The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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140 ■ THE WOLFPACKER ■ Best Men's Team Win When Keatts took his squad to the Dean Smith Center in Chapel Hill to face No. 10 UNC, the circumstances suggested it could be a long afternoon for NC State. The Heels had lost two in a row and had a week off to prepare for the team that UNC head coach Roy Williams openly admits he despises more than any other program. Add to that, NC State had to play a 9 p.m. road game at Pitt on a Wednesday night that it did not return from until 3 a.m. Thursday morning before turning around for a noon tipoff at UNC on Saturday. Yet, at the end of overtime, it was the fans in red at the Dean Dome celebrating while the others were feeling the blues. Behind a marvelous shooting display from fifth-year senior guard Allerik Freeman, who made all seven of his three-pointers and scored 29 points, NC State won 95-91. ■ Best Women's Team Win On Feb. 1, NC State women's basketball was 17-5 overall and 6-3 in the ACC, but lacked that signature win to earn top-25 consideration. That changed when No. 10 Florida State came to Raleigh. NCSU, led by 18 points from senior center Akela Maize, prevailed 65-56. ■ Best Upset Win You can pick whichever win over a No. 2-ranked team by Keatts' squad you want: the 90-84 win in the Bahamas over Arizona or the 96-85 home win over Duke. In the former, Freeman's 24 points and freshman guard Braxton Beverly's 20 led the way in the NCSU stunner. In the latter, six different NC State players scored in double figures, including redshirt junior wing Torin Dorn who made a four-point play with 1:06 left to seal the victory. ■ Best Recruiting Class Popolizio's wrestling class included five wrestlers ranked among the top 100 by Intermat.com, headlined by No. 19 Jakob Camacho from Danbury, Conn., and No. 22 Trent Hidlay from Mifflin County, Pa., the younger brother of NCSU star and 2018 NCAA finalist Hayden Hidlay. Camacho, who will wrestle at 125 or 133 pounds, is a three-time state champ in Con- necticut and was also a 2018 FloNation- als champion and 2017 Super 32 National Champion. Hidlay (174 pounds) won 81 straight matches, including a pair of state titles, without surrendering a takedown to cap his prep career. ■ The Wolfpack men's basketball squad posted five wins against ranked foes this year — with two coming against the nation's No. 2 team, including a 96-85 victory versus Duke Jan. 6. PHOTO BY KEN MARTIN Senior Salutes These five seniors are among those who have completed their Wolfpack careers and left their marks on the field of play. Allerik Freeman, Basketball In his one and only season for the Pack after landing in Raleigh as a graduate transfer from Baylor, Freeman led NC State in scoring at 16.1 points per game. He also had a penchant for coming up big in the marquee games. Freeman scored 24 points in the win over No. 2 Arizona in the Bahamas, made all seven of his three-point tries en route to 29 points in an overtime win over UNC in Chapel Hill and buried a ranked FSU team with 25 points in a 20-point home win. He was also the Pack's most consistent postseason performer. He scored 21 points in the ACC Tournament against Boston College and 36 points in the NCAA Tournament versus Seton Hall. Kevin Jack, Wrestling The Danbury, Conn., native went 23-6 in his final campaign at NC State and took sixth place at 141 pounds at the NCAA Championships, earning the third All-America honor of his career, one of just five wrestlers ever at NC State to achieve that. He was also a two-time ACC champion. Jack finished his career with 113 wins, second most by a Wolfpacker behind only Sylvester Terkay's 122. He once had a 29-match winning streak that is tied for the fifth longest in school history, and his career winning percentage of .839 is sixth highest at State among those with at least 50 bouts. Akela Maize, Basketball Persistence paid off for Maize. After playing sparingly as a reserve for two seasons, Maize stepped into the rota - tion as a junior. Then this past season, she became a full-time starter. The center from Greensboro, N.C., made the All-ACC Defensive Team after blocking 68 shots, the second-highest total in a single season in school history. For the year, Maize averaged 10.0 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.9 blocks a game, and she led the Pack in field goal shooting at 52.2 percent (130 of 249). Joe O'Donnell, Baseball NC State fans always felt secure when O'Donnell, with his long hair flowing under his baseball cap, came trotting out of the bullpen. He had 11 saves as a senior with an impressive 1.48 ERA in 24 games. He allowed only 18 hits in 30 1 ⁄3 innings and struck out 40 batters. The native of Wilmington, N.C., finished his career — which spanned five seasons after he was granted a medi- cal hardship when an injury cut his 2016 season short after six games — with an 18-8 record in 95 games, a new school record, and 18 saves, third most in team history. Jaylen Samuels, Football Samuels was tabbed as a third-team All-American by the Associated Press at tight end and earned first-team All-ACC accolades as an all-purpose player after his senior season, in which he caught 76 passes, the most of any tight end nationally. That is, of course, if you want to call Samuels a tight end. He was one of the most versatile offensive weapons to ever come through Raleigh, and he left as the school's all-time leading receiver with 202 catches. His 47 career touchdowns (28 rushing and 19 receiving) were second most at NC State. He was picked in the fifth round of the 2018 NFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, who are expected to play him at running back. However, they already have the blueprint for how to utilize a versatile weapon like Samuels in two-time All-Pro Le'Veon Bell, who has rushed for 1,200-plus yards and hauled in at least 600 more each of the last two years.