Tennessee Basketball Nos. 12 Vols face NC State in San Antonio
SAN ANTONIO, TEXAS – No. 12 Tennessee basketball will travel to the heart of Texas on Saturday night to take on NC State in a neutral-site game at the Frost Bank Center in San Antonio.
Tip-off is scheduled for 10 p.m. ET on ESPN2 with Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (analyst) on the call.
It will be only the second time the Vols have played in San Antonio. Their only previous road trip came on March 22, 2007, when they lost to Ohio State at the Alamo Dome in the Sweet Sixteen of the 2007 NCAA Tournament.
To prepare for Saturday night’s game between Tennessee (7-3) and NC State (7-2), we’ll take a look at relevant information, what to watch for in the game, and provide a quick game prediction. out the door.
Relevant informationLocation: Frost Bank Center (18418) in San Antonio, TexasTip/TV: 10:00 p.m.
ET on ESPN2 Broad cast Team: Kevin Fitzgerald (PxP) and Carolyn Peck (Analyst)NC State Head Coach: Kevin Keatts (120-81/seventh season) Kevin Keatts vs. Tennessee: 0-1Rick Barnes vs.
NC State: 7-4/1-0 with TennesseeSeries history: Tennessee is 4-7 all-time against NC StateKen Poms Prediction: 78-69, Tennessee (80% chance to win)Tennessee Ken Pom Rank: No. 8 (No. 33 in Offensive Efficiency/No. 3 in Defensive Efficiency)
Georgia Southern KenPom Rank: No. 72 (No. 75 in Offensive Efficiency/No. 65 in Defensive Efficiency) The favorite: Tennessee is the favorite with 9.0 points Three things I observe1. Familiar faces Tennessee will face a familiar face when it takes on the Wolf Pack.
NC State fifth-year forward DJ Burns signed with Tennessee out of high school and redshirted in his lone season at Rocky Top in 2018. Burns transferred to Winthrop after his redshirt season and played three seasons with the Eagles before deciding to transfer to NC State.
“I think the most important thing about recruiting DJ – and, you know, a wonderful family – was that DJ came in at a time where our main goal with him was to get him in great shape,” Vols coach Rick Barnes told the media. Friday “But as far as his game goes, I think he’s doing what we expected him to do.”
Remember, he did a good job at Winthrop after he left and is now at the N.C. State Games. I think he played the most minutes he’s ever played. I think he plays about 28 minutes a game, which is awesome.
I think coach Keatts [Kevin Keatts] obviously wants him on the field so much. He worked hard to get to this position. Burns led NC State and ranked fourth in the ACC in field goal percentage last season, making 56.1 percent of his field goal attempts.
He is averaging 13.3 points, 5.8 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game this season while shooting 53.4% from the field. “DJ can score,” Barnes said. “We knew we recruited him.”
A guy who, you know, has a really soft touch around the basket, can really shoot the ball 15 feet. And obviously he will work hard to get his space where he wants it. He’ll get it, you know, outside and around the three-point line. If necessary, he dribbles like a crab to reach his position.
I think he really understands where he’s effective on the pitch and he’s doing his best to get there. “He IS a big guy and very skilled,” added sophomore Tobe Awaka. “He’s pretty quick and knows how to work the rim. So I think it’s going to be important to do our job early and make sure he doesn’t get a good post position.2.
How do Flights react? Tennessee beat Georgia Southern by double digits Tuesday night in a game the Eagles never really expected to win.
The scoreboard looked comfortable, but the play in the second half was far from it. Barnes was unhappy with his veterans and how they performed in the final frame in which Southern defeated the Vols 35-25.
At one point, Georgia Southern cut Tennessee’s 49-21 halftime lead to a 13-point game midway through the second half.
Although Barnes was very disappointed Tuesday, the Vols coach appreciated how his veterans responded in practice as they prepared to face the Wolfpack.“What I tell them all the time, about how hard these guys work — and our guys work hard — every game is an opportunity to take that hard work and do what you do,” Barnes said. “That’s why you play.
And I realize that there are games we can have mentally where we may not have what we want to have every day. It happens.
But the main thing is, how do you react afterwards? And I thought they did a good job yesterday.3. Can the Vols slow down the wolf pack’s attack? According to KenPom, Tennessee enters Saturday’s game with the third-most efficient defense in the country.
He’ll face an NC State offense featuring four players averaging double figures in Butler transfer guard Jayden Taylor (14.7 pp), Burns (13.3), Arizona State transfer guard DJ Horne (13.3) and Virginia transfer guard Casey Morsell (13.0).
The four transfers make up an NC State roster where 10 of the 13 scholarship players are upperclassmen. The Wolfpack’s experienced composition gives them a deep bench that appreciates basketball.
Through nine games, NC State is averaging 20.8 bench points per game and has already recorded five double-digit individual bench performances.
Ten different players reached double-digit scoring, as every scholarship player who played at least 10 minutes in a game scored in double-digits.
No player has been the team’s top scorer in two consecutive games. With a sales margin of +4.8, NC State ranks 17th nationally.
The Pack forces opponents to commit an average of 14.4 turnovers per game (76th in the NCAA/3rd in the ACC) while turning over an average of just 9.7 times per game (22nd in the NCAA/4th in the ACC).
The wolf pack makes it a point to get out and run during the transition period. They dominated their last three opponents by 43 points on fast break points (59-16). For the season, NC State is averaging 17.8 fast break points per game, ranking 13th in college basketball.
Prediction for NC State vs. No. 12 Tennessee Basketball:Tennessee will be the first opponent NC State will face this season. The Wolfpack are 1-2 in three games against Ken Pom top 100 opponents, while six of the nine opponents they have faced are outside the top 200.
Meanwhile, the Vols are ranked fifth in the nation in KenPom’s program rankings and are the only Power Six team in the top seven on the list.
The fact that UT is put to the test will make the difference. TENNESSEE 73, NC STATE 66Ranking of the best rookies in the NBAThe NBA regular season is over, so we ranked this year’s top rookies and traced their roots back to high school.
The NBA regular season is over and the play-in tournament will tip over Tuesday night. This means we can collectively look back at the 2022 draft class and how they performed in their rookie seasons.
Yet we don’t just judge the best rookies. We follow their journeys, including what they did in high school and where they eventually got drafted.
The process not only provides greater insight into how these players have developed, but also provides some clues as to which characteristics or qualities translate best to the higher levels of the game.
