatts said. “I’m sure there will be a lot of nervous energy when you think about these guys because they haven’t played in a while.”
Chemistry and different lineups might be the theme for the opener. NC State should do well on the break or creating easy baskets from the press, but the half-court sets might be good indicators of where the team is early in the season.
“We want to be an up-tempo team and get out in transition, but unfortunately the other team has scouting reports also,” Keatts said. “We work really hard to try and be efficient in the half court. We expect to see early on, with Braxton [Beverly] out, a good dose of zone sometimes and some man to man.”
The third returning player from lsat year, aforementioned sophomore combo guard Braxton Beverly, fractured his hand in preseason practices and won’t be available for the season opener. Keatts does see progress being made by Beverly towards getting healthy, but Keatts expects the Wolfpack to miss his on-court leadership in November.
“He is doing better and we actually threw him into one or two drills where he could try and shoot the basketball,” Keatts said. “He is still a ways away. I don’t know if I have a timetable for you guys.
“I’m looking at two to three weeks out probably, but I’ll be listening to the doctors and trainers to tell me when he can play. I hope it’s sooner than later.”
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