2024-25 ACC Basketball Summer Snapshot:
North Carolina State Wolfpack
By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network
Head Coach: Kevin Keatts (52 years old, entering eighth season at NCSU)
2023-24 Record: 26-15, 9-11 (10th in ACC, ACC Tournament champions)
NCAA Tournament: #11 seed; eliminated in Final Four by Purdue
Key 2024-25 Players (*=returning starter): senior G Marcus Hill, junior F Ismael Diouf, junior G Mike James, senior G/F Dontrez Styles, senior C Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, fifth-year PG Michael O’Connell*, senior G Jayden Taylor*, senior C Ben Middlebrooks, sophomore G Dennis Parker Jr
On March 11, if you had put $100 down on NC State to win the 2024 ACC Tournament, first of all, everyone would have called you nuts. At the time, that seemed like the most efficient way to flush a crisp $100 bill down the toilet.
On the night of March 16, though, you would have looked like a clairvoyant sports guru (with a lot of money in your pocket).
The Wolfpack’s run in Washington, D.C., was almost inconceivable. In the end, the Pack became the first ACC team ever to win five games in five days to win the ACC Tournament, and it had to go through the event’s top three seeds to do it: #2 Duke in the quarterfinals, #3 Virginia in the semis, and #1 UNC in the championship game.
With the Wolfpack players hitting their stride at exactly the right time, and a little bit of luck sprinkled in, the Cardiac Pack was reborn. It was impossible not to see shades of the 1983 miracle NCAA title team in last year’s squad, especially once it made a run to the Final Four.
This 2024 story didn’t end with a national championship, but going from the #10 seed in the ACC Tournament to a Final Four was truly special.
“When you think about NC State, the couple things that really stand out to you is the ’74 championship and the ’83 championships,” Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said at the ACC Tournament. “If we could make any of those guys proud, and hopefully they are, by what we did here in the ACC, that’s a great thing.”
So, now what?
Most of State’s key players from last year’s team are gone, including fan favorite DJ Burns Jr., whose dynamic post play became a spectacle for the entire basketball world last March. The team’s leading scorer, DJ Horne, also exhausted his eligibility, as did fellow starting guard Casey Morsell. The Pack lost a fourth starter with forward Mohamed Diarra’s decision to pursue a professional career.
Beyond those primary losses, State lost two bench pieces at the end of June, when guard MJ Rice and forward Ernest Ross decided to leave the program. Rice, who transferred in from Kansas prior to last season, is a former McDonald’s All-American. Ross initially entered the transfer portal and committed to UTSA, then withdrew that pledge and announced his return to Raleigh, only to later leave the team after all.
Backup guards LJ Thomas and Kam Woods transferred away from the program, too.
That left Keatts, who assumedly saved his job last March, with five returning contributors: starting guards Michael O’Connell and Jayden Taylor, plus backups Ben Middlebrooks, Dennis Parker Jr. and Breon Pass.
Taylor, a starter on the wing for much of the 2023-24 regular season, is an outstanding defender who hopes to have a bigger offensive role in 2024-25. O’Connell, a pass-first point guard, took over Taylor’s starting spot in the postseason and helped the Pack improve its offensive efficiency.
Joining them in a very experienced Wolfpack backcourt will be senior Marcus Hill, a Bowling Green transfer who averaged 20.5 points per game last season, and redshirt junior Mike James, a Louisville transfer who was a double-digit scorer for the Cardinals in each of the past two seasons.
Keatts seemingly has attempted to replicate the success he had from the portal over the last two years. During the 2024 postseason, every single regular rotation player for the Wolfpack was someone who arrived in Raleigh as a transfer.
Three of State’s most intriguing additions from the portal are forwards, although they likely will offer very different and distinct styles of play.
Dontrez Styles (Georgetown), a Kinston native who was a little-used reserve during his first two collegiate seasons at UNC, averaged 15.3 points per game last season for the Hoyas. While also a solid rebounder for his size, he spends a lot of time on the perimeter, where he hit 37 percent of his threes in 2023-24.
The Wolfpack also lists Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (Louisville) as a forward, but he’s functionally a center. At 6-foot-10 and 240 pounds, Huntley-Hatfield spends almost all of his time in the paint, where he averaged 12.9 points and 8.4 rebounds per game last season for the Cardinals.
Finally, the Pack received a summer commitment from Canadian star Ismael Diouf, although State’s athletics website still didn’t include him on the team’s official 2024-25 roster as of mid-July. Diouf, who led Laval University to Canada’s collegiate national championship last season, was the #1 overall pick in the Canadian Elite Basketball League (professional) draft in April.
There are some key returners and some interesting new faces in Raleigh. Does that mean Keatts and company will be able to replicate last year’s magic?
The odds aren’t in the Wolfpack’s favor for another ACC title, or another long March Madness run, but that was the case back in March, too.
2024-25 Returning Scholarship Players
(Statistics From 2023-24 Unless Otherwise Specified)
G Jayden Taylor*, Sr. (6-4/195) — #3 scorer on Final Four squad
27 mpg, 11 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 76% FT, 36% threes, 55/63 ATO, 19 blocks, 47 steals
PG Michael O’Connell*, Gr. (6-2/195) — 2024 All-ACC Tournament
25 mpg, 6 ppg, 3 rpg, 45% FG, 78% FT, 38% threes, 130/51 ATO, 3 blocks, 36 steals
F Ben Middlebrooks, Sr. (6-10/240) — 21 points in NCAA win over Texas Tech
16 mpg, 6 ppg, 4 rpg, 49% FG, 74% FT, 8% threes, 25/26 ATO, 24 blocks, 34 steals
G Dennis Parker Jr., So. (6-6/205) — ACC Rookie of the Week (Nov. 27)
15 mpg, 5 ppg, 3 rpg, 44% FG, 54% FT, 31% threes, 11/19 ATO, 7 blocks, 21 steals
G Breon Pass, Sr. (6-0/175) — logged nine minutes at Final Four
5 mpg, 1 ppg, 1 rpg, 44% FG, 63% FT, 33% threes, 10/7 ATO, 2 blocks, 5 steals
*—returning starter (started at least 50% of current team’s games last season)
2024 Offseason Additions
G Marcus Hill, Sr. (6-4/185) — Bowling Green transfer, 2023-24 All-MAC
36 mpg, 21 ppg, 5 rpg, 44% FG, 74% FT, 29% threes, 87/90 ATO, 10 blocks, 35 steals
F Ismael Diouf, Sr. (6-9/215) — Laval transfer, #1 pro draft pick (Canada)
26 mpg, 11 ppg, 7 rpg, 55% FG, 71% FT, 32% threes, 79/27 ATO, 19 blocks, 11 steals
C Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Sr. (6-10/240) — Louisville transfer (2-year starter)
31 mpg, 13 ppg, 8 rpg, 57% FG, 67% FT, 43% threes, 33/54 ATO, 26 blocks, 19 steals
G Mike James, r-Jr. (6-5/200) — Louisville transfer (2-year starter)
33 mpg, 13 ppg, 5 rpg, 40% FG, 82% FT, 34% threes, 47/57 ATO, 6 blocks, 19 steals
G/F Dontrez Styles, Sr. (6-6/210) — Georgetown transfer (starter)
34 mpg, 13 ppg, 6 rpg, 43% FG, 78% FT, 37% threes, 26/49 ATO, 21 blocks, 18 steals
G Paul McNeil, Fr. (6-5/180) — Top 75 in Class of 2024
Rockingham, N.C., Richmond HS
G Trey Parker, Fr. (6-1/165) — Top 150 in Class of 2024
Atlanta, Ga., Overtime Elite
2024 Offseason Departures
G DJ Horne*, Gr. (6-2/180) — graduated (NBA Summer League/Spurs)
33 mpg, 17 ppg, 4 rpg, 44% FG, 81% FT, 40% threes, 84/54 ATO, 5 blocks, 51 steals
F DJ Burns Jr.*, Gr. (6-9/275) — graduated (NBA Summer League/Cavaliers)
25 mpg, 13 ppg, 4 rpg, 53% FG, 68% FT, 20% threes, 117/76 ATO, 26 blocks, 18 steals
G Casey Morsell*, Gr. (6-3/200) — graduated
33 mpg, 11 ppg, 3 rpg, 41% FG, 81% FT, 27% threes, 67/38 ATO, 19 blocks, 46 steals
F Mohamed Diarra, Jr. (6-10/215) — NBA entry (Summer League/Lakers)
22 mpg, 6 ppg, 8 rpg, 48% FG, 66% FT, 31% threes, 24/26 ATO, 41 blocks, 28 steals
F Ernest Ross, Jr. (6-9/200) — left the program
14 games played in 2023-24, 0.3 ppg
G MJ Rice, So. (6-5/215) — left the program
nine games played in 2023-24, 4.1 ppg
G LJ Thomas, So. (6-1/180) — transferred to Austin Peay
12 games played in 2023-24, 2.6 ppg
G Kam Woods, Jr. (6-2/185) — transferred to Robert Morris
13 games played in 2023-24, 1.2 ppg
