In the regular-season debut against Tennessee Tech, the talented triumvirate of freshmen left Wolfpack fans licking their chops. Whether it was the no-look alley-oop pass from freshman Lorenzo Brown to fellow rookie C.J. Leslie, Ryan Harrow’s fake behind the back lay-up, or Brown blocking a shot into the third row, the youngsters kept fans on the edge of their seats while acclimating themselves to the game of college basketball.

Brown, Leslie and Harrow combined for 51 points in Friday night’s 82-69 victory. Leslie led all scorers with 21 points followed by Brown and Harrow with 16 and 14 points, respectively.

“I think they are great, all three of them,” coach Sidney Lowe said of the freshmen. “Granted, they made some mistakes, but I think they are very poised. For three freshmen to play against an experienced team like we did, they handled it well. They play with poise. They have a lot of confidence in themselves.”

Despite Lowe’s words of reassurance and high praise, Brown admitted he had some butterflies in his stomach before his first collegiate game.

“I was pretty nervous tonight, I’m not going to lie,” Brown said. “It’s part of college basketball, you just have to get used to it. It was a great feeling to play here in front of all the fans though.”

Brown was the only freshman to start the game, but Harrow and Leslie provided a boost of energy coming off the bench.

“That’s what we have to be coming off the bench, we have to be that spark,” Harrow said. “If other guys aren’t doing something we are just going to pick up the slack and try to get the other guys to pick up the pace and do what we know we can do.”

Picking up the pace is something Lowe hopes to do with this year’s team compared to last year’s.

“This is a different team,” Lowe said. “This team is made up differently. That team was made sort of to execute and run plays. This team is made to run down the floor, and create shots for each other. This is the thing I have been talking about for three years.”

Despite shooting only 41-percent from the field, the Pack had five players in double figures, with Leslie, Harrow and Brown leading the way, followed by sophomore forward Scott Wood with 11 points and senior forward Tracy Smith with 10 points.

“It’s going to be hard to pick just one player to stop,” Wood said. “We have a lot of weapons on offense. Other teams sort of have to pick their poison, and it’s tough for defenses to do that.”

State will be back in action Thursday against East Carolina in the Charleston Classic. And for the fifth-ranked recruiting class, the debut was exciting for players, fans and coaches alike.

“It felt good,” Leslie said. “We played against a good team and we got a victory. You can’t really ask for more than that.”