Michael O’Connell’s addition to NC State’s starting lineup leads to a ‘smoother’ offense

Over NC State’s past two games, the Wolfpack has turned to a smaller starting lineup. Coach Kevin Keatts inserted graduate guard Michael O’Connell into the first five, and moved graduate guard Casey Morsell to the four-man spot in the offense. 

With O’Connell’s addition to the Pack’s first group of players on the court, graduate guard DJ Horne has slid to the shooting guard spot — and he has exploded as NC State’s go-to bucket getter. 

The Arizona State transfer has scored in double figures the past two games — 24 against Miami on Tuesday night and 26 against Georgia Tech on Saturday afternoon — with the new lineup on the floor. While Horne has found ways to score, O’Connell has dished a combined 11 assists in the two contests. 

It seems like Keatts’ idea has birthed a more open offense for the Wolfpack’s scoring guards to make plays. 

“It allows the natural scorers to be natural scorers,” Keatts said. “Now DJ Horne doesn’t have the responsibility of trying to run the team and score. And Michael just knows how to play. He has a good feel for the game, and it’s hard to explain because he’s a throwback point guard. If a guy’s hot, he knows how to get him the ball. You don’t typically get that in today’s game.”

O’Connell, a Stanford transfer, gives the Wolfpack a different look at point guard. He’s more of a pass-first player, and as he’s looked to create for others, positive things have followed. NC State is 11-2 in games he records at least three assists, and he has logged at least five in three of the team’s last six contests. 

Though he has impressed with his elite passing and court vision throughout the season, O’Connell pointed to the team around him that has helped him be successful as a facilitator. 

“We have unbelievable scorers on this team,” said O’Connell, who scored 7 points and recorded six assists and seven rebounds against Georgia Tech. “It makes my job easier. I just got to come off a screen or push in transition and find these guys. I have the utmost confidence in these guys to knock them down.”

For graduate guard Casey Morsell, who scored 15 points against Georgia Tech on 6-of-13 shooting, O’Connell brings a unique skill set that the Virginia transfer hasn’t seen during his time in Raleigh until now. 

“He has a different feel,” Morsell said of O’Connell. “A pass-first guy is what hasn’t been at NC State in a while. He adds a different feel to our lineup, and he’s always creating for others. You’ll always see that by his numbers.”

O’Connell is averaging 3.0 assists per contest with the Wolfpack, right around his career total of 3.2 a night. But he’s doing it in five fewer minutes a game than during his past three seasons with the Cardinal. 

The Mineola, N.Y., native boasts one of the best assist-to-turnover ratios in the ACC, too. He entered the weekend fourth in the league at 2.86 a night, and that will likely climb after his six assists to one turnover outing against the Yellow Jackets. 

The point guard has been efficient, and his presence on the floor has been felt by virtually everyone on the team, including Keatts. 

When NC State’s offense falls into a lull — which it has done a better job of cleaning up recently — O’Connell doesn’t seem frazzled on the floor. It appears to be the opposite. He tends to be one of the first to huddle the team before a free throw to help relax the other four players on the floor. 

That veteran leadership has paid dividends for the Wolfpack. 

“He’s a guy that just calms you down,” Keatts said. “When I’m upset and everybody else on the floor is upset, the only guy on the floor that looks like he can win the poker game is Michael, and that’s what you want in a point guard.”

Not only has his leadership paid off, but the small parts of basketball that O’Connell does on the court have also helped the Pack. He logged three steals in NC State’s win over Georgia Tech, which was the second straight game with that many and the fourth this season. 

Horne, who has poured in back-to-back 20-point games on two occasions this season, was quick to point out O’Connell’s defense — and his hustle on the floor. 

“Mike is really our glue piece for our team,” Horne said. “I’ve been around the game for four years now in college, this is my fifth year. Knowing what it takes to win, he does all the little things it takes to win that don’t show up in the stat sheet.”

The parts of his game that do show up on the box score — specifically his assist totals — have paced the Wolfpack to back-to-back wins. It’s not a coincidence that the team has had a fluid offense for extended periods in the pair of victories with increased ball movement. 

O’Connell appears to be the head of the snake when it comes to moving the ball in the offense, which has freed up NC State’s outside shooters at a high clip. It’s not just an appearance either, Horne said it is a noticeable difference with O’Connell running the action on the court. 

“For a feel, it feels like our offense runs smoother when he’s on the court,” Horne said. “Going with that smaller lineup … it just seems like the ball pops more and we tend to have more shots go in the basket.”

With the way NC State’s offense has run the last two games, it’s likely that O’Connell will become a mainstay in the Pack’s starting five for the final nine regular season contests. But no matter what happens, he’ll continue to embrace his role. 

“I just want to make sure whenever I’m on the court, whether it’s two minutes or 30 minutes,” O’Connell said, “I gotta do the same stuff that I always do.”