NC State played well in spurts to cruise past Coastal Carolina 82-70 to improve to 3-0 on the young season.
NC State senior shooting guard Jayden Taylor scored a game-high 22 points and four players were in double figures for the Wolfpack.
Taylor was driven to score, but smart with his opportunities in going 8 of 15 from the field. NC State has a variety of players who can score, but Taylor might have the hunger to make a play that stands out. The Wolfpack also needed him to spark the squad after a up-and-down performance Wednesday.
“We have a deep team and a lot of talented guys, so any given night anybody could do that [lead the team in scoring],” Taylor said. “The first half wasn’t good. It wasn’t NC State basketball. It just wasn’t us and we have to be better.”
Coach Kevin Keatts squad had a few anomalies, with none bigger than going 0 of 10 on three-pointers for the rare donut. Conversely, NCSU went 28 of 35 at the free-throw line and forced 19 turnovers to help make up for it.
“I thought JT [Taylor] played extremely well,” Keatts said. “I was very excited what I saw of [freshman point guard] Trey Parker. He was very aggressive. We are getting better.”
In fact, the outside shooting for the game was so weird, only one player made one — sophomore guard RaSheed Jones, who went 5 of 7 from beyond the arc for 17 points. Jones, the nephew of Julius Mays, who played at NC State, Wright State and Kentucky, is a blistering 11 of 17 on the season in his first three games.
“I’ve never seen a game where one guy makes the only threes of the game,” Keatts said. “I guess we can classify both teams as good three-point defensive teams.”
The Wolfpack started the second half on a 10-0 run to open a 45-33 lead with 18:24 left in the game. The last time Coastal Carolina cut it to single digits was with 11:54 left in the game.
“I loved our first three minutes of the second half and I loved our first five minutes of the first half,” said Keatts, who got concerned during the minutes in-between.
NC State jumped out to a 7-0 lead to start the game and it looked line business as usual at the Lenovo Center. The Wolfpack managed to get Coastal Carolina centers Noah Amenhauser and Colin Granger in early foul trouble, with two fouls apiece.
Yet, NC State couldn’t pull away or get much distance over the last 15 minutes of the first half. It wasn’t that Coastal Carolina was doing anything effective in particular. It didn’t help that senior point guard Mike O’Connell was limited to four first-half minutes after picking up two quick fouls.
“It kind of changed us a little bit,” Keatts said. “We didn’t finish the half like I wanted to.”
The Chanticleers piled up up 13 turnovers in the first half, including two shot-clock violations, one five-second call throwing the ball in and the rare backcourt violation for not crosssing halfcourt quick enough.
NC State went on a 9-3 spurt to open up a 29-21 lead with 3:29 left in the half, but then Coastal Carolina responded, closing the half strong. The Chanticleers went on a 12-6 run going into halftime to trail 35-33.
Part of the lack of flow for NC State was going 0 of 4 on three-pointers and only had eight defensive rebounds (two offensive).
“Coastal is a team that controls tempo and wants to play in the 50s and 60s,” Keatts said. “We wanted to come in play fast and make them play fast.n We did a good job on the defensive end.”
NC State wasn’t able to take advantage of its size and athleticism in the first half.
“The first thing I go is the board and figure out how many deflections we had, and we had 11, and I don’t like that,” Keatts said. “We want 40 deflections — 20 a half.”
NC State welcomed the return of junior power forward Ismael Diouf. The 6-9 Canadian missed the first two games due to a NCAA suspension. Diouf played 90 seconds in the first half, and got his first NC State basket with 7:21 left in the game.
“It felt good for sure and I still have some things to work on, but it feels good to be in a stadium game,” Diouf said. “It’s been a long time.”
Diouf is used to playing in front of 3,000-4,000 people in college games in Canada. The Lenovo Center had 12,425 in attendance.
“I love playing in front of big crowds, and it gives me energy,” Diouf said.
NC State returns to action next Monday against Colgate, who is off to a 1-2 start, but played Syracuse down to the wire in a 74-72 loss last Tuesday.
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