This week, the NC State men’s basketball team added some new young talent on signing day for 2020. The team added three players with very different skill sets, adding power forward Nick Farrar, point guard Cam Hayes and center Ebenezer Dowuona.
Nick Farrar
Farrar, a 6-foot-7, 230-pound power forward, had offers from the likes of Houston, Cincinnati, LSU, Texas A&M and Rutgers before getting an offer with NC State, where he committed just two days after receiving the offer. Farrar is a three-star recruit with a 0.8864 composite rating, according to 247Sports.
Farrar has a strong inside and outside game, being able to score at all levels while also excelling at rebounding. In that sense, he is similar to current graduate forward Pat Andree, which is a positive, as Andree’s ability to fill the stretch-four role is crucial to the success of this team.
Cam Hayes
Hayes, a 6-foot-1 point guard out of Greensboro Day School, is the highest-profile prospect the Pack added on signing day. Hayes is a four-star recruit with a 0.9829 composite rating, according to 247Sports. Hayes is the third-ranked point guard in North Carolina for 2020, the fifth-ranked point guard in the nation and the 46th-ranked player in the nation for the class of 2020.
Hayes had offers from Tennessee, Wake Forest, Clemson and Texas Tech, but chose NC State to play under head coach Kevin Keatts and potentially mimic former NC State point guard Dennis Smith Jr.’s one-and-done path to the NBA.
The 160-pound point guard is a highly aware playmaker with a strong ability to knock down shots from deep. Hayes also contains the ability to get to the basket and draw a decent amount of fouls, something every successful scorer needs to do.
Ebenezer Dowuona
Like Farrar, Dowuona is a three-star recruit for the Pack. He is rated at 0.8764, according to 247Sports, and is the 39th-ranked center in the nation.
Dowuona has strong interior skills, measuring up at 6-foot-10 with a long frame and shot-blocking abilities. Dowuona will likely play the defensive anchor role for the Wolfpack, a role that freshman center Manny Bates is filling nicely currently. Dowuona will likely back up Bates and looks as if he is a similarly high-energy player.
Early signing for fall ends on Nov. 20, and the Pack and Keatts will likely be looking to make another move before the end of the week-long period. Four-star forward Josh Hall and three-star guard Shakeel Moore, teammates at Moravian Prep in North Carolina, are two likely targets who could announce their decisions before the end of the signing period. Hall is the 49th-ranked prospect in the nation, according to 247Sports.
