When: Tuesday November 10 – 7:00 PM
Where: Lenovo Center
TV / Streaming: ACC Network Extra
Opponent: Presbyterian Blue Hose (Clinton, SC) (Big South Conference)
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 84-67 / NC State 88-63
Wolfpack Season So Far:
As we begin the season and evaluate our new coach, Coach Gainey & Company continue to impress. But no one has mentioned his scheduling. He’s scheduled 9 mid-majors, and 6 are predicted to compete for the title in their conferences. They have clearly
put some thought into this preseason schedule, and I think he’s done pretty well. Especially for his first time. And it might look better by the end of the season if these predictions hold.
- To start the season, after settling their nerves against Campbell, he’s got a solid lineup of mid-majors to prepare for the first P5 game in the Bahamas.
- Then he ramps up for what will be one of the toughest competitors of the entire season, Tennessee on the road, with Norfolk St – KP #287, Elon – KP #182, and then South Carolina – KP #87.
- Then he scheduled the Heritage game to reset prior to going on what might be his toughest 2-game road trip of the season, against UNC and Ole Miss.
- Then the only true dog bone team, Alabama A&M (KP#309), is in that nightmare slot three days before Christmas when scary things can happen because the players are thinking about going home. After Christmas, the ACC season kicks off.
- His four ‘resume builders’ are Seton Hall (KP #79) or Wisconsin (KP #51), Tennessee (KP #21), UNC (KP #45), and Ole Miss (KP #35). That’s a solid group of four, especially if we get Wisconsin.
- ESPN ranks NC State’s overall strength of schedule at #217, which ranks fifth in the ACC. KenPom ranks the Pack’s schedule #271, also fifth in the ACC.
Opponent Overview:
Does this sound a little familiar? Coach Quinton Ferrell played four seasons of point guard at Presbyterian. He then got hired as an assistant on the Blue Hose coaching staff. He then did stints as assistant at 3 other schools. In 2019 he got his first head coaching job at Presbyterian.
The Blue Hose are feeling pretty good about this season. They are picked to finish 2nd in the Big South. They rank 8th in the country in retention, bringing back 11 players, 73.8% of last season’s minutes. They have two players, Jaylen Peterson and Carl Parrish, on the preseason Big South All-Conference first team, and Triston Wilson is on the second team. Last season, Jaylen Peterson was the Big South DPOY.
Their Season So Far:
Last week they lost to St Thomas (picked 2nd in Summit Conf) 87-78 and at Georgia 91-77.
Probable Starters:
What to watch for:
- Shah Hall – He did not participate in the warm ups or the game Friday, no explanation shared
- The Ven Lubin / Jaylen Peterson match up will be one to watch. Two very good 5th year forwards.
- Rebounding should look good – Presbyterian is a smaller team, only two players over 6’8”. One a true freshman who only played 15 mins against UGA (8 pts / 6 reb), the other a redshirt freshman who has not yet played.
- Kyle Evans is trending in the right direction. In his second game, against more difficult competition, he played 9 more minutes than the first game, scored 3 more points, had 3 more rebounds, 1 more steal and 1 more assist. In the post game presser, Coach Gainey said, “his [Kyle’s] confidence should be through the roof, he is an elite defender.” That’s more like the Kyle we’re wanting to see.
- Robert Jurkovic is trending in the other direction. He only played 2 minutes Friday after playing 9 on Monday. He is 1-3 from the field with 1 rebound for the season. We need Robert to fill the backup center role in the roster. If not, I know a guy.
- Darius Adams is also trending in the wrong direction. He had an excellent first game Monday (16 pts / 4 reb / 4 assist) in 31 minutes. Friday (3 pts / 3 reb / 1 assist) he only played 12 minutes, only 2 minutes in the second half.
- Christian Hammond has been ‘Mr. Consistent.’ First game (14 pts / 5 reb / 6 ast), second game (13 pts / 4 reb / 1 ast) I had him on my scorecard as a starter to begin the season, he might yet get there.
- Preston Edmead has arrived! We saw what we should expect regularly. 38 minutes against ETSU seems a little high, but Adams was ineffective at PG so Preston stepped up. I would expect him to average 30-35 minutes. He shot 50% / 42.9% / 100%. Back during the summer Patrick Stacy told us to expect this sort of performance, and here we are.
Prediction: Wolfpack Wins 80-69
