NC State Basketball: 2024-25 Season Overview, 10-Year Snapshot

2025 North Carolina Sports Network
Atlantic Coast Conference Basketball Spotlight:
NC State University

By Ben McCormick
North Carolina Sports Network

School: North Carolina State University

Location: Raleigh, N.C.

Previous Conference Affiliations: Independent (1912-1921), Southern Conference (1921-1953)

ACC Member Since: 1953-54

ACC Ranking Among 31 Leagues (KenPom): 5th (2025), 5th (2024), 7th (2023), 5th (2022), 5th (2021), 4th (2020)

NCAA Tournament Bids: 29 (1950, 1951, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1965, 1970, 1974, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988, 1989, 1991, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2018, 2023, 2024)

NCAA Championships: 2 (1974, 1983)

Final Fours: 4 (1950, 1974, 1983, 2024)

Conference Titles: 18 (1929, 1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1952 in SoCon; 1954, 1955, 1956, 1959, 1965, 1970, 1973, 1974, 1983, 1987, 2024 in ACC)

Conference 1st-Place Finishes: 13 (1947, 1948, 1949, 1950, 1951, 1953 in SoCon; 1955, 1956, 1959, 1973, 1974, 1985, 1989 in ACC)

Head Coach: Kevin Keatts, 52, 8th season at NC State, 148-104 (.587)

As A Player: Ferrum (1991-95)

Record As Head Coach (through Jan. 26): 220-132 (.625) in 10+ seasons

Previous HC Experience: Hargrave Military Academy/prep school (1999-2001; 2003-11), UNC Wilmington (2014-17)

AC Experience: Southwest Michigan/NJCAA (1996-97), Hargrave Military Academy (1997-99), Marshall (2001-03), Louisville (2011-14)

Assistant Under: Greg White, Rick Pitino

2023-24 Record: 26-15, 9-11 (10th in 15-team ACC); ACC champions; NCAA Final Four

2024-25 Preseason Prediction (Media): 8th in 18-team ACC

2024-25 Record (through Jan. 26): 9-10, 2-6 ACC

2024-25 Midseason Ranking (KenPom): #101 nationally (11th in ACC)

Upcoming Schedule: at #2 Duke (1/27), Clemson (2/1), at Cal (2/5), at Stanford (2/8), Louisville (2/12), Boston College (2/15), at UNC (2/19), Wake Forest (2/22)

On March 11, 2024, if you had put $100 down on NC State to win the 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.

The 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. “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 departed, 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. In addition, the Pack lost a past-time starter with forward Mohamed Diarra’s decision to pursue a professional career overseas.

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 ultimately sign with Grambling.

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 has 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 is senior Marcus Hill, a Bowling Green transfer who averaged 20.5 points per game last season. Mike James, a Louisville transfer who was a double-digit scorer for the Cardinals in each of the past two seasons, has not yet played for the Pack because of a knee injury.

Regardless of talent, it typically takes time to get returning pieces and incoming talent from the portal to click together. Just look at last year’s Wolfpack rotation. It took nearly the entire season for those players to start clicking.

Keatts seemingly has attempted to replicate the success he had from the portal over the last two years. During the 2024 postseason run, 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 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. He and Middlebrooks have rotated in the post this year.

Finally, the Pack received a summer commitment from Canadian star Ismael Diouf, who had to serve a two-game suspension to start the season because of his impermissible play in the professional Canadian Elite Basketball League (CEBL). Diouf, who led Laval University to Canada’s collegiate national championship last season, was the #1 overall pick in the CEBL draft in April.

2024-25 NC State Wolfpack
(9-10, 2-6 ACC; through Jan. 26)

STARTERS (stats = 2024-25 numbers)

PG Michael O’Connell*, Gr. (6-2/195) — 2023 Stanford transfer (3-year starter)
29 mpg, 7 ppg, 3 rpg, 38% FG, 64% FT, 31% threes, 67/18 ATO, 1 block, 19 steals

G Jayden Taylor*, Sr. (6-4/195) — 2023 Butler transfer (2-year starter)
30 mpg, 13 ppg, 3 rpg, 43% FG, 77% FT, 34% threes, 30/40 ATO, 6 blocks, 26 steals

G Marcus Hill, Sr. (6-4/185) — 2024 Bowling Green transfer (1st-team All-MAC)
29 mpg, 13 ppg, 4 rpg, 50% FG, 68% FT, 25% threes, 40/20 ATO, 0 blocks, 15 steals

F Dontrez Styles, Sr. (6-6/210) — 2024 Georgetown transfer (starter)
24 mpg, 9 ppg, 4 rpg, 42% FG, 66% FT, 30% threes, 7/13 ATO, 18 blocks, 7 steals

F Ben Middlebrooks, Sr. (6-10/240) — 2023 Clemson transfer (backup)
22 mpg, 9 ppg, 5 rpg, 48% FG, 72% FT, 29% threes, 17/20 ATO, 30 blocks, 20 steals

KEY RESERVES (stats = 2024-25 numbers)

C Brandon Huntley-Hatfield, Sr. (6-10/240) — 2024 Louisville transfer (2-year starter)
21 mpg, 8 ppg, 5 rpg, 51% FG, 75% FT, 33% threes, 17/24 ATO, 7 blocks, 9 steals

G Breon Pass, Sr. (6-0/175) — 3-star in-state signee in 2021 (Reidsville HS)
15 mpg, 5 ppg, 2 rpg, 46% FG, 82% FT, 47% threes, 24/14 ATO, 1 blocks, 11 steals

G Dennis Parker Jr., So. (6-6/205) — 4-star signee in 2023 (Marshall HS in Richmond)
14 mpg, 3 ppg, 3 rpg, 36% FG, 44% FT, 22% threes, 14/7 ATO, 12 blocks, 10 steals

G Trey Parker, Fr. (6-1/165) — 4-star signee in 2024 (Overtime Elite in Atlanta)
10 mpg, 3 ppg, 1 rpg, 42% FG, 50% FT, 22% threes, 10/10 ATO, 2 blocks, 9 steals

Departures from 2023-24: C DJ Burns Jr.* (Ss./South Korea), BF Mohamed Diarra (Sr./early NBA entry/France), WG DJ Horne* (Ss./Germany), WG Casey Morsell* (Ss.), WG MJ Rice (So./transfer), BF Ernest Ross (Jr./transfer/Grambling), PG LJ Thomas (So./transfer/Austin Peay), WG Kam Woods (Sr./transfer/Robert Morris)

*—2023-24 starter (started at least 50% of NC State’s games last season)

NC State Wolfpack
10-Year Snapshot
Season: Overall, League (Place), Postseason

2023-24: 26-15, 9-11 ACC* (10th), NCAA Final Four (Kevin Keatts)
2022-23: 23-11, 12-8 ACC (6th), NCAA Round of 64 (Kevin Keatts)
2021-22: 11-21, 4-16 ACC (15th), no postseason (Kevin Keatts)
2020-21: 14-11, 9-8 ACC (9th), NIT Elite Eight (Kevin Keatts)
2019-20: 20-12, 10-10 ACC (6th), COVID (Kevin Keatts)
2018-19: 24-12, 9-9 ACC (8th), NIT Elite Eight (Kevin Keatts)
2017-18: 21-12, 11-7 ACC (3rd), NCAA Round of 64 (Kevin Keatts)
2016-17: 15-17, 4-14 ACC (13th), no postseason (Mark Gottfried)
2015-16: 16-17, 5-13 ACC (13th), no postseason (Mark Gottfried)
2014-15: 22-14, 10-8 ACC (6th), NCAA Sweet 16 (Mark Gottfried)

*—conference champion

NOTE: Please visit the North Carolina Sports Network’s 2024-25 profiles and 10-year snapshots (links below) for all 19 Division One men’s basketball programs in North Carolina and all 18 Atlantic Coast Conference programs.

Appalachian State Mountaineers, Sun Belt Conference

Boston College Eagles, Atlantic Coast Conference

California Golden Bears, Atlantic Coast Conference

Campbell Camels, Coastal Athletic Association

Charlotte 49ers, American Athletic Conference

Clemson Tigers, Atlantic Coast Conference

Duke Blue Devils, Atlantic Coast Conference

East Carolina Pirates, American Athletic Conference

Elon Phoenix, Coastal Athletic Association

Florida State Seminoles, Atlantic Coast Conference

Gardner-Webb Runnin’ Bulldogs, Big South Conference

Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets, Atlantic Coast Conference