“The Reckoning is here”
When: Monday November 3 – 7:00 PM
Where: Lenovo Center
TV: ACC Network Extra
Opponent: North Carolina Central Eagles (MEAC Conference)
Prediction – KenPom (KP) / Bart Torvik (BT): NC State 87-61 / NC State 91-61
*** UPGRADED FAN EXPERIENCE AT LENOVO ***
- Louder! The noise meter is back!
- Redecorated! New signage around the building
- Up In Smoke! The players will enter the court through smoke effects.
- Improved Pregame! The band, cheer, and dance team pregame has been revised. New DJ in the house.
Wolfpack Final Preseason Snapshot:
- Ranked AP #26, KP & BT both rank #38, Lunardi projects the Pack as an 8th seed in the NCAA tournament
Opponent Overview:
Legendary coach LeVelle Moton is entering his 17th season leading his alma mater and has his eye on their fifth trip to the NCAA tournament, and their first win. Last year marked a rare down stretch, as Central slipped below .500 at 14-19 overall and 6-8 in conference play, their first losing record in a full season since 2015-16.
’25-’26 The Eagles tied with Delaware State for 5th in the MEAC preseason rankings.
The Eagles lost their top 6 scorers from ’24-’25, so needed a fresh injection of talent and brought in 11 transfers. This is generally expected to be a rebuild season. But never count out Coach Moton.
Players of Note:
- Dionte Johnson was voted to the MEAC All-Conference second team
Wolfpack: Things to Watch For
“Either you’re going to get this fixed, or you’re going to sit. I’m done playing around”
- “Jordan Game” – Jordan Snell should see court time, this game will not be close. NC Central is ranked #327 in KP and #335 in Torvik, by far the lowest ranked team on the schedule. [Unless Chaminade …. NAH!] Will the Pack make the most of this game and work on, and improve the areas that need improvement or will they play down to the competition? No time to coast against this easier opponent. UAB (KP #98) comes to Lenovo Friday night and will be tough.
- PRIORITY #1: Defense lagging offense – As is the case with most teams early in the season, the defense needs to catch up to the offense. The offense produced a 50-point half, and 88 points overall last game. The defense gave up 86 points and allowed USC to shoot 55.4% / 41.4%. There were too many open 3PT shots, and easy baskets inside. As they more effectively implement the Wade style defense, look for:
- Being more consistently aggressive – More pressing
- Forcing more turnovers
- Making it more difficult to get the ball inside and score in the paint – Use that wingspan!
- Making 3PT shooters work harder – Coach Wade has said that historically his style of defense has tended to allow some 3PT shots, but also says the ACC shoots too well for that to continue. USC shot 12-29 from 3PT. Watch for more attention given to the 3PT shooters. Central has shooters. If they keep it close for a while, it will be because of outside shooting.
- Starting lineup – Will we see the same starters as the exhibition? (Copeland, McNeil, Arceneaux, Williams, Lubin) Tre Holloman had an excellent game against USC.
- Freshmen’s Improvement – Matt Able and Musa Sagnia should get plenty of court time. We know they play better in practice than we saw against USC. They are going to be good, they just need game experience.
- Free throw shooting – The Pack got to the line 30 times but only made 19. “You can’t shoot 63% from the free throw line and win a lot of games at this level.” Coach Wade
- Rebounding – Central is small, only two players over 6’7”. A good opportunity for the team to work on defensive rebounding, and Sagnia and Deng in particular to hit the boards.
- Speaking of Jerry Deng – In the recent presser, Coach Wade said he expects to cut the rotation to 8 players. Barring injury the Pack’s top 6, Williams, Arceneaux, Holloman, Lubin, Copeland, and McNeil are locked in the rotation and will average 20+ minutes a night. Benching Able would send a bad message to recruits currently in play (Mingo / Rippey / Jervis …) and at 6’10”, Sagnia is the team’s best big man. Both players have high ceilings and will make an impact this season. On the other hand, Jerry hit 1 three, pulled 1 rebound, had 1 block, picked up 1 foul, and had the lowest impact (-9) in the fewest (8) minutes played versus USC. His fate is likely sealed, but a big game versus Central might help. [Fun Fact: Jerry has the highest scoring game on the team. While at Hampton he once scored 37 pts in a game against the Mary Baldwin Fighting Squirrels.]
