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Michael O'Connell emerges as NC State basketball target

MattCarterby:Matt Carter•05/10/23•

TheWolfpacker

Michael O'Connell, Stanford Cardinal guard
Stanford guard Michael O'Connell dribbles with the basketball in a game on March 9, 2023. (Stephen R. Sylvanie / USA TODAY Sports)

NC State basketball has a scholarship to use after the announcement this week that redshirted freshman forward Isaiah Miranda was entering the transfer portal. The Wolfpack was already known to be targeting point guard options prior to Miranda’s announcement. Now a name has emerged as a player to watch: Stanford’s Michael O’Connell.

Andrew Slater was first to report that O’Connell is expected to visit NC State this weekend. Wichita State is also known to be in the mix for O’Connell, per Slater.

O’Connell just completed his third season for the Cardinal and has started most of his career, 76 of 89 games, for Stanford.

This past season, O’Connell averaged 5.2 points and 3.1 assists with 1.6 turnovers per contest in 25.7 minutes per game. He best season, statistically, came as a sophomore when O’Connell contributed 7.1 points and 3.6 assists (2.0 turnovers) per game.

The 6-foot-2, 195-pound native of Mineola, N.Y., was considered an under-the-radar signing by Stanford when coming out of Blairstown (N.J.) Blair Academy. O’Connell, however, quickly earned playing time, starting 18 of 25 games he played as a freshman and averaging 6.7 points and 2.8 assists a contest.

He ended his Cardinal career ranked 15th all-time in assists in program history, but O’Connell will seek to improve his shooting percentages as his new stop. He connected on 47 of 156 three-point attempts in his time at Stanford, or 30.1 percent. As a freshman and junior he made over 78 percent of free throw attempts, but slumped as a sophomore at 57.5 percent.

O’Connell gives NC State basketball an opportunity to get a second guard from the Pac-12 Conference in the transfer portal. The Wolfpack has already landed graduate transfer DJ Horne from Arizona State.

He helped the Sun Devils reach the NCAA Tournament by averaging 12.5 points and 2.4 assists per game last season.

Horne has proven to be a good shooter in four years of college basketball, including two at Illinois State and the past two at ASU. He has made 253 threes at a 37.9 percent clip. He had eight games with at least four threes last season.

The On3 Transfer Portal rankings have Horne rated as the No. 17 combo guard that entered.

O’Connell is rated the No. 35 point guard that entered the transfer portal, per On3.

Michael O’Connell would have 2 seasons of eligibility remaining, should he elect to use the added year granted by the NCAA during the COVID-19 pandemic.

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