Notebook: Markell Johnson picks, chooses his spots
NC State needed junior point guard Markell Johnson to look for his shot more often in the second half of its season opener Tuesday night, and he delivered when he did.
Johnson erupted with three three-pointers over a 4:17 spurt to finish with 17 points and break the game open against Mount St. Mary’s. The Wolfpack’s eight-point lead mushroomed into a 19-point advantage after Johnson’s barrage, which helped create an eventual snowball effect.
NC State didn’t have any drama over the final 10 minutes en route to a 105-55 victory. NCSU returns to action against Maryland-Eastern Shore at 12 p.m. Saturday at PNC Arena.
Johnson admits his teammates urged him to be more aggressive looking for his shot.
“I was just getting the right shots,” said Johnson, who added five assists. “It was my shot that I felt comfortable taking.”
Johnson’s three-point shooting has improved immeasurably since he arrived in Raleigh. He struggled his freshman year, going 12 of 48 from beyond the arc for 25.0 percent, but jumped up to 40.9 percent last year. To put Johnson’s 10 shot attempts against Mount St. Mary’s in perspective, he only attempted at least 10 field-goal attempts in six contests last year.
“He is one of the best point guards in the ACC when he plays,” NCSU head coach Kevin Keatts said. “With Markell Johnson, he is not a guy hunting shots. An ideal game for Markell would be to have 10 assists and eight points. That’s OK, but at times with this team, as a veteran, you have to be able to score the basketball.”
NCSU redshirt junior center Wyatt Walker, a grad transfer from Samford, has seen Johnson enough in practice to know what he’s capable of doing. Playing with him for the first time gave him some increased perspective.
“If I remember correctly, I think there was a possession where he kind of got hit by a blind screen, and I think that woke him up,” Walker said. “He then came out there killing. That was real big time.”
NC State crushes Mount St. Mary's in second half
Mount St. Mary’s hung around for about 25 minutes, but the three-point shooting of Johnson and fifth-year senior wing Torin Dorn helped spur on a massive run to end the game.
NC State led 51-43 with 14:56 left and the Mountaineers mustered just 12 points the rest of the way. The Wolfpack finished with a dominating 54-12 run, which included the Mount St. Mary’s reserves going scoreless over the final 3:59.
Johnson’s three three-pointers opened the lead, and then Dorn added three of his own to completely crush the Mountaineers. Dorn finished with 16 of his game-high 28 points in the second half, plus he added nine rebounds. His point total was a new career high.
“I told Markell with us being the two most experienced guys coming back, we have to set the tone,” Dorn said. “He did a great job of that in the second half.”
Mount St. Mary’s shot just 9 of 30 from the field after halftime, while NC State was an impressive 24 of 37 for 64.9 percent. Keatts credited some coaching adjustments in stemming any Mountaineers momentum.
“I thought our guys came out with a little bit of jitters to start the game, and once we settled in, I thought we played great,” the coach said. “We just played hard.
“I was playing primarily a man-to-man press and when we went to our diamond press, it changed the game around a little bit.”
Perimeter defense needs some fine tuning
Mount St. Mary’s hung around as long as they did due to sophomore guard Jalen Gibbs and freshman point guard Vado Morse. The duo combined for 40 points and just three turnovers in battling the Wolfpack pressure.
“I think early on, we did a poor job communicating,” Walker said.
Gibbs attended Drake last year, but came back home to play for the Mountaineers and was granted a waiver by the NCAA to be eligible right away. His aggressive drives to the hoop led to a career-high 24-point effort, but he struggled from beyond the arc, going 1 of 5, slowing down his second-half momentum.
“I thought we had too many defensive breakdowns,” Keatts said.
The coach credited Gibbs, but added that the Wolfpack defense will have to improve for when the competition gets better.
“We take pride in stopping guys, but obviously we aren’t happy with anybody [Gibbs] scoring 24 points,” Keatts said. “If they do [score 24], they [need to] shoot a bad percentage.
“I thought he had too many open shots. I thought he rejected some screens where we should have forced into the screen. He had a good game.”
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