NC State men’s basketball downs Mount Olive in exhibition

It was a priority for NC State graduate forward DJ Burns to minimize his personal fouls over the offseason after he was plagued by the whistle last season. And in his first action with the Pack for his final season, it was evident that the offseason work paid off. 

Burns, who had more than 100 total fouls and 14 games with four or more a year ago, went his first 20 minutes without one in NC State’s 89-79 win over Mount Olive on Wednesday night at PNC Arena in the Wolfpack’s final preseason tune up.

“That’s what we’ve been working for, so I’m happy with that aspect tonight,” Burns said of his lack of fouls. 

Burns’ ability to stay out of foul trouble in the game was music to coach Kevin Keatts’ ears while he saw his post player be effective on the floor. 

“One of the things that we talked about was how valuable he is on the court,” Keatts said. “That’s going to be something that we continue to preach because, as you know, I don’t care who he’s playing against, he’s really tough to guard.”

The Rock Hill, S.C., native posted 13 points with five rebounds and three assists, and he was one of five Wolfpack players in double figures. Graduate guard Casey Morsell paced the group with 14, while Butler transfer Jayden Taylor had 13, Arizona State transfer DJ Horne had 12, and Missouri transfer Mohamed Diarra had 10.

That balanced attack was what Keatts thought he was going to get without the high-scoring power from Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner, both of whom are playing professionally now. 

“This is exactly who this team is,” Keatts said. “It’s going to be balanced. We don’t necessarily have those two guards that are going to average 17 points a game, but on a given night we can get somebody hot.”

Taylor, who came off the bench, displayed his shooting prowess early in the game. He had a team-high 8 points in the opening half on 50% shooting from the field, and he knocked down two of NC State’s five made 3-pointers. 

But the new face was not trying to be the scorer for the team, it just happened with his hot hand. 

“Just within the flow,” Taylor said. “Just playing my game, taking what the defense was giving to me. Shot was falling, so just sticking with it, and staying confident in my shot. At Butler I scored, so it’s not really that new.”

While the Wolfpack shot 43.5% from the field as a team, it struggled beyond the arc with a 20.8% clip from three. But NC State was working to learn about its team on the floor as they worked various lineups throughout the entire contest. 

The Pack has eight new players on the team this season, and a handful of different lineups were in place to give Keatts and his staff a look at what they have to work with. But the new faces are also working through chemistry issues at times, which led to some untimely turnovers. 

NC State turned the ball over 15 times, which allowed Mount Olive to score 18 points off those errors. 

“We just turned it over,” Keatts said. “Hey, let’s get it out of our system right now. We didn’t handle the ball. There were a couple moments where I thought we made a couple careless passes and I thought it just happened that way.”

While the game provided the Wolfpack coaches a good opportunity to see the team on its home court for the first time this season, it also let the players work through their own growing pains. 

Stanford transfer guard Michael O’Connell, who scored four points with three assists, was the team’s primary ball handler and he thought the exhibition was a good learning experience. 

“Just fixing what we need to fix, seeing what we need to work on coming into the season,” O’Connell said. “Everyone had an opportunity to show what they can do, and we had an opportunity to throw out different lineups, just trying to feel it out.”

NC State played its entire roster that was available in the exhibition, but it was without Kansas transfer MJ Rice and North Carolina A&T transfer Kam Woods for the game. 

Rice made his first public appearance since he stepped away from the team due to personal reasons in September. He wore a white T-Shirt and black pants on NC State’s bench as he works his way back to the team. 

Woods, who previously played at Troy and North Carolina A&T, is currently working through his two-time transfer waiver, which Keatts said the Pack still have not heard back from the NCAA about yet. Woods donned an all black NC State sweatsuit on the team’s bench.

With the season opener less than a week away as The Citadel visits PNC Arena on Monday night, there are still some things the Pack needs to clean up: its chemistry and its defense. 

Luckily for the red and white, they’ve got a few days to prepare. 

“We’re just so used to playing against each other,” Burns said. “Having a shot at someone else really gave the perspective of how you play with your teammates. We just need to build on that a little more before Monday.”