St. Francis Brooklyn is coming to play NC State for the second time in the last four years, only this time at Reynolds Coliseum.

NC State overcame a slow start to cruise to a 86-61 victory over St. Francis on Nov. 13, 2016. Torin Dorn had 21 points and seven rebounds, and Ted Kapita added 17 points and eight boards in the win.

NC State current senior guard Markell Johnson, who had six points in 21 minutes, is the lone remaining player from that matchup. The 2-1 Wolfpack host the 1-2 Terriers at 12 p.m. Saturday as part of the Barclays Center Classic.

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St. Francis Brooklyn lost at Fordham and Longwood, but topped Lafayette 73-72 on Nov. 9 at home. The squad went 17-16 overall and 9-9 in the Northeast Conference last year.

NC State is the lone Power Five Conference opponent for St. Francis Brooklyn this season, but the Terriers did lose 74-69 at Boston College last year, and played St. John’s on the road.

Rankings

KenPom.com has St. Francis Brooklyn at No. 297 in the country this season, and ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Terriers at No. 272 in the country.

The Terriers are ranked No. 105 in the old RPI formula used by the NCAA — according to RealTimeRPI.com. In the newly established NET rankings done by the NCAA, St. Francis Brooklyn finished No. 257 in the country last year.

Shooting

St. Francis Brooklyn is shooting a respectable 47.3 percent from the field and 34.5 percent on three-pointers through three games. UMass graduate transfer Unique McLean, who is a junior, has returned home and has made 6 of 13 on three-pointers. Sophomore wing Stevan Krtinic of Serbia has gone 4 of 10 on three-pointers, and senior forward Deniz Celen of Turkey is a threat from beyond the arc.

Rebounding

The aforementioned McLean might be only 6-2 and 175 pounds, but he leads the team with 8.3 rebounds per game. He grabbed 10 boards in the win over Lafayette, and he grabbed 3.3 rebounds in 17.4 minutes a game last year for Massachusetts. Celen checks in at 4.7 boards a contest, and guard Rosel Hurley is at 4.3 rebounds per game for the Terriers, who average 33.3 as a team. The 6-8, 235-pound Celen grabbed 5.4 rebounds in 21.5 minutes per game last year.

Defense

Junior Yaradyah Evans has proved in the past to be an effective defender at 6-6 and 200 pounds. He averaged 4.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 19.6 minutes per game last year, but his statistics have dipped to 2.0 points and 3.0 rebounds this season. St. Francis Brooklyn has 13 blocks and 17 steals in three games. Longwood went 9 of 22 on three-pointers and had a steady dose of free throws, going 21 of 27, to reach 86 points.

Depth

The Terriers played five players off the bench for at least seven minutes in their last game against Longwood. Krtinic made all three of his three-pointers for 12 points in 25 minutes, and freshman guard Rob Higgins added 13 points in 21 minutes. The 6-1, 175-pound Higgins is fourth on the team with 9.3 points a contest.

Junior guard Chauncey Hawkins of Spring Valley, N.Y., isn’t the biggest guard at 5-8 and 165 pounds, but he has always been productive. He attended the same high school as NC State junior football players Louis Acceus and Joshua Fedd-Jackson.

Hawkins came off the bench last year to average 11.1 points in 24.8 minutes per game, but his percentages were low at 34.3 percent from the field and 29.6 percent on three-pointers. Hawkins had 27 points against Presbyterian on Nov. 28, 2018, and reached 20-plus points in four contests (winning all four games). He went for 17 points against Boston College.

Hawkins has improved to 16.3 points per game this season and shooting a more than solid 47.1 percent from the floor in three games. He exploded for 24 points in the Lafayette win and proved effective at going to the line, making all 10 of his free throws Nov. 9. He led the Terriers last year in going 104 of 134 on free throws for 77.6 percent.

NC State

PG — 11 Markell Johnson (6-1, 175, Sr., 6.5 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 7.0 apg, 1.0 spg)

SG — 13 C.J. Bryce (6-5, 210, 5th-Sr., 19.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.7 spg)

G — 10 Braxton Beverly (6-0, 180, Jr., 13.7 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 3.0 apg)

PF — 4 Jericole Hellems (6-7, 205, Soph., 9.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.0 apg)

C — 15 Manny Bates (6-11, 230, R-Fr., 6.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 4.7 bpg)

St. Francis Brooklyn

PG — 4 Chauncey Hawkins (5-8, 165, Jr., 16.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 2.7 apg, 1.3 spg)

SG — 2 Rosel Hurley (6-5, 185, Sr., 7.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)

SF — 14 Unique McLean (6-2, 175, Sr., 11.7 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.3 apg, 1.0 spg)

PF — 5 Yaradyah Evans (6-6, 200, Jr., 2.0 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 0.3 apg)

C — 33 Deniz Celen (6-8, 235, Sr., 11.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.0 apg, 1.0 spg)

Minus-4: The Terriers are minus-4.0 in turnover margin this season. St. Francis Brooklyn is averaging 15.7 turnovers per game and are forcing just 11.7. The margin last year was plus-1.3.

32.2: Percentage for opponents last year from three-point land, which led the Northeast Conference. The first three St. Francis Brooklyn opponents have shot a combined 35.8 percent on three-pointers this season.

71: Free throws attempted by St. Francis Brooklyn’s opponents this season. Team have shot 24 more free throws than the Terriers.

McLean is used to playing against strong competition. McLean started 28 games and played in 56 at UMass.

The Brooklyn native always had a knack for having some of his best games against Fordham. Naturally, he had 13 points and eight rebounds in St. Francis Brooklyn’s 68-59 road loss to Fordham on Nov. 5.

McLean had 10 points, six rebounds and six assists last year vs. Fordham on Feb. 6, 2019. He also had a career-high 14 points, 12 rebounds and five assists at Fordham on Jan. 27, 2018, but struggled from the field going 7 of 24. It proved to be the lone game at UMass where he shot more than 12 times in a game.

McLean grabbed five or more rebounds in his last 10 games at UMass, and has carried that toughness over at St. Francis Brooklyn. He grabbed seven rebounds against Longwood, eight at Fordham and 10 against Lafayette.

Rivals.com rated McLean a three-star prospect in the class of 2016, and he collected 15 offers, including from Rhode Island, Dayton, Fordham and Duquesne from the Atlantic 10. He played with the star-studded PSA Cardinals in the Nike Elite Youth Basketball League, which had current NBA players Ty Jerome (Phoenix Suns) and Omari Spellman (Golden State Warriors) and Harvard star Bryce Aiken.

NC State fifth-year senior wing C.J. Bryce is off to a terrific start, leading the Wolfpack with 19.7 points per game and he is shooting a blistering 61 percent from the field.

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