The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/197085
L By Matt Carter ast year, NC State employed a three-man rotation on the wing. Rodney Purvis and Scott Wood started, and Lorenzo Brown would slide over from his point guard position when Tyler Lewis came into the game. The season before that, Wood started with C.J. Williams, who was a senior that year, and again Brown would slide over, this time when another senior, Alex Johnson, came into the game. All of those players are gone, and NC State is left trying to fill the void entirely with newcomers. The word newcomer is relative in this case, however. Two players that head coach Mark Gottfried is banking on have never played for NCSU, but they still bring experience to the court. Ralston Turner was a two-year starter at LSU before transferring to the Pack in the summer of 2012 and sitting out last year per transfer rules. Desmond Lee is a 23year old import from New Mexico Junior College in Roswell, N.M., where he was a junior college All-American last season. Turner and Lee represent the X-factors on this year's squad. The question is, how well will their respective games translate to what is arguably the toughest basketball conference in the country: the ACC. For his part, Gottfried is confident that the transition should be smooth, at least for Turner. "I think Ralston and Desmond are different in that Ralston has played in the SEC," Gottfried noted. "Ralston has played at Kentucky, at Tennessee. He's been on the road and understands it a little bit. Desmond is older as a junior college player, but he hasn't really been in that environment yet. He hasn't scored a basket at the Division I level. "Ralston has also had the year here in our program, where he has practiced with us. He understands our offense, our terminology and everything we're doing. In that regard, he's probably a little bit ahead of a lot of the guys because he has that." Finally Suiting Up Last year at media day, Turner donned his No. 22 NC State jersey for the last time that season. "I wore my uniform last year twice: for picture day and media day," Turner recalled. "After that, I didn't see it again." Turner instead became more visible as the 6-5, 209-pound man in street clothes Lee (left) comes to the Pack after two seasons at New Mexico Junior College, while Turner (right) sat out last season after transferring from LSU to NC State in the summer of 2012. Photo by Ken martin Ba ketball Preview 2013-14 at the end of NC State's bench, watching while sitting out the season. He would often hear from family and friends, "We saw you on the bench." "I was like, 'Cool, you are going to see me in the next game and the next game and the next game on the bench,'" Turner joked. Sitting out a season can be difficult, especially for a player as experienced as Turner was at LSU. He started 59 of 60 games for the Tigers, averaging 10.6 points a game and making 99 three-pointers in two seasons. Turner, though, had a different perspective to taking a seat on the bench and watching. "They always say you see more once you step outside the box," Turner noted. "For me, I was very receptive. I just wanted to learn. I never have been a guy who feels like I can't learn, or that I don't have to listen." One of the biggest lessons Turner learned last year was watching the preseason ACC favorite struggle to live up to high expectations. "Pressure is what you make it," Turner said. "The thing I saw last year is you have to handle it. Obviously, you work hard to put yourself in that situation, so now you have to handle it. That's easier said than done, but that's what I learned." To help deal with that pressure of performing up to high standards, Turner has worked hard to expand his game beyond his reputation of being a spot-up shooter. "Obviously, they are going to run me off the baselines, stuff like that," Turner acknowledged. "I just want to see if I can make plays in other ways." Turner knows that he cannot replace the departed Wood, who left NC State as its career leader in three-pointers made (334) and free throw percentage (88.6 percent), as a shooter. Turner learned first hand that he's not Wood when he challenged the former NCSU sharp-shooter in a game of "Horse" a couple of times. In "Horse," a player will shoot a shot, and if he makes it the opponent has to make it or gets a letter. The first one to spell out "horse" loses. Turner lost quickly both times, and he never tried again. "He absolutely killed me," Turner noted. "I'm talking like it was probably 'horse' to no letters for him." Turner is comfortable and confident that he is prepared to take on a large role for the Wolfpack. "I'm not worried about it," he said. "All I can do is get out there and work hard. It's just basketball. It's nothing to be scared of. "I don't think it'll be that much of an adjustment. At LSU, our style was different from here. Coach Gottfried likes to get up and down and run. At LSU, we were in the halfcourt and it was grind it out. At the same time, we did play some teams that were fast. I've seen it before; it's nothing I haven't seen." The bigger difference for Turner has been more about the attitude toward the sport of basketball among his new conference rivals. "Coming from the SEC, it's all about football," he said. "It's kind of different to be on the basketball side. "It's just a different feel in the ACC." Making It To The ACC Unlike Turner, Lee knows he is in for something he has not seen. "It's going to be real different," Lee admitted. "First and foremost, the crowd, more people, and better athletes than junior college. You might have three or four guys on the court in junior college that are good. At this level everybody is good. It'll be a big difference, a big change for me. "I worked out all summer, and I'm ready for it." Lee has really been working toward this moment longer than just a summer, though. He was determined while at Washington High in Norfolk, Va., to make it out of the city. "There's not enough positive going on around there," Lee noted. "I just tried to stay focused and positive about myself and making it somewhere so someone can look up to me and say they can do it. They can make it, too." Thus Lee was not deterred by having to go to a junior college on the other side of the country, or joining a program at New Mexico Junior College that has not traditionally won much. In fact, the challenge of turning the program around appealed to him. "When I talked to the coach, James Miller, he was telling me they weren't good and hadn't made the postseason in 10-12 years. I just wanted to go there, change the program and do something special there," Lee said. "I was able to do that. "I just went there to win games, and I knew everything would take care of itself if I did what I had to do on the court and in the classroom. Once coaches started coming in, that's when it became a reality." After Lee averaged 20.3 points a game as a sophomore, coaches that Lee only knew about through watching basketball on television were calling him. He heard from Alabama, Arkansas, Baylor, Cincinnati, Creighton and Marquette, but NCSU had a couple of distinct advantages. November 2013 ■ 31 30-32.Men's BKB Transfers.indd 31 10/22/13 12:58 PM