While a majority of the team’s weight will fall upon N.C. State’s upperclassmen, senior forwards Richard Howell and Scott Wood, junior forward Calvin Leslie and junior guard Lorenzo Brown, you must not forget about the highly touted freshmen: guards Tyler Lewis and Rodney Purvis and forward T.J. Warren. All three have risen to the occasion when head coach Mark Gottfried needed them most.
“Each guy, in their own right, has played well at different times,” Gottfried said. “I do not think we would not be in the NCAA tournament without those three freshmen. Hopefully, they will be excited about playing in this tournament, and they will play well there too.”
The Wolfpack’s premier 2012 McDonald’s All-Americans had their first taste of win-or-go-home play at the collegiate level in Puerto Rico and rose to the challenge by helping the team win two out of three games.
Purvis started throughout the three-game tournament and scored 16 points in the team’s third game against the Oklahoma State Cowboys, who are currently the fifth seed in the Midwest. Lewis saw little action early on and only scored five points against the University of Massachusetts. After only scoring eight points in the season opener against Miami (Oh.), Warren hit double-digits in all three games in San Juan, adding 22, 21 and 15 points against Penn State, UMass and Oklahoma State respectively.
Warren, the highest scoring freshman for State, is one of five players on the team to average at least 10 points per game with 12.4. His .626 shooting percentage leads all Atlantic Coast Conference scorers and ranks ninth in the nation. He also made 21 of 28 shots in the ACC tournament, including nine baskets out of 11 attempts for 18 points in the quarterfinal game against Virginia. After having starts against Michigan, Connecticut, Virginia and Miami, Warren was placed in the starting lineup for good on Feb. 19 against Florida State and rocked the Seminoles for 31 points and 13 rebounds for his career highs in both categories and his first career double-double. Out of his 13 starts this season, the Durham native has only failed to score double digits four times. These accomplishments on the court have helped earn him a spot on the ACC All-Freshman team.
“It has been a blessing,” Warren said. “I have been working hard toward that. I just have to keep up the good work so that more good things can come in the future.”
Purvis started in 23 of his first 25 games with the Pack before giving way to Warren. The Raleigh native has struggled to find consistent success but has shown many flashes of explosiveness in his first season at State. In those 23 games, Purvis hit double-digits 10 times, including 19 points, his season high at that point, in the Pack’s conference opener in Chestnut Hill against Boston College. When the Eagles returned to Raleigh on Feb. 27, Purvis showed his strength by dropping a career high 21 points off of the bench.
Lewis struggled to find success on the court early, playing single-digit minutes in 11 of his first 19 games. However, once Brown was injured in the Jan. 29 contest against the Cavaliers, Lewis rose up and helped ignite the offense. Against the Hurricanes, Lewis scored his career high 16 points. In the next game in Durham against the Duke Blue Devils, the Statesville, N.C. native started his first collegiate game, finishing with 13 points and a season-high six assists. Since then, Lewis has been sharing time with Brown at point guard.
Each of these three has something special to contribute for State to be successful in Dayton this weekend. Whether it’s Warren’s hot shooting, Purvis’ high-energy scoring opportunities and points off of turnovers or Lewis’ versatility at point, the freshmen of the Pack complement the upperclassmen. If and when the team exhibits these components is when State will return to Raleigh with its first NCAA championship since 1983.
