NC State Basketball finished with a 6-1 record in January, which by percentage is .857%. That is the best winning percentage in the month of January since the 1988-89 NC State team that went 8-1.
We said coming into January that after this month ended we would have a good idea of where NC State would stand come selection Sunday. The Wolfpack finished the month nearly perfect and picked up a pair of top 25 wins against Duke and Miami at home, as well as big road victories against Virginia Tech and most recently against Wake Forest, all of which will be a big boost for them come time for the committee to put together the bracket for March Madness.
NC State currently sits at 5th in the ACC, three games back of Clemson who has raced out to a 10-1 record in ACC play. What is just as important as the big wins over Miami, Duke, and Wake Forest is that NC State has been able to stay away from bad losses so far as well. They were able to secure wins over Notre Dame, and Georgia Tech who are a combined 3-19 in conference play.
The Wolfpack are still without two starters in Dusan Mahorcic, and Jack Clark, both of whom NC State expects back this season. NC State was able to get big contributions from multiple guys to help them go from a 1-3 ACC record to where they stand now at 7-4 in the conference.
Let’s take a closer look at three guys in particular that made significant impacts in January and helped lead the Wolfpack as ACC play has heated up.
Ernest Ross
The emergence of Ernest Ross in the month of January was a pleasant surprise for this Wolfpack team. NC State has been desperate all year for some scoring from their bench and over the back half of the month Ross has taken his game to a different level.
It all started with what many Wolfpack fans have now coined “The Ernest Ross Game” which was their 83-81 OT victory against Miami. Ross had his coming out party in this game where he finished with a career-high 17 points, and 9 rebounds, with 6 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. Ross ended up scoring the game-winner on an offensive put-back with 30 seconds left.
Over his last five games, Ross has averaged 8.2 points and 4.8 rebounds in 16.8 minutes per game. This is a major jump from the 2.2 points, and 1.7 rebounds in only 9.2 minutes per game in the first 17 games of the season.
A big part of what could’ve been holding Ross back early in the season was his confidence. Ross suffered a broken foot last year that ended his season in January. Coming back from a major injury requiring surgery takes time, and someone like Ross with tons of explosiveness has to get over the mental hurdle of the injury and trust his foot again. You can now see signs that he is fully healthy, and his production on the court has gone to another level when the Wolfpack needed it the most.
Jarkel Joiner
The senior guard is getting hot at the right time for NC State. In the month of January, Joiner averaged 19.3 points, 3.3 assists, and 5.4 rebounds while shooting 92% from the free-throw line. Another important stat is that Joiner has only averaged 1 turnover per game as the primary ball handler for NC State while playing 37 minutes per game in the seven games played.
Joiner carried the Wolfpack in their 85-82 win over Notre Dame last Tuesday. In a game where his Wooden Award Top 20 watch list backcourt teammate Terquavion Smith struggled shooting a very inefficient 2-14 from the field, Jarkel Joiner provided the spark. He finished with 28 points on 9-18 shooting from the field and was perfect from the free throw line going 8-8.
Joiner has been the veteran point guard that NC State has missed in recent years. He and Smith play very well together, and both are able to be the initiators in the offense or can be the off-ball guard and the offense doesn’t seem to skip a beat. Joiner plays every game like a player that is in his final season in college and will do whatever it takes to get a chance to compete in the NCAA Tournament. His defensive intensity and attention to detail in key moments have rubbed off on the younger guys on this team, which has helped them close out tight games. That turned out to be big in January as 4 of their 7 wins were by four points or fewer.
D.J. Burns
D.J Burns has quickly become a fan favorite in Raleigh. In the month of January, Burns took his game to another level. In the last seven games, he averaged 16.3 points and 5 rebounds while playing 26 minutes a game.
His last game was his best game in a Wolfpack uniform. He put the team on his back, especially in the 2nd half against Wake Forest, and ended with a career-high 31 points, on 14-26 shooting to go along with 9 rebounds. The Demon Deacons decided to play Burns straight up most of the game, not sending the double team, and Burns made them pay over and over again. One of the few times they decided to bring the double Burns was able to use his vision and find freshman LJ Thomas for a corner 3, to give the Wolfpack their first lead in the 2nd half and they never gave it back coming away with a 79-77 victory on the road.
Burns’s ability to provide consistent scoring in the post has been a revelation for head coach Kevin Keatts. Keatts has been known to play through his guards in his offense, and bigs don’t do more than the occasional pick-and-roll lob threat or dump down. D.J. has given this offense another dimension that defenses have to prepare for and he has proven that he can be relied on to carry the offensive load if needed.
One of the most underrated parts of his game has been his vision and passing ability. Burns is not only one of the best-passing bigs in the ACC, but he should be recognized as one of the best-passing bigs in all of college basketball. His willingness to pass out of double teams and not force his shot has been a huge lift for this offense. Against Miami Burns nearly had a triple-double where he finished with 13 points, 7 assists, and 9 rebounds.
NC State has a ton of momentum heading into February and these three guys are a big reason why. If the Wolfpack are able to put together another good month of basketball they could find themselves as one of the teams that could have a chance to cut down the nets in Greensboro when they compete in the ACC Tournament.