It’s the beginning of February, just one month away from the ACC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament. With the NC State men’s basketball team sitting at a disappointing 10-12 mark with just nine games left, it’s time to take a look at how players are faring down the stretch. Since this season has been marked by individual accomplishments for the most part, let’s take a look at how each member of the Pack’s rotation has fared so far.
Before we jump into things, a couple of things to consider: one, each player isn’t graded on the same scale. So, a C for Breon Pass is not the same as a C for Jericole Hellems. Grades are dependent on the role a given player plays and how many minutes are played. Second, the threshold for grading is 100 total minutes. Guys like junior guard Chase Graham haven’t played enough to earn a grade. Without further ado, let’s get started.
G Thomas Allen
In a more reduced role this season, redshirt senior guard Thomas Allen has been playing in more of a spot role, providing some decent moments here and there. Allen had a nice revenge game of sorts against Nebraska, coming up with some clutch moments. His best game came off the bench against Miami, hitting 5 of 6 3s and earning a starting role for the next few games.
Unfortunately, Allen didn’t capitalize on that opportunity and has been making sporadic appearances since.
Grade: C-
F Ebenezer Dowuona
Second-year forward Ebenezer Dowuona was not expected to be a huge part of the Pack’s big man rotation entering the year. Dowuona was set to play a similar role to redshirt junior forward Manny Bates’ first season with the Pack, except in an off-the-bench manner. Instead, Bates went down for the year and Dowuona saw a huge uptick in minutes.
It hasn’t always been pretty for Dowuona, but he’s made some significant strides in improving his game as the year has gone on. His efforts against Duke were commendable and he looked flat-out awesome against Nebraska. Dowuona is a raw prospect, but this year has been a huge milestone in his progression.
Grade: B-
F Jaylon Gibson
Rough is really the only adequate way to describe second-year forward Jaylon Gibson’s season. Gibson entered the year as a guy that was expected to only see spot minutes, with Bates, Dowuona and Gantt all ahead of him in the big rotation. However, Gibson was thrust into a larger role after the Bates injury, backing up Dowuona and being the only other guy 6-foot-9 or above after Ross was also injured.
It hasn’t been pretty for Gibson, who seems out of his element against opposing bigs. Unfortunately, Gibson has had more lowlights than highlights this season, knocking his grade down.
Grade: D
G Cam Hayes
Second-year guard Cam Hayes has been in a downward spiral for the last month or so. The second-year point guard was expected to be the guy at the point after Shakeel Moore transferred out over the offseason, but that hasn’t exactly gone according to plan. Hayes began the year as the starting point, sharing the backcourt with junior guard Casey Morsell. But over time, first-year guard Terquavion Smith took over for Morsell, and then Hayes lost his starting spot.
Several guards have taken his starting role, and Hayes’ last start came against Miami on Dec. 29, 2021. Since then, Hayes has been banished to the end of the rotation and guys like first-year guard Breon Pass tend to play over him at times.
Grade: C-
F Jericole Hellems
Before the season, most everybody expected that senior forward Jericole Hellems would be the guy to lead the team in scoring and be the go-to guy for most games. That hasn’t exactly been the case. The emergence of redshirt second-year guard Dereon Seabron and Smith were impossible to predict, but that doesn’t mean that Hellems doesn’t deserve some blame.
Hellems has improved on some things, including his per-game scoring which stands at 15 a game, and his 3-point shooting, knocking down 42.1% of his 5.5 3-pointers attempted per game. But unfortunately, Hellems has been far too inconsistent this year and the team goes as he goes. When Hellems has five or more 3s in a game, the Pack is 5-2. When he doesn’t? The team is 5-10.
At its surface, 15 points per game seems amazing — and it would be for most players — but Hellems is capable of more and has thus far been disappointing.
Grade: C+
G Casey Morsell
Some well-imbedded moles around the basketball team may have led some members of the Wolfpack faithful to believe that Morsell was set for an astronomical season. While he hasn’t done that, he’s still been quite effective for the Pack. Beginning the year as a starter, Morsell looked especially impressive early in the year, averaging 12.3 points per game in the first seven games of the year.
But then, Morsell got injured and, since returning, he hasn’t looked the same. However, Morsell is back to averaging 10 points per game in his last four games, so the return to form may be soon to come. On the year though, Morsell has been solid.
Grade: B
G Breon Pass
Pass has gotten some calls to play an even larger role by the Wolfpack faithful. As a strong defender, Pass has shown plenty of hustle and heart in his limited role thus far, rounding out a truly impressive first-year class. However, Pass hasn’t played enough to make that much of an impact, and he still has a ways to go in terms of his development.
The main issue for Pass is controlling the amount of times he commits fouls. Pass averages a ridiculous 5.2 fouls per 40 minutes, which is a number one usually only sees when looking at young big men, who have a tendency to foul more when going up for a block. Pass is 6-foot-0 flat, and most of his fouls come when he overpressures opponents.
Grade: C
F Ernest Ross
Out of all the players to receive grades, Ross is the closest to receiving an incomplete, seeing as he just barely clears the 100-minute threshold. Ross played sparingly in his first-year season, seeing action in just 14 games and averaging 7.1 minutes per night before suffering a season-ending injury.
Toward the end of his season, Ross showed improvements on the margins and was a decent backup big in spot situations and playing in the clutch. Those improvements make Ross an exciting prospect for the Wolfpack to have around for the future, though he didn’t do much this season.
Grade: C
G/F Dereon Seabron
What a leap for Seabron. Without a doubt the biggest success story of the season, Seabron went from a borderline rotation player last year to an outright superstar for the Wolfpack. Though it hasn’t always been pretty, Seabron has kept the Pack in almost every game this season. You saw the results of Seabron having an off game when the Wolfpack was blown out by UNC-Chapel Hill over the weekend.
Seabron is averaging 18.3 points, 8.9 rebounds and 3.3 assists per game on the season and had 21 games in a row scoring in double figures. The combo guard/forward is doing everything he can to become Keatts’ first NBA product, which would do numbers for an already stacked recruiting team.
Grade: A+
G Terquavion Smith
“Terquavion Smith is a bucket,” Keatts said before the season. Not enough people believed him, but they should’ve. Joining Seabron, Smith is a star player for this team as a true first-year, averaging 15.3 on 35.5% shooting from deep. He’s confident. He’s bold. He is improving on a game-by-game basis. But most importantly, he always reminds Wolfpack fans that he’s giving it his all on a nightly basis.
It’s pretty telling that Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski said that he gets scared whenever Smith touches the basketball. He’s that dangerous.
Smith was expected to be a starter before the season, but no one could’ve predicted just how good he has been. Fresh off a career-high 34 points against UNC, Smith will look to continue his tremendous season against the rest of the ACC.
Grade: A+
