William & Mary struggled last year in going 10-23 overall and 4-14 in the CAA, and underwent a coaching change.
Enter former Cornell coach Brian Earl, who was a standout player at Princeton. Earl went 96-103 in seven years at Cornell, including going 22-8 overall and 11-3 in the Ivy League en route to making the NIT Tournament.
William & Mary is off to a 3-3 record, with wins over Dickinson (Pa.), Norfolk State and Georgia Southern. William & Mary (3-3) plays at NC State (4-0) at 7 p.m. Friday on ACC Network Extra (ESPN-plus).
Overview
William & Mary return Chase Lowe and Gabe Dorsey from last year’s starting lineup, plus senior power forward Noah Collier, who was injured last year.
Two Ivy League newcomers have joined the starting lineup — senior center Malachi Ndur, who arrived from Brown, and senior forward Keller Boothby arrived from Cornell.
Rankings
William & Mary finished No. 325 in the NET rankings last year, and NC State was No. 63.
ESPN’s College Basketball Power Index (BPI) has the Tribe ranked No. No. 216 overall, and the Wolfpack are No. 49.
KenPom.com has William & Mary at No. 203, and NCSU checks in at No. 58.
Shooting
William & Mary is averaging 84.7 points per game, and are shooting 45.0 percent from the field, 34.6 percent on three-pointers and 74.2 percent at the free-throw line.
William & Mary have four players who have made at least 10 three-pointers this season, led by Dorsey making 16. Junior wing Kyle Frazier is 11 of 27 from three-point land for 40.7 percent this season. He played at Matthews (N.C.) Weddington with Lowe, and transferred in from Belmont Abbey, where he shot 39.2 percent from beyond the arc last year.
Rebounding
The Tribe are averaging 38.7 rebounds per game and have a plus-2.5 rebounding margin. William & Mary has 69 offensive rebounds this season.
Collier leads W&M with 5.2 rebounds per game and has 12 offensive rebounds, and both Lowe and Boothby are chipping in 4.3 rebounds a contest.
Defense
William & Mary are allowing 74.8 points per game, with opposing teams shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 27.5 percent from three-point range.
The Tribe have 13 blocks and 45 steals, with Dorsey and Lowe leading the way with six steals apiece, and 6-9 Finn Lally has six blocks.
Depth
Frazier, Lally and three other players have been key cogs on the bench.
Senior guard Matteus Case, junior wing Kyle Pulliam and freshman guard Isaiah Mbeng are also part of the bench brigade. Pulliam is second on the team with 11.3 points per game, and he’s shooting 36.7 percent on three-pointers. Case is chipping 8.2 points a contest.
Pulliam had 15 points and three three-pointers, and Mbeng had 11 points and three three-pointers in the Tribe’s last game, defeating Georgia Southern 102-87.
Star Watch
William & Mary senior power forward Noah Collier has had a challenging college career.
Collier was a touted power forward prospect from Mullica Hill, N.J., who attended Westtown School in West Chester, Pa., in the class of 2020. The Rivals.com three-star prospect picked Pittsburgh and played but struggled his first two years.
Collier transferred to William & Mary and started all 23 games he played in in 2022-23, and averaged 9.0 points and 8.2 rebounds per game. He had 11 double-doubles for points and rebounds this season. Injuries essentially wiped out his 2023-24 season, but now he’s back and healthy again.
The 6-8, 220-pounder is averaging 11.5 points and 5.2 rebounds per game, and he’s good at the free-throw line (19 of 24), but not a three-point threat.
Collier had a season-high 19 points plus seven rebounds in the 102-87 win over Georgia Southern in the Rock Hill Classic last Sunday. He also had 18 points in the 78-76 loss to North Carolina Central in the same event last Saturday.
Collier scored a career-high 22 points and 16 rebounds in a 90-86 loss vs. North Carolina A&T on Jan. 21, 2023, and he had 22 points and six rebounds in a 89-83 loss to Nebraska-Omaha on Nov. 16, 2023.
Likely starters
NC State
PG — 12 Michael O’Connell (6-2, 195, Sr., 6.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 5.0 apg, 1.5 spg)
SG — 8 Jayden Taylor (6-4, 195, Sr., 14.3 ppg, 1.5 rpg, 1.0 apg, 2.5 spg)
G — 10 Marcus Hill (6-4, 185, Sr., 11.8 ppg, 3.5 rbp, 2.3 apg)
F — 3 Dontrez Styles (6-6, 210, Sr., 8.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 0.3 apg, 2.0 bpg)
C — 1 Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (6-10, 240, Sr., 12.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.3 apg)
William & Mary
PG — 2 Chase Lowe (6-5, 201, Jr., 7.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 2.3 apg, 1.0 spg)
SG — 21 Gabe Dorsey (6-6, 215, Sr., 10.8 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.5 apg)
SF — 24 Keller Boothby (6-7, 210, Sr., 7.0 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.0 apg)
PF — 5 Noah Collier (6-8, 220, Sr., 11.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.3 apg)
C — 10 Malachi Ndur (6-8, 225, Sr., 5.3 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg)
Numbers Of Note
0 Trips to the NCAA tournament, but the Tribe went to the NIT in 1983, 2010 and 2015, going 0-3.
49 Consecutive wins in high school for William & Mary junior guard Chase Lowe at Matthews (N.C.) Weddington High, including back-to-back NCHSAA state titles in 2021 and 2022.
1,428 Career points scored by Willam & Mary coach Brian Earl at Princeton (1995-99), who shot 41.6 percent from three-point land in 116 career games. He was named the 1999 Ivy League player of the year, and won three league titles.
Game within the game: W&M's Gabe Dorsey vs. NC State's Jayden Taylor
Senior wing Gabe Dorsey has stayed loyal to William & Mary and should reach 1,000-plus points in his career.
Dorsey was a Rivals.com three-star prospect coming out of Pottstown (Pa.) The Hill School and signed with Vanderbilt in the class of 2021. He had 15 points in 22 games at Vanderbilt and left to transfer to William & Mary.
The 6-6, 215-pounder became a double-digit scorer right away for the Tribe. He averaged 10.9 points and shot a blistering 44.4 percent from three-point land in 2022-23.
Dorsey’s points went up to 14 points per game last year, but his percentages dropped to 38.7 percent from the field and 36.5 percent from beyond the are. He reached 20-plus points in five games, including a career-high 27 points and six three-pointers in a 96-81 win over Maryland-Baltimore County on Nov. 25.
Dorsey hasn’t quite hit his stride this season, but he has launched at least 10 three-pointers in three of six games. He had 19 points and went 5 of 10 on three-pointers in a 86-85 win at Winthrop on Nov. 15, as part of the Rock Hill Classic. He added 17 points and went 5 of 13 on three-pointers in the win over Georgia Southern last Sunday.
NC State senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor, a former Butler transfer, leads NC State with 14.3 points per game. He’s shooting 45.5 percent from the field and 18.2 percent on three-pointers.
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