Quick hits and notes from NC State basketball’s 69-50 home win over Campbell on Saturday afternoon in the first game played this year at PNC Arena..

Truthfully, it was luck.

NC State and Campbell were tied 28-28 with 1:20 remaining in the first when senior guard Braxton Beverly was dribbling along the baseline and appeared to be looking to throw a pass to the opposite corner to redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen.

Problem was Beverly's pass hit the rim and bounced straight down. The good news for the Wolfpack was that redshirt freshman guard Dereon Seabron was right place, right time in the paint to grab the loose ball and slammed it home with two hands.

After sleepwalking for much of the first half, Seabron's basket gave NC State the lead for the first time and also for good.

Junior forward Jericole Hellems did not have the homecoming that he wanted last Thursday night against Saint Louis. He scored a season-low six points while making just 2 of 9 shots from the field and misfiring on all three of his shots from beyond the arc.

Hellems responded against Campbell by leading the way for the Wolfpack. He was 7 of 12 from the field, including 1 of 3 on three-pointers, for a game-high and season-high 19 points to go along with seven rebounds and and a team-high five assists, which was one off his personal best.

The same nine players who suited up at Saint Louis were the same nine on the floor against Campbell.

That meant for the second straight game, the Wolfpack was without fifth-year senior forward DJ Funderburk, freshman guard Cam Hayes, freshman center Ebenezer Duwuona and walk-ons Chase Graham and Max Farthing.

After the game, Keatts made it clear the players would only return when they were medically cleared, and he would not interfere with the doctor's orders.

"I'll be really honest with you, once again, this stuff is out of my control, and that's the way it should be," Keatts said. "We want to make sure that our guys are safe. They will be cleared when they're cleared. I couldn't tell you when they're going to play again.

"But I will tell you, our main focus is the safety and welfare of our kids, and we're going to always do that. And I'm never going to put them on a floor unless I feel like they are 110 percent ready to play, and that's going to come from the medical department."

NC State's next game is Tuesday evening at 9 p.m. against rival UNC in the ACC opener for both teams.

It was a relatively modest stat line for redshirt sophomore center Manny Bates. He made 4 of 5 shots from the field and both of his free throw attempts for 10 points to go with six rebounds and two blocks.

Both of those rejections came in the first half. Bates needed just one block coming into the game to become the fastest player in school history to reach 100 for his career, and he is the fastest in the ACC to get there since former Georgia Tech center Alvin Jones in 1998-99 season. As a rookie, Jones had an incredible 141 blocked shots.

The bigger improvement for Bates thus far has come on the offensive end. He ended non-conference play averaging 10.2 points per contest, doubling his average of 5.1 for his entire rookie campaign. Bates also is shooting 75.0 at the line (9 of 12) after making just 18 of 37, or 48.6 percent, a season ago.

It took NC State over three minutes to finally score, and 13 minutes into the game the Pack was trailing Campbell 22-15.

Needless to say, the offense was struggling. At that point in the game, NC State had made 6 of 15 shots from the field, including 1 of 4 three-pointers, and it had turned the basketball over eight times.

The turnovers would continue throughout the game. The Wolfpack finished with a season-high 19 of them, and actually had more in the second half (10) than the first (nine).

After shooting the ball well on three-pointers in its opening three contests, between Saint Louis and Campbell the Pack made 9 of 37 from beyond the arc, or just 24.3 percent. It had shot 44.9 percent (31 of 69) prior to that.

Here we keep track of the scoring between each official timeout to help give an idea of the game flow:

First half

20:00-15:42: Campbell 4, NC State 2

15:42-11:20: NC State 9, Campbell 7

11:20-6:59: Campbell 11, NC State 4

6:59-3:47: NC State 6, Campbell 2

3:47-Halftime: NC State 9, Campbell 4

Second half

20:00-15:41: NC State 11, Campbell 7

15:41-11:53: NC State 9, Campbell 0

11:53-7:00: Campbell 5, NC State 3

7:00-3:39: NC State 7, Campbell 4

3:39-Final: Campbell 6, NC State 4

Here is the plus/minus for each player (the difference between points scored while they were on the floor) on NCSU.

• Hellems +24 (34 minutes played)

• Beverly +21 (31)

• Redshirt junior guard Thomas Allen +19 (26)

• Fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels +12 (33)

• Seabron +10 (23)

• Bates +8 (19)

• Freshman guard Shakeel Moore +8 (18)

• Freshman forward Nick Farrar +1 (7)

• Freshman forward Jaylon Gibson -8 (9)

Using Hollinger’s measure of productivity, players are graded 1-40 with 10 being average for an NBA player.

Hellems — 15.6

Daniels — 10.3

Bates — 8.2

Moore — 6.4

Beverly — 3.9

Farrar — 3.2

Allen — 1.8

Seabron — 0.7

Gibson — -3.1

NC State is 11-1 all-time against Campbell and 63-1 against team that were in the Big South Conference. The Wolfpack also now has a 23-game winning streak against non-conference opponents at home.

This game was televised on ACC Network. Throughout the year we will keep track of the Pack's record on the different channels.

- ACC Network: 2-0

• ESPNU: 1-0

- RSN: 1-1

We will also track NC State’s records by month:

- November: 2-0

• December: 2-1

• NC State won the battle in the paint, 42-30.

• The Pack had the edge in fast break points, 8-7.

• The Billiken’s bench beat NC State’s reserves, 11-6.

• NC State and Campbell tied on the turnover margin, 19-19, and NC State had the slightest of advantages in points off turnovers, 16-14.

• NC State crushed on the boards, 44-23 in overall rebounds, including a 12-2 edge on the offensive glass. The Wolfpack had a 13-0 advantage in second chance points.

• Defensively, NC State had three blocks and nine steals. Campbell had two blocks and added five steals.

• NC State’s largest lead was 22 points and it led for 23:52. Campbell's largest advantage was seven points and it led for 11:54.

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