The Wolfpacker: An Independent Magazine Covering NC State Sports
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26 ■ THE WOLFPACKER TRACKING THE PACK MEN'S BASKETBALL SET TO PLAY PENN STATE IN BIG TEN-ACC CHALLENGE The NC State men's basketball team will host Penn State in the Big Ten-ACC Challenge Nov. 29. NC State and Penn State have met 19 times, with the Wolfpack leading the all-time series 16-3. In the last Challenge meeting between the two schools, NCSU topped PSU 84-76 on Nov. 29, 2000. The Wolfpack and Nittany Lions last faced each other in the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Nov. 20, 2012, with the Red and White prevailing 72-55. Penn State went with a youth movement last year and finished with a 15-18 overall record after losing six of its last seven games. Point guard Tony Carr, power forward Lamar Stevens and center Mike Watkins all had successful first years in 2016-17. Senior shooting guard Shep Garner and junior wing Josh Reaves join the talented sophomore trio. Carr led the team with 13.2 points and 4.2 assists per game, but shot only 37.7 percent from the field and 32.0 percent on three-pointers. Stevens, who played high school and traveling team ball with Carr, was second on the squad with 12.7 points and 5.5 rebounds per contest. Watkins brings good size at 6-9 and 246 pounds, and he averaged 9.7 points while leading the squad with 8.1 rebounds and 2.7 blocks per game. Garner brings long-range accuracy and averaged 12.0 points per game. Penn State did suffer some premature transfers, with wings Payton Banks and Terrence Samuel both leaving for South Florida. Banks hit 73 three-pointers and was fourth on the team in scoring with 10.4 points per game. The Wolfpack will also take part in the Battle 4 At - lantis Nov. 22-24 in the Bahamas. NC State, Arizona, Northern Iowa, Purdue, SMU, Tennessee, Villanova and Western Kentucky comprise the field. WOMEN'S BASKETBALL PROGRAM LANDS GRADUATE TRANSFER The NC State women's basketball team has landed Maryland graduate transfer Kiara Leslie. Leslie, who is the younger sister of former NC State men's basketball player C.J. Leslie, will have two sea- sons of eligibility with the Wolfpack. The 6-0 Leslie missed the 2016-17 campaign due to an ankle injury. She had played in 67 games and made seven starts her first two years, and helped the Ter- rapins reach the Final Four in 2015. "Kiara Leslie is a local player from Holly Springs and when we arrived a few years ago, she had already com- mitted to Maryland," NCSU women's basketball head coach Wes Moore said. "Even so, we were very aware of her and knew that she was a very talented player. What we're excited about and what she brings to the table for us is that she's a long, athletic guard who can score in a variety of ways. "She's a factor on the boards both offensively and defensively, and she's someone who we think could match up well on the defensive end, and then cause matchup problems for other teams because of her versatility on offense." Leslie averaged 3.6 points and 2.7 rebounds in 10.4 minutes per game during her freshman season, and followed that up by posting 4.4 points and 3.0 re - bounds in 11.3 minutes per contest her sophomore season. Leslie earned Academic All-Big Ten honors in 2016 and has scored in double figures on seven occasions, one of which was a double-double. Leslie had a career- high 22 points at Maryland-Eastern Shore on Dec. 20, 2015, and she pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds in a contest at Illinois on Dec. 31, 2015. Leslie joined freshman signees Kai Crutchfield, a point guard from Raleigh Millbrook, and Kaya Jones, a forward from Riverside High in Williamston, N.C. Redshirt junior guard Armani Hawkins, a transfer from Arizona State, will be eligible after the first semester. NCSU also has a good jump on the future with ver - bal commitments from senior center Elissa Cunane of Greensboro (N.C.) Northern Guilford, junior point guard Kendal Moore of Fayetteville (N.C.) Northwood Temple Academy and junior guard Jada Peebles of Raleigh Wakefield. Charlotte transfer Grace Hunter of Raleigh will also be eligible for the 2018-19 season. MEN'S SWIMMER ANTON IPSEN SUCCEEDS IN POOL, CLASSROOM Anton Ipsen of the NC State men's swimming and diving team has earned 2017 College Sports Informa- tion Directors of America (CoSIDA) first-team Academic All-America honors. The rising-senior is one of just six student-athletes named to the CoSIDA at-large first team that carries a perfect 4.0 grade-point average, and is the only first- team honoree from the Atlantic Coast Conference. The industrial engineering major is a three-time All- ACC Academic team honoree and a two-time CSCAA scholar-athlete All-American, and was additionally named to the CoSIDA academic all-district men's at- large team earlier this year. The Birkerod, Denmark, native is the current school record holder in three events: the 500 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and 400 individual medley. Ipsen helped the team clinch its third straight ACC title after winning his third consecutive gold medal in the 500 freestyle, and also scored major points for the team by finishing runner-up in the 1,650 free and fifth in the 400 individual medley. He earned All-America honors in three events at the NCAA Championships, placing sixth in the 1,650 free - style, eighth in the 500 freestyle and 11th in the 400 individual medley to contribute to the team's overall fourth-place finish. Ipsen will represent Denmark in July at the 2017 World Championships held in Budapest, Hungary, after qualifying for the 400-meter freestyle. FOUR WOLFPACK TRACK ATHLETES QUALIFY FOR PAN AM JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIPS Rising-sophomores Tim Bason, Cravont Charleston and Dylan Peebles, and junior Gabriele Cunningham qualified for the prestigious Pan Am Junior Champion- ships July 21-23 in Trujillo, Peru. The quartet needed to finish in the top two of their events to qualify. Bason, who redshirted this past spring, won the 3,000-meter steeplechase (9 minutes, 15.40 seconds) in Sacramento, Calif. Cunningham finished second in the women's 200-me- ter dash (23.56), and she also set a new school record in the 100-meter dash (11.26), but didn't qualify in that event. Peebles finished second in the men's 200-meter dash (20.95), edging Charleston for second-place in that race. Charleston will compete with the 400 relay squad in Peru, thanks to finishing in the top four in the 100. ■ Red And White Notebook After earning All-America honors in three events (500 freestyle, 1,650 freestyle and 400 in- dividual medley) at the NCAA Championships in March, Ipsen received first-team Academic All-America accolades in June. PHOTO COURTESY NC STATE MEDIA RELATIONS