In the wake of news that sophom*ore forward Jaylon Gibson has entered the transfer portal, here is how the NC State basketball roster is currently configured for the 2022-23 season.
NC State Basketball Guards
Thus far the only known departure is that of fifth-year senior Thomas Allen, who played in 26 games and made six starts last season while averaging 3.8 points and 14.5 minutes per contest.
Headlining the potential group of returning players for NC State are second-team All-ACC redshirt sophom*ore Dereon Seabron and ACC All-Freshman Team member Terquavion Smith.
Seabron led NC State in scoring (17.3 points), rebounding (8.2 boards), assists (102) and steals (44) this past season. His 12 double doubles were the second most in the ACC.
Smith averaged 16.3 points per game and set a school record for most threes made by a freshman with 96. That was also the third most made in a season overall for a NC State player, trailing the 104 that Scott Wood made in 2013 and Rodney Monroe had in 1991.
Smith shot 36.9 percent overall from long range, and he was NC State’s leading scorer in ACC games at 18.3 points. He shot 40.1 percent on three pointers in league action (73 of 182).
Smith’s overall scoring average is technically the second highest by a freshman in school history behind Brandon Costner’s 16.8 in 2007. Dennis Smith Jr. had his average of 18.1 points in 2017 taken off the record books by the recent NCAA IARP ruling.
Junior Casey Morsell averaged 7.2 points per game in his first season after transferring from Virginia. Morsell missed two games with ankle sprain but seemingly took even longer than that to fully recover.
Sophom*ore Cam Hayes slumped from a promising freshman season. In 2020-21, Hayes averaged 7.8 points and 3.1 assists while making 36.4 percent of his threes (28 of 77). In his last eight games that year, Hayes averaged 11.0 points and 3.4 assists while helping the Pack go 6-2 in that span.
This year, Hayes averaged 7.0 points and 2.1 assists per game, while playing all 32 contests and making 13 starts. In ACC games, Hayes’ numbers dipped to 5.1 points and 1.7 assists, and he had just as many turnovers (33) as assists (33). Hayes also made just 25 of 100 three pointers on the season.
Freshman Breon Pass averaged 2.2 points and 0.7 assists in his debut season, playing in 24 games. Pass saw increased playing time late in the year, getting doubl- digits minutes in the final four contests.
NC State also signed On3 Consensus three-star LJ Thomas, who previously played at Bull City Prep in Carrboro, N.C. Thomas averaged 18.5 points, 4.2 assists and 3.5 rebounds per game while shooting 44 percent overall from the field last year at Bull City Prep.
The On3 Consensus has Thomas rated at No. 144 nationally in the 2022 class.
Forwards And Centers
Senior Jericole Hellems is not expected to use the extra year afforded him, and Hellems and Gibson mark the known departures from the front court.
Hellems concluded his career at NC State as a 1,000-point scorer. He averaged 13.7 points and 4.6 rebounds per game this past season, and joined Seabron as the only player to start all 32 games.
Gibson played in 29 contests and made four starts, averaging 2.7 points and 2.7 rebounds per contest.
The biggest returnee would be redshirt junior center Manny Bates, who missed all but 57 seconds of the season with a shoulder injury. The prolific shot blocker (147 rejections in his first two seasons) averaged 9.8 points and 5.9 boards per game in 2020-21.
In Bates’ absence, Gibson and sophom*ore Ebenezer Dowuona played most of the minutes. Dowuona started 27 of 31 games he played and averaged 4.1 points and 4.1 rebounds while leading the team with 54 blocked shots.
NC State also inked On3 Consensus three-star center Shawn PhillipsJr. from Dayton, Ohio. He played this past season at Dream City Christian in Glendale, Ariz. Phillips is rated as the No. 124 prospect in the country by the On3 Consensus.
Two players likely more ideally suited to play power forward expected back are freshman Ernest Ross and junior Greg Gantt. Both would be returning from injuries.
Ross was averaging 1.6 points and 1.6 rebounds in 14 games before breaking his ankle. Gantt missed all season with a sports hernia after transferring from Providence, where he averaged 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds as a sophom*ore.
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