Scouting Charleston Southern
Charleston Southern coach Barclay Radebaugh is the dean of Big South Conference coaches, having coached the Buccaneers since 2005.
The lsat few years have been tough, without a winning record since 2018-19. Charleston Southern went 10-21 overall and 5-13 in the Big South last year. Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook pegged them for last place in the Big South this season. The media picked the Buccaneers for eighth in the preseason poll.
Radebaugh, who is from Lincolnton, N.C., played at East Tennessee State, with Les Robinson as his coach at the end. He then joined Robinson’s staff from 1986-88. Robinson eventually became NC State’s coach in 1990.
Charleston Southern plays at NC State today at 7 p.m. at PNC Arena on ACC Network Extra.
Overview
Charleston Southern is off to a 2-1 start, but only one of the games was against a Division I opponent. The Buccaneers fell 81-70 to North Florida on Nov. 9. The team has some returning veterans, but also a group of transfers.
Sophomore guard RJ Johnson stared off at Holy Cross, junior wing DJ Patrick began at South Florida, and sophomore forward Louis Hutchinson came from Rhode Island. Off the bench, Tulane post transfer Nobal Days and sophomore wing A’Lahn Sumler, who started off at Northern Kentucky, provide depth.
Junior center Taje’ Kelly and senior power forward Reginald Duhart are home grown players in the starting lineup.
Rankings
Charleston Southern was No. 304 in the NET rankings, and NC State was No. 43 last year.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Buccaneers ranked No. 284 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 60.
KenPom.com has Charleston Southern at No. 328, and NCSU checks in at No. 56 this season.
RealtimeRPI.com has Charleston Southern was ranked No. 324 in the country, and NC State is No. 48.
Shooting
The Buccaneers average 88.7 points per game, and shoot 54.1 percent from the field and 39.7 percent on three-pointers.
Charleston Southern has two primary three-pointers — Johnson and Patrick. Johnson is 7 of 10 on three-pointers, and Patrick is 10 of 24 for 41.7 percent.
Rebounding
Charleston Southern is averaging 39.7 rebounds per game and the margin is plus-9.7.
Kelly leads the way with 9.3 boards and he averaged 5.5 last year. Three other players are averaging at least five rebounds a contest. Patrick is second at 6.0 rebounds and reserve Kalib Clinton is averaging 5.7 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game.
Defense
Opposing teams are averaging 67.0 percent and shooting 37.8 percent from the field and 26.8 percent on three-pointers.
The Buccaneers have three different players with two blocks through three games, and Hutchinson has a team-high three steals.
Depth
The Buccaneers typically go with a 10-player rotation, with Clinton, Sumler and Days leading the way.
Clinton was a starter last year and is averaging 9.0 points and 5.7 rebounds per game. He averaged 7.1 points and 4.4 rebounds last year.
Sumler played 10.1 minutes per game last year at Northern Kentucky, but is up to 22.3 minutes with the Buccaneers. He is averaging 6.0 points and 2.3 rebounds per game.
The 6-9, 225-pound Days, who played his first four years at Tulane, is averaging 3.0 points and 3.0 rebounds in 15.0 minutes off the bench for Charleston Southern.
Star Watch
Redshirt sophomore guard RJ Johnson leads the team in scoring with 19.1 points per game and he has made 7 of 10 on three-pointers.
Johnson has helped fill the void of the Buccaneers losing guard Claudell Harris to Boston College. Harris averaged 17.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game game for Charleston Southern last year.
Johnson played at Charlotte (N.C.) Latin School, helping them finish second in the NCISAA Class 4A. He signed with Holy Cross and was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie squad. The 6-foot-1, 175-pounder averaged 8.5 points and 4.3 assists per game for the Crusaders in 2020-21.
Johnson was forced to redshirt his sophomore year, and transferred to Charleston Southern. He averaged 7.4 points and 3.1 assists for the Buccaneers last year.
Johnson had 25 points in the loss against North Florida, and he had 19 against Toccoa Falls. He had a season-high 15 points in a win over Bethune-Cookman on Nov. 21, 2022.
Likely Starters
NC State
PG — 0 DJ Horne (6-1, 175, R-Sr., 10.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 2.0 apg, 1.0 spg)
SG — 1 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Jr., 15.5 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 1.5 apg, 1.0 spg)
G — 14 Casey Morsell (6-3, 200, R-Sr., 12.5 ppg, 2.0 rpg, 2.5 apg)
PF — 23 Mohamed Diarra (6-10, 215, Jr., 9.5 ppg, 12.5 rpg, 0.5 apg, 1.5 bpg)
C — 30 D.J. Burns (6-9, 275, R-Sr., 14.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 3.0 apg, 1.0 spg)
Charleston Southern
PG — 22 RJ Johnson (6-1, 185, Soph., 19.3 ppg, 1.3 rpg, 4.0 apg)
SG — 4 DJ Patrick (6-6, 200, Jr., 17.0 ppg, 6.0 rpg, 3.3 apg)
SF — 24 Louis Hutchinson (6-7, 190, Soph., 6.0 ppg, 2.3 rpg, 0.0, 1.0 spg)
PF — 13 Reginald Duhart (6-9, 210, Sr., 3.7 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 0.7 apg)
C — 2 Taje' Kelly (6-7, 253, Jr., 16.0 ppg, 9.3 rpg, 2.3 apg)
Numbers Of Note
2 NIT berths for Barclay Radebaugh, coming in 2012-13 and 2014-15. He also went to the CIT in 2018-19.
5 Years in a row that Charleston Southern has lost its leading scorer to transfer — Claudell Harris (Boston College), Tahlik Chavez (Louisiana Tech), Phlandrous Fleming (Florida), Dontrell Shuler (Middle Tennessee State) and Christian Keeling (North Carolina). The leading scorer before Keeling's emergence, guard Armel Potter, transferred to George Washington after leading Charleston Southern in scoring in both 2016-17 and 2015-16.
74 Wins for freshman point guard Jaiden Thompson over his last three years of high school at Central Cabarrus in Concord, N.C., going 74-3. Central Cabarrus went 32-0 and won the NCHSAA 3A state title over Pittsboro (N.C.) Northwood last March.
Game Within The Game: Charleston Southern's Taje' Kelly vs. NC State's D.J. Burns
Junior post player Taje’ Kelly has been a steady influence for the Buccaneers the last two years.
Kelly averaged 10.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per game last year, and shot 58.5 percent from the field.
The 6-7, 253-pounder from Atlanta, Ga., had 19 points and 12 rebounds in the loss against Northern Florida.
Kelly had three double-doubles for points and rebounds last year. He had a season-high 18 points against Gardner-Webb on Dec. 29, 2022, and he had 17 points and 10 rebounds against both South Carolina-Upstate and Tulane.
Kelly and NC State’s D.J. Burns aren’t strangers to each other. They played each other twice in 2021-22, with Burns playing at Winthrop, who won both contests.
Burns had 14 points and two boards in the second meeting, and Kelly came off the bench for four points and three rebounds.
Kelly had 15 points and 13 rebounds in the second matchup, while Burns had 22 points and 11 rebounds.
The 6-9, 275-pound Burns is averaging 14.0 points and 5.5 rebounds in 28.0 minutes per game for NC State this season.
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