NC State men’s basketball used a strong defensive performance to zoom past Charleston Southern by a score of 87-53.
The Wolfpack (3-0) forced 22 turnovers and held the Buccaneers (2-2) to just 53 points. The Pack was locked in defensively the entire night and turned defense into offense by scoring 29 points off of turnovers.
“I thought our guys were very active,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought we kind of took the rhythm away from those guys and didn’t really let them get into a flow.”
Offensively, the Wolfpack struggled from beyond the arc but found its groove in the first half by playing through graduate forward DJ Burns. The big man went 6-7 from the field in the first 20 minutes, scoring 14 of his 16 points.
“My coaching staff, they believe in me a lot,” Burns said. “They told me from the go it was going to come to me, and it was up to me to deliver.”
Despite going 1-9 from three in the first half, the Pack put up 42 points by getting to the rim. Burns and company scored 30 points in the paint in the first 20 minutes to make up for the poor 3-point shooting.
It was near the end of the first half when the Pack found its stride, going on a 19-0 run to give it momentum heading into the locker room. During this stretch, Burns made the play of the night when he spun past his defender and got up for a rare dunk that sent everyone in the crowd into a frenzy.
“That was pretty smooth,” Keatts said. “He made a great move. … I thought that was a really spectacular play in the game.”
In the second half, it was the other DJ, graduate guard DJ Horne, that got things going for the Pack. Horne scored 14 of his 18 points in the second half and showed his ability to score from all three levels, his confidence growing with every made shot.
“I had been going through a slump as far as my shot,” Horne said. “Once I saw the first one go in as a shooter, the basket gets wider and wider with each shot.”
In addition to being the leading scorer, Horne also led the team with six rebounds. When shots weren’t falling for him in the first half, Horne still made an impact on the game, grabbing five of his six rebounds in addition to two steals.
“I would give the game ball to DJ Horne,” Keatts said. “He scored the basketball, but for me, the game ball goes typically to the guy that impacted the game in a positive way other than just scoring.”
Horne wasn’t the only newcomer that came alive in the second half — freshman guard Dennis Parker Jr. found his game as well. Parker was a menace on the defensive end, recording two steals in the half and turning his defense into offense, scoring seven of his 12 points in the final 20 minutes.
“He got a lot better today,” Keatts said. “He played active and did a great job, and that’s good because as Dennis Parker becomes a better player as a freshman, it’s only going to help our team.”
It seems like the Pack has already found a strong team chemistry despite having eight new faces on the roster. The Wolfpack committed just six turnovers and finished the night with 14 total assists.
The Wolfpack will travel to Las Vegas, Nevada on Thursday, Nov. 23 to take on Vanderbilt as part of the Vegas Showdown. Tip off is set for 10 p.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN.
