‘Chanticleers’, not to be confused with ‘chickens’
When: Wednesday November 13, 7:00 PM
Where: The Lenovo Center (venue formerly known as PNC Arena)
TV: ACC Network Extra
Opponent: Coastal Carolina Chanticleers (Sun Belt Conference)
Predictions – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): KP – NC State 81-62, BT – NC State 84-64
Wolfpack Snapshot: KP #58, BT #61
Wolfpack Season So Far: 2-0
Wolfpack Player Notes:
- Mike James had knee surgery on 10/30. Expected to miss 3-4 weeks.
- Dennis Parker, Jr. is dealing with sprained ankles. He was a gametime decision for Presbyterian and did not play.
Wolfpack News and Notes:
The Early SIgning Period begins today (Wed 11/13). NC State expects to sign two four-star players, 6’8” forward Zymicah “Mikey” Wilkins and 6’4” guard Ricardo “RJ” Greer, Jr. With all of the expected departures (and probably some unexpected) next spring, the Wolfpack is expected to attempt to pick up at least one more HS player.
Opponent Overview: KP #279, BT #288 (1-1) – Sun Belt voters picked Coastal Carolina to finish 13th in the 14-team conference. The Chanticleers opened the season beating Western Michigan 60-56 at home then went to ECU Saturday and lost 63-59. They are shooting 39% / 33% / 63% on the season.
History – This will be our fourth meeting, we are 3-0. The last time we met was November 1998, the game was played at what is now Reynolds /Valvano/Yow Coliseum/Arena/Court. The Pack won 81-56. That was a Sendek team that included some Wolfpack favorites, Kenny Inge, Justin Gainey, Damon Thornton and the diminutive sharpshooter Archie Miller.
The Chanticleers have a new coach, Justin Gray, former teammate of Chris “ouch” Paul at Wake Forest. After college he did the pro world tour, 13 countries in 12 years, then came back to Wake as an assistant. He got his first head coaching job in 2021 at Western Carolina (51-47), then traded the mountains for the beach this season.
Coach Gray has been tasked with elevating the Chanticleer basketball program to significance in line with the success of other university programs, such as football, baseball (which won the 2016 CWS), volleyball, and soccer.
Expected starters – (all transfers):
- Rasheed Jones – Leading scorer, currently shooting an impressive 55% / 60% (6 of 10) / 70%. Recruited out of HS to Western Carolina (where Coach Gray was an assistant) and redshirted, then played one season of JUCO ball.
- Noah Amenhauser – Transfer from Grand Canyon
- Denzel Hines – Transfer from High Point
- Joshua Meo – At his 3rd school, both JUCO. Averaged 14.2 ppg as a sophomore.
- Jordan Battle – At his 3rd school, Utah Valley as a freshman & redshirt soph, then JUCO where he shot an impressive 50.3% / 45.2% / 81% last season.
Wolfpack Second Game Takeaways:
Presbyterian was a much better team than USC Upstate and challenged the Wolfpack to play well. Especially our guards. Despite the increased game pressure, we continued to play as a team and did not revert to being a one-man offense, as we have frequently seen in past seasons. Hopefully, most of that is discipline, but some of it is probably because we don’t yet know who that ‘one man’ would be – if there is one.
- Shooting – Free throw shooting has to improve. The FG% stayed about the same at 55%. 3PT shooting improved to 36.8% with better shot selection and 8 fewer attempts. (I’m still haunted by that first Pitt game last season when we lost by 3, having shot only 40% from the line.)
- Defense – Opportunity for improvement. We forced 15 turnovers resulting in 19 points. However, the Blue Hose shot 49% / 31% and their two starting guards were 55% / 42% and scored 48. Coastal Carolina brings another guard who can light it up.
- Rebounding – This team should rebound better than we’ve seen so far based on what we saw from our transfers’ stats last season. Presbyterian won the rebounding battle 30 – 29. Together our two bigs pulled 14 in the first game, but only 7 in this one. Middlebrooks dropped from 10 to 1. We do have three decent rebounders on the bench, James (5 rpg), Parker, Jr. (4 rpg) and Diouf (6.5 rpg [metric]) which should eventually help.
- Assists (18) – Excellent. For the second game we excelled at passing the ball, we assisted on about 58% of our made baskets in both games. Last season we averaged 47.9% for the season and were averaging 41.3% after our first two games. This is a stat to watch.
- Bigs – While the rebounding isn’t there yet, the offense is solid and will get better. Together they are averaging 25 ppg. Also, Ben and Brandon only picked up one foul each which is impressive – but might also indicate that they could have been just a bit more physical / aggressive. I’ll bet we don’t see many games with that few fouls. They did not block any shots in this game. I would expect that to improve, Ben blocked 4 in the first game.
- Point Guards – O’Connell continues to be great, Pass is good, and our PG of the future, T.Parker has the best possible mentor. Our three PG had 9 assists but 5 turnovers. Another indicator that they were up against quality guards. Michael had 8 of those assists, tied for his second-best game ever.
Something to Keep An Eye On …
There are three ‘dress rehearsal’ games left prior to three of this season’s four ‘resume’ games. Winning at Kansas (12/14) will be very tough duty, so we need to be well prepared for these first three. If ready, these guys will help us.
- Ismaël Diouf – He is back from suspension, and should play in all three games. He is our only other size (6’9” 215), we need him to contribute – ideally at the forward as well as center.
- Dennis Parker, Jr – He played in game 1, but missed game 2 due to his ankle(s). He is a solid defender and rebounder and has proven he can compete at this level. He’ll rotate in at forward initially so Styles won’t have to play 35 minutes like he did against Presbyterian.
Hopefully, to catch up, they will get plenty of court time over the next two weeks. When we get these guys game-ready, we could be three deep at both center and forward. The two starters (H-H, Styles) will consistently be the strongest offensively, the second off the bench (DPJ & Middlebrooks) are strong defenders, and Diouf’s resume indicates he could play either position. (TBD) If Diouf can do it, his depth at center allows us a little more flexibility so that we can play Huntley-Hatfield and Middlebrooks together as Coach Keatts has said is in the plans. (Hey Coach! Save that surprise for Purdue) Also, if he can consistently be Styles’ backup at forward, that would give DPJ the opportunity to play some at wing.