NC State will play BYU at 3:30 p.m. Friday on FOX. BYU lost 96-85 to Ole Miss in overtime, so the Rebels will face Purdue.
The teams are very different from last year, but one thing is still true about BYU — they can fire up the three-pointer. The Cougars shot lights out from deep to rally past NC State 95-86 in Las Vegas last year. BYU shot 14 of 34 on three-pointers with coach Mark Pope on the sideline. He left for Kentucky, and they hired Kevin Young, who is a former G-League head coach and NBA assistant coach. He's the brother of former Rivals.com recruiting guru Justin Young. BYU shot 12 of 38 on three-pointers against Ole Miss.
Four key players return from last year's BYU team — combo guard Dallin Hall, wings Richie Saunders and Trevin Knell and center Fousseyni Traore. Now, Traore was limited to six minutes due to an injury and he's a load on the block at 6-6 and 240 pounds.
Knell hit three three's and had 13 points against NC State, and Hall made a pair of three-pointers and had 13 points. Saunders had two three-pointers and six points, but he's made a nice jump this season.
What Young did is he brought in freshmen Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings, with the latter officially visiting NC State last summer after getting out of his LOI at Purdue. Demin is from Moscow, Russia, and played for Real Madrid's organization. Skilled, around 6-8 or 6-9 and the NBA loves him. Not a pure shooter, but has three-point range. My guess is that NC State will try a variety of players on him, maybe Jayden Taylor to begin with even if there is a major height difference.
Catchings might have maturing to do both physically and mentally from all accounts, but he's also long at around 6-7 and he shot the ball well against Ole Miss. It would have been fascinating if he had played Purdue. He went 5 of 10 on three-pointers against Ole Miss, but had been in a slump, going 9 of 35 from beyond the arc in his first five games.
Serbian forward Mihailo Boskovic is about 6-7, 6-8 and he showed he can stretch the defense with his jumper against Ole Miss.
The big transfer addition was landing junior center Keba Keita, who is 6-8 and 231 pounds from Mali, and he played his first two years at Utah. He's a double-double threat for points and rebounds, but went scoreless against the Rebels.
The teams are very different from last year, but one thing is still true about BYU — they can fire up the three-pointer. The Cougars shot lights out from deep to rally past NC State 95-86 in Las Vegas last year. BYU shot 14 of 34 on three-pointers with coach Mark Pope on the sideline. He left for Kentucky, and they hired Kevin Young, who is a former G-League head coach and NBA assistant coach. He's the brother of former Rivals.com recruiting guru Justin Young. BYU shot 12 of 38 on three-pointers against Ole Miss.
Four key players return from last year's BYU team — combo guard Dallin Hall, wings Richie Saunders and Trevin Knell and center Fousseyni Traore. Now, Traore was limited to six minutes due to an injury and he's a load on the block at 6-6 and 240 pounds.
Knell hit three three's and had 13 points against NC State, and Hall made a pair of three-pointers and had 13 points. Saunders had two three-pointers and six points, but he's made a nice jump this season.
What Young did is he brought in freshmen Egor Demin and Kanon Catchings, with the latter officially visiting NC State last summer after getting out of his LOI at Purdue. Demin is from Moscow, Russia, and played for Real Madrid's organization. Skilled, around 6-8 or 6-9 and the NBA loves him. Not a pure shooter, but has three-point range. My guess is that NC State will try a variety of players on him, maybe Jayden Taylor to begin with even if there is a major height difference.
Catchings might have maturing to do both physically and mentally from all accounts, but he's also long at around 6-7 and he shot the ball well against Ole Miss. It would have been fascinating if he had played Purdue. He went 5 of 10 on three-pointers against Ole Miss, but had been in a slump, going 9 of 35 from beyond the arc in his first five games.
Serbian forward Mihailo Boskovic is about 6-7, 6-8 and he showed he can stretch the defense with his jumper against Ole Miss.
The big transfer addition was landing junior center Keba Keita, who is 6-8 and 231 pounds from Mali, and he played his first two years at Utah. He's a double-double threat for points and rebounds, but went scoreless against the Rebels.
