The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1419104
26 ■ THE WOLFPACKER 2021-22 MEN'S BASKETBALL PREVIEW injury, but prior to that he averaged 7.4 points per game and shot 37.9 percent from long range while making four threes in three different ACC games. He was nearly automatic at the line, making 15 of 19 (78.9 percent). Those two will be joined by three new- comers who hope to boost the backcourt: Virginia transfer Casey Morsell, and sign- ees Breon Pass and Terquavion Smith. Morsell, a native of Fort Washington, Md., started 16 games and played in 53 during his two seasons with the Cavaliers. He averaged 4.4 points per game last year before entering the transfer portal. Keatts is confident the former four-star recruit, who was rated as the No. 56 overall prospect in the 2019 class per the 247Sports composite rankings, will find a better fit at NC State. Both Morsell and Smith could contend for immediate starting roles. "If you take myself back 10 years, be- cause you know I am really young, I would say [Smith] is a bucket," Keatts joked. "He scores the basketball." Smith, from Greenville, N.C., has a chance to have a special freshman season, Keatts added. He was listed as the No. 97 overall prospect in the 2021 class accord- ing to the 247Sports composite. "He's one of the most competitive guys that I know," the coach said. "What we're trying to get him to be is consistent. … He's a really good basketball player, and it's going to be really, really hard to keep him out of the starting lineup at times." Pass, a standout football and basketball Sophomore guard Cam Hayes averaged 7.8 points and a team-high 3.1 assists per game last year, and added around 10 pounds this offseason to become a "different guy" per head coach Kevin Keatts. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE ATHLETICS " I think a lot of people have already counted us out and put us on the back burner, and that's fine. … I think that's just motivation for us as a team to keep pushing and be ready for whatever. " Senior forward Jericole Hellems