This could be our most difficult test to date
When: Monday November 18, 7:00 PM
Where: Lenovo Center (venue formerly known as PNC Arena)
TV: ACC Network
Opponent: Colgate Raiders (Patriot League)
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 82-66 / NC State 80-63
Wolfpack Snapshot: KP #63, BT #69
Wolfpack Season So Far: 3-0
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Mike James had knee surgery on 10/30. Expected to miss 3-4 weeks.
- Dennis Parker, Jr still nursing sore ankle(s). Only played two minutes last game.
Opponent Overview: KP #231, BT #215 (1-2) – Patriot league voters picked Colgate to win the league for the third straight season. The Raiders are coming off their fourth consecutive Patriot League title and fifth in six years under 14th-year head coach Matt Langel a five-time Coach of the Year.
History – This will be our second meeting with the Raiders, the first was not that long ago in 2021. We won 77-74, but it was a tough game. We led by one at the half. It was tied at 74 with 11 seconds left and we won it with free throws. Breon was a freshman on that team along with familiar names such as Dereon, Casey, Cam, Jericole, Ebenezer, and of course, Terquavion.
Big Question – The answer is, YES, it is named after the same family that started the toothpaste company.
Colgate finished last season 25-10 overall and 16-2 in Patriot League play before winning the conference tournament and getting a 14 seed in the NCAA tournament. This year’s team will look very different without the likes of Player of the Year Braeden Smith, and All League players Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt.
This team is young, they have 4 freshmen and 5 sophomores.
After winning their home opener with SUNY Canton (95-62), Colgate is coming off consecutive losses at Drexel (56-73) and last Tuesday at Syracuse (72-74). The game against the Orange was a battle from start to finish, Syracuse held a 3-point lead at the half. It was tied at 72 with 1:19 left. The Raiders got off a couple of shots, but could not pull it off.
Wolfpack Third Game Takeaways:
In the first three games we’ve seen the team play with composure, basically very businesslike. No matter the circumstance, they haven’t played out of control, and no one has played ‘hero ball’ – although Jayden Taylor is probably doing a little more than he should. (12 TO in 3 games!)
- Shooting – The guys we are expecting to lead in scoring (H-H 12.3 ppg, Taylor 16.3 ppg, and Hill 10 ppg) are. We’re shooting 53% FG on the season, which is very good. Free throws improved dramatically to a solid 69.3% after shooting so many against Coastal. Three-point shooting is a problem, we’re shooting 28.6%. If you remove Taylor’s 3-16 and the bigs’ 1-6, the rest of the team is averaging a much more palatable 35.2%.
- Defense – We’re guarding the 3PT circle well, opponents are shooting 23.6% (13/55), but otherwise opponents are shooting 51.3% (59/115).
- Rebounding – Basically even on the season, NC State is averaging 34 rpg, opponents 33.3 rpg.
- Assists – We are sharing the ball on an excellent 53.1% (51/96) of our made field goals. 11 players have assists on the season, 9 at least 2.
- Bigs – Averaging 22.6ppg, 9.4 rpg. Ben had an off night against Coastal Carolina, and Diouf is just getting started.
- Point Guards – Averaging 22.3 ppg / 8.3 rpg / 8.6 assists and only 2 turnovers. Collectively they are shooting 47.3% from 3PT. This is the team’s bright spot, and Trey Parker is getting better every night. He seems to be starting the fastest of our freshmen.