Instant observations: NC State downs Coastal Carolina despite rebounding struggles

After NC State wasn’t able to open the game up in its 9-point win over Presbyterian on Friday night, the Wolfpack was looking to find a way to coast past Coastal Carolina on Wednesday night.  While the Pack never trailed in its wire-to-wire 82-70 win over the Chanticleers at Lenovo Center, NC State couldn’t find the back-breaking run to put the game out of reach for good. Why? Its offense struggled for much of the first half without floor general Michael O’Connell and its rebounding effort was overpowered by the upstart Chanticleers.  Despite that, the Wolfpack was able to earn its 16th consecutive home non-conference win to improve to 3-0 on the early 2024-25 campaign.  Senior guard Jayden Taylor led the way for the Wolfpack with 22 points and one rebound, while senior forward Brandon Huntley-Hatfield chipped in with 13 points in the win and freshman guard Trey Parker added 11 on a 5-of-6 shooting night. Here are TheWolfpacker.com’s instant observations from NC State’s win over Coastal Carolina.