What NC State, Marquette said about defending each team’s star player

DALLAS — For the first time since the 1974 National Championship Game, NC State and Marquette will square off in the NCAA Tournament. The two squads, seeded 11th and 2nd in the South Region, respectively, are set to meet inside American Airlines Center in the Sweet 16 on Friday night. 

Unlike the last time the two teams played in the Big Dance, the Wolfpack do not have star David Thompson on the court. But they do have their own go-to player: graduate forward DJ Burns. 

Burns, who had cameras follow him around for most of the Pack’s open portion of Thursday’s practice, has been the center of attention during NC State’s NCAA Tournament run. Rightfully so as he’s averaged 16.5 points and 4.5 rebounds over the last seven games. 

He creates challenges for every team he plays, but Marquette’s players are keenly aware of what Burns brings to the table. 

“We’re watching film today, He hit like a spin fade-away, kind of like Escalade from the AND1 Mixtapes,” Marquette star guard Tyler Kolek said. “He is good, though. He is super skilled. Try to do everything we can to stop him.”

Burns will match up with 6-foot-11 forward Oso Ighodaro in the post on Friday night, and the Golden Eagles’ big man had immense respect for the Pack’s star player.

“He’s a really good player, good passer, good scorer,” Igohdaro said. “We’ve been playing really good players, really good bigs, guards, whatever all year, and we guard as five. To answer your question, I mean, we’re just going to guard them as a team as five and him as a player as five and just keep being us.”

While Burns is bound to create matchup issues for Marquette, the Golden Eagles have a pair of elite guards that could do the same to NC State’s defense: Kam Jones and Kolek. 

Jones is Marquette’s leading scorer with 17.1 points a night, while Kolek can both score (15.3 points) and distribute (7.8 assists per game). Those two will likely put stress on NC State’s perimeter defenders, and Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts spoke highly of that duo. 

“Those guys are really good, and I’m trying to figure out which one is better, and I know that’s not fair to them, but they complement each other in different ways,” Keatts said. “Both get to the left hand really good and talented. That’s a major challenge for us because in order for us to have success, we have to do a good job of controlling those guys and they play extremely well.”

“They play extremely well together. They’re older,” Keatts continued. “They understand they have played together. That’s something that you can’t substitute. So the top of our scouting guard is those two guys, but when I say that Marquette is so much more than just the guard play. They’ve got good play all over the floor.”

While Kolek and Jones will be a tall task for the Wolfpack’s defense, so will Marquette’s forwards: David Joplin and Ighodaro. 

Joplin is a pick-and-pop threat, while Ighodaro is capable of playing in the post, while also being able to find his teammates as an elite passer. 

“They both bring the presence being as tall as they are and as long as they are,” Burns said. “They are really good at doing the things that they do, like rolling and dunking the ball. The floaters in the middle, they have a lot of good players, and a lot of good pieces together. Their bigs, they kind of bring them together.”

In all, Marquette’s offense, which averages 78.6 points a game, will likely be the best unit NC State has seen in the NCAA Tournament. 

With that comes challenges, and graduate guard Casey Morsell was knowledgeable on how Shaka Smart’s team wants to operate. 

“I would say they test your defensive awareness,” Morsell said. “They do so many actions. One of the different things they do is they use the five man as a ball handler. They set screens. They cut. They do different things on the perimeter with the five man. I feel like everyone is going to be at some point going to guard the perimeter. We’re just going to be a lot of different actions and rotations that we kind of got to be aware for that they do.”

Tipoff is set for 7:09 p.m. on from the American Airlines Center on Friday night. The winner will advance to face the winner of Duke/Houston in Sunday’s Elite Eight.