NC State basketball player observations from exhibition win over Lees-McRae

With less than a week left until NC State opens the 2024-25 campaign, the Wolfpack took the floor at Lenovo Center for its final preseason tune up against Lees-McRae on Wednesday night.  And while the Pack was looking for a painless game to get ready for its regular season opener, NC State appeared to get more than it bargained for. The Wolfpack watched a 21-point lead fall apart in the second half as the Bobcats tied the game with less than four minutes to play.  The Pack, which was 10-of-24 shooting in the second half, found a way to pull away with a 79-75 win over the Bobcats.  For NC State coach Kevin Keatts, while the game was closer than most anticipated, he thinks it will actually be a positive for his team moving forward as a learning lesson. The postgame message was the Pack needs to put a team away in the second half after going up by more than 20 points.  “I think we can learn a lot from our secret scrimmage and we can also learn a lot from the last 20 minutes. I think we did a really good job in our first 20 minutes,” Keatts said postgame. “As crazy as it sounds, I would much rather have this game than have a 40-point win because I wouldn’t get a chance to see guys be able to react and who’s going to be good at the end.” NC State leaned on its veteran players down the stretch, including clutch free throws from senior guard Jayden Taylor, to never allow Lees-McRae to take the lead late in the contest. He finished with a team-best 12 points to go with eight rebounds and five assists in the win.