Men’s basketball looks to avoid getting stung by Yellow Jackets again

The Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets have been one of the biggest thorns, or rather stingers, in the side of the NC State men’s basketball team in recent years. In back-to-back games, the Wolfpack has lost by just one score to the Yellow Jackets, both times due to last-second points from James Banks III. 

When the Wolfpack (14-5, 5-3 ACC) and Yellow Jackets (8-11, 3-6 ACC) face off once again this weekend, stopping Banks will be the Wolfpack’s first priority. While the 6-foot-10 forward/center averages just 10.4 points per game this season, only the fourth highest on his team, he tends to show up against the Wolfpack, averaging 19.5 points per game in two games versus the Pack, nearly double his career average. 

Stopping Banks will be even more difficult if redshirt freshman center Manny Bates is not able to return from concussion protocol in time for the grudge match. Bates’s ability to protect the rim is unmatched by any other freshman in program history, and while redshirt junior D.J. Funderburk proved himself a capable defender against Clemson, holding Aamir Simms to just five points after Bates’s injury, Bates is the better defender.

In addition to Banks, the Yellow Jackets have another high-scoring big man in 6-foot-9 forward Moses Wright, who averages 13.3 points per game, the second highest on the team. If Bates remains out, this could cause a problematic matchup between Moses and either the Wolfpack’s 6-foot-7 sophomore forward Jericole Hellems or the 6-foot-5 redshirt senior guard C.J. Bryce, depending on which lineup head coach Kevin Keatts goes with. 

Against Virginia, who started both the 7-foot-1 Jay Huff and the 6-foot-9 Mamadi Diakite, the Wolfpack faced similar matchup issues. In the 53-51 win over the reigning national champions, Keatts opted to have Hellems go up against Diakite, while Funderburk handled Huff. The Wolfpack managed to hold the duo to just 16 combined points, 6.5 below their combined average this season.

The way the Wolfpack managed to hold Virginia’s big duo was by constantly switching on screens. While Hellems picked Diakite up in the half court, the Wolfpack was constantly switching on screens and when Diakite got down to the block, either Funderburk or graduate forward Danny Dixon was there to lend a hand on Diakite. 

“We had to do a great job and make sure everybody locked in,” Keatts said after the Virginia game. “We started switching one through five just so we wouldn’t give any easy shots.”

If the Wolfpack can replicate the defensive performance it had against Virginia, Bates missing a few games won’t hurt nearly as much as fans originally feared.

Even if the Wolfpack can shut down Georgia Tech’s strong backcourt, it won’t be out of the woods yet, as the guard duo of Michael Devoe and Jose Alvarado average a combined 27.6 points per game. Both are solid shooters who average over 40% from the field. While Devoe is the better shooter from distance, averaging 41% from outside the arc, Alvarado is no slouch from downtown, knocking down 31% of his 3s.

Another issue for the Wolfpack in this game is depth, with Bates and graduate forward Pat Andree both missing the Virginia game, the Wolfpack was down to just six of its usually eight-man rotation. While Dixon has proven himself to be an acceptably capable big-man stopgap when Funderburk or Bates is in foul trouble or needs a rest, the graduate forward shouldn’t be relied on to play long stretches of big games. 

Compared to Keatts, Georgia Tech head coach Josh Pastner will have a plethora of options on his bench to choose from with nine different players both appearing in 11 or more games and averaging at least 12 minutes per game.

The Wolfpack will be entering the game at Georgia Tech with the hot hand, having won its previous three games. The Yellow Jackets, by comparison, are on a three-game skid, losing to Notre Dame, Virginia and Louisville in that stretch, two of which the Wolfpack has beaten recently.

The game is undoubtedly an important one for the Wolfpack as it continues to build its resume for the selection committee. With wins over the reigning national champions and a better than expected Clemson in the past week, losing back-to-back matchups against a sub-.500 Georgia Tech would undo a lot of the good work the Wolfpack has done in the new year.

While an away win at Georgia Tech would only be a quadrant two win, the result of this game is bigger off paper than it is on it. The Pack is currently on its joint-second-longest winning streak of the season, with the longest coming in the lead up to its showdown with Memphis at the Barclays Center. 

If the Pack can take down its recent Achilles Heel in Georgia Tech and continue to build momentum, there is a real opportunity to put together a lengthy ACC winning-streak. Including the Georgia Tech game, only three of the Pack’s next 10 games are against teams with a higher NET ranking (Duke at 6, Louisville at 10 and Florida State at 13) and all three of those games are at home. 

The opening tip is set for 4 p.m. in Atlanta, Georgia and the game will be broadcast on RSN.