David Tracey
Redshirt senior guard Torin Dorn and redshirt sophomore guard Devon Daniels bump chests at Primetime with the Pack on Friday, Oct. 19 in Reynolds Coliseum.
With the tip-off of college basketball season just around the corner, the NC State men’s and women’s basketball teams hosted their annual Primetime with the Pack event in Reynolds Coliseum Friday night.
The event featured a 3-point shootout, skills challenge, dunk contest and more. This year’s Primetime was also a charitable effort, as the proceeds from the evening went to hurricane relief following the damage to North Carolina from Hurricanes Florence and Michael.
“Anytime you can give back to the community, it’s a blessing,” redshirt senior Torin Dorn said. “The hurricane hit those guys pretty hard, and being from North Carolina, it’s always good to be able to give back.”
After hype videos, team introductions and a dance contest, the competitive side of the night began with a 3-point shootout. The contest featured redshirt senior Armani Hawkins and junior Aislinn Konig from the women’s team, and redshirt sophomore transfer Devon Daniels and freshman Jericole Hellems from the men’s team.
Daniels held on to beat Hawkins, who won the event at last year’s Primetime with the Pack, in the final round. For Daniels, and most of his teammates on the men’s team, this was the first time he was exposed to the Wolfpack faithful as an active member of the team.
“I really can’t wait to get out for a real game,” Daniels said. “I sat out a year, I haven’t played an actual game, and I don’t know how long — maybe more than 400 days, maybe, I don’t know, but it’s been a while, so I can’t wait to get out there, and I can’t wait to get out and play with the team. I’m ready for the season, I’m ready to get in front of these fans for a real game, and I love their energy, and I can’t wait to play.”
Following the 3-point shootout was the skills competition, which pitted the men’s team against the women’s team. The two teams, as well as some of their assistant coaches and head women’s coach Wes Moore, went through a dribbling and shooting competition.
The men’s team won the event, which ended with a round of coaches competing. Things moved from the skills competition to the night’s feature event, the dunk contest.
Junior Markell Johnson, redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk, sophomore Blake Harris and freshman Ian Steere competed in the three-round dunk contest, which saw a participant get eliminated after each round.
The contest was judged by Wolfpack greats, including Olympic gold medalist swimmer Ryan Held and Cozell McQueen and Ernie Myers, both members of NC State’s 1983 national champion men’s basketball team.
Funderburk won the dunk contest, beating Steere in the final round. There were a number of highlight dunks throughout, with the most impressive coming from Steere. Steere brought his dad onto the court and threw down a powerful dunk while jumping over him.
“The dunk contest was probably the highlight,” Dorn said. “We gotta make some more dunks.”
The night featured non-basketball related events as well, including a speed painter who painted a portrait of legendary NC State coach Jim Valvano. To go along with the Valvano portrait, the artist created two more Wolfpack related portraits. All three will be auctioned off for hurricane relief efforts.
“There’s a lot of people that suffered hardships and stuff from this hurricane,” Daniels said. “It means the world to me just to, you know, help give back to them, so it was really important.”
With basketball season now officially kicked off for NC State, the two teams will look ahead to their first games in less than a month. The women’s team kicks off with an exhibition against Anderson on Nov. 1, and gets its official season started on Nov. 7 against Belmont in Reynolds Coliseum.
The Wolfpack men’s will play an exhibition against Chowan on Oct. 29 in PNC Arena, and will officially start the season on Nov. 6 against Mount St. Mary’s. With nine new faces on the roster, coming together as a team will be vital for the Pack men.
“I think every team goes into the season thinking championship,” Dorn said. “But aside from that, I think just coming together as a team, being as good as we possibly can, and winning as many games as possible.”