Ultimate guide to the NC State basketball season. Everything you’d want to know.

N.C. State knows what it’s like to have its season pulled out from under it. It happened to every team last March when college basketball shut down due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Fingers crossed, the Wolfpack will get back to business Wednesday against Charleston Southern.

Like so many other coaches, N.C. State’s Kevin Keatts has had to learn to adjust on the fly, the new normal that is COVID-19 testing, protocols and flexibility on if and when games will be played. The Wolfpack is scheduled to play 27 games this year. Keatts is just looking to make it to Game One.

“We’re happy that we are getting a chance to play a season,” Keatts said. “We don’t know how many games we are going to get, but we are going to try and enjoy every game that we play.”

N.C. State went 20-12 overall in 2019-2020 and broke even in ACC play at 10-10. The team won three out of its last four games to end the season. This season, Keatts lost two leading scorers, but returned two double-digit scorers in seniors D.J. Funderburk (12.8 ppg) and Devon Daniels (12.7 ppg). Five players who started at least 15 games from last season return, giving Keatts one of his most experienced teams he’s ever had.

“I like where our team’s at,” Keatts said. “We’re excited about our opportunity.”

Along with veterans, Keatts has a five-man freshman class that has brought a lot of energy.

“The whole freshman class, since my time here we haven’t had a deep freshman class,” Daniels said. “The energy the young guys bring is making a major difference in practice. They are hungry, they want to play, they want to help the team. Just the competitive stuff they bring in practice has been helping us as a whole.”

As of Monday, Keatts said he had not settled on a starting lineup, but had a rotation of a solid eight players he can depend on, all of whom could start. Manny Bates, a 6-11, 230-pound sophomore center, has the most starts of all the returning players, with 26 a season ago. Daniels and fellow senior Braxton Beverly are the only two returning players who saw action in all 32 games last year. Beverly, Funderburk, Daniels and Jericole Hellems all played at least 25 minutes per game last year.

“I’ve got eight guys that I feel comfortable that can start and I don’t know which eight it will be,” Keatts said. “I think it’s a good thing because I don’t want anyone to settle in and don’t prepare. I won’t let you relax around here, you have to earn it. You have to earn it every day.”

After a shutdown that dashed their postseason hopes, and months and months of uncertainty, N.C. State is ready to tackle the challenges ahead. But once the season tip off comes, nothing else will matter.

“Best analogy I can give you as far as anticipation is winding up one of those toy cars,” Funderburk described, “and just letting it go before you put it on the tracks and it just shoot off. That’s how I feel like everyone on our team is.”

NC State basketball season outlook

N.C. State ended last season with a win over Pittsburgh in the ACC tournament and was trending in the right direction when the season came to a close. Keatts returns three starters and brings in a five-man freshman class (Cam Hayes, Shakeel Moore, Nick Farrar, Jaylon Gibson, Ebenezer Dowuona) that he expects to contribute right away. The class was ranked fifth in the ACC by 247Sports and should provide some steady depth behind a nice blend of veterans.

Keatts should also get a boost from Nebraska transfer guard Thomas Allen, the former Garner High School star who returned home last season.

The Wolfpack has a chance to have a special year, if they can all stay healthy. There are a lot of unknowns and between COVID and injuries, N.C. State’s greatest strength — its depth — can be gone in an instant. The downside is the young players won’t have time to slowly adjust. The team starts conference play on Dec. 16 at Louisville, which was picked to finish fifth, and faces rival UNC (4th) on Dec. 22 in an early season test.

N.C. State will also travel to Michigan on Dec. 9 for the ACC/Big Ten Challenge in its first road test for a team featuring some new faces playing for the first time.

N.C. State was picked to finish eighth in the ACC.

Starters lost from 2019-2020

▪ C.J. Bryce (guard, eligibility exhausted), Markell Johnson (guard, eligibility exhausted)

NC State projected starters

Devon Daniels (6-5, 200 pounds)

▪ 2019 stats: 12.7 ppg., 5.3 rebounds

▪ Daniels, a senior guard, started 24 games last season and might have been the team’s best offensive player down the stretch. Daniels has started 37 games for the Wolfpack. So far in camp, Keatts has said on several occasions that Daniels has been the best player. Daniels flirted with the NBA draft, but returned to N.C. State for one more season.

DJ Funderburk (6-10, 225)

▪ 2019 stats: 12.8 ppg., 6.1 rebounds

▪ Like Daniels, Funderburk tested the NBA waters, but decided to return for his senior season. Funderburk started in 15 games last season. Last year, he shot 60.9 percent from the floor, the third highest field goal percentage in school history. He also led the team in free throw percentage (76 percent).

Manny Bates (6-11, 230)

▪ 2019 stats: 5.1 ppg., 4.0 rebounds

▪ Just a sophomore, it’s easy to tell that Keatts is expecting a big year from the 6-11, 230 pound center. Bates added muscle during the offseason and, according to Keatts, has improved on the offensive end of the floor. Bates started 26 games as a redshirt freshman and blocked 83 shots, third most in single-season history at N.C. State.

Cam Hayes (6-3, 175)

▪ 2019 stats: 10.1 ppg., *high school

▪ Keatts has said several times that he will have to throw his freshmen guards to the fire early and Hayes, the Greensboro product, might play right away. As a senior at Greensboro Day, Hayes shot 56 percent from the floor and led the Bengals to a 31-5 record.

Braxton Beverly (6-0, 185)

▪ 2019 stats: 7.1 ppg., 37 percent from 3-point range

▪ Beverly is one of the more experienced players on the team, with 73 career-starts under his belt. He only started 18 games as a junior, but Keatts says Beverly is as healthy as he’s been in a long time. He struggled with a nagging back injury in 2019-20 and still led the team in three-point percentage.

Depth situation

Keatts said this is a team where he can go two-deep at every position. The starting lineup isn’t set with players like junior wing Jericole Hellems (6-7, 205), junior guard Thomas Allen (6-1, 180), freshman forward Dereon Seabron (6-7, 180) and freshman guard Shakeel Moore (6-1, 180) expected to play starters’ minutes. Each one of those players could easily work their way into the starting lineup at some point this year. One area where the team lacks depth is on the wing. Daniels and Hellems are interchangeable, but there isn’t a lot of experience behind them. Seabron, a redshirt freshman, can play multiple positions, but missed all of last season with an injury.

If Bates and Funderburk get into foul trouble, Keatts will have to rely on freshman Ebenezer Dowuona (6-11, 235) in the post.

Betting odds

▪ Win ACC: +5000 (50/1)

▪ Win national championship: +15000 (150/1)

▪ Reach Final Four: +2500 (25/1)

NC State basketball roster

▪ Head coach: Kevin Keatts, fourth season (137-64 overall, 65-36 NCSU)

NC State 2020-21 basketball schedule

• Nov. 25 vs. Charleston Southern, 8 p.m. (Wolfpack Invitational)

• Nov. 27 vs. North Florida, 5:30 p.m. (Wolfpack Invitational)

• Nov. 30 William & Mary, 7 p.m.

• Dec. 9 at Michigan

• Dec. 12 vs. Florida Atlantic, 7 p.m.

• Dec. 16 at Louisville

• Dec. 19 vs. Campbell

• Dec. 22 vs. North Carolina

• Dec. 30 vs. Boston College

• Jan. 5 vs. Clemson

• Jan. 9 vs. Miami

• Jan. 13 at Florida State

• Jan. 16 vs. Georgia Tech

• Jan. 20 at Virginia

• Jan. 23 at North Carolina

• Jan. 27 vs. Wake Forest

• Jan. 31 vs. Syracuse

• Feb. 3 vs. Virginia

• Feb. 6 at Boston College

• Feb. 9 vs. Syracuse

• Feb. 13 vs. Duke

• Feb. 17 at Pittsburgh

• Feb. 20 at Wake Forest

• Feb. 28 vs. Pittsburgh

• March 3 at Notre Dame

• March 6 vs. Virginia Tech

• March 9-13: ACC Tournament (Greensboro)

This story was originally published November 24, 2020 at 12:05 PM with the headline "Ultimate guide to the NC State basketball season. Everything you’d want to know.."

Jonas E. Pope IV

The News & Observer

919-829-8911

Sports reporter Jonas Pope IV has covered college recruiting, high school sports, NC Central, NC State and the ACC for The Herald-Sun and The News & Observer.