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NC State basketball loses Manny Bates for the season

MattCarterby:Matt Carter•11/12/21•

TheWolfpacker

Bates
NC State basketball center Manny Bates. (Photo courtesy NC State)

For the second year in a row, NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts is dealing with a devastating injury.

Potential all-conference contending center Manny Bates, a redshirt junior, will miss the remainder of the season after dislocating his shoulder less than a minute into the season-opening win over Bucknell.

“I’m heartbroken for Manny because he’s overcome so much to become the incredible player he is,” Keatts said in a statement. “He does everything the right way. He doesn’t take shortcuts. He’s a prime example of everything I want an NC State basketball player to be on and off the court.

“I know Manny has the work ethic and positive mental attitude to come back from this. I know he’ll come back stronger and I know Manny’s best basketball is still ahead of him.”

The 6-foot-11 Bates averaged 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game as a redshirt sophomore while shooting 64.1 percent from the field. He also blocked 64 shots in 24 games after having 83 rejections in 29 contests during his rookie campaign.

He was on pace to break the school record for blocked shots (BeeJay Anya’s 243) and be the first Wolfpack player to have a better than 60.0 career field goal percentage with a minimum of 200 made shots.

A year ago, NC State lost guard Devon Daniels, who was the team’s leading scorer, to a torn ACL, 12 games into the season.

NC State basketball hosts Colgate on Saturday afternoon.

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