ACC Basketball: Each team’s best acquisition out of 2023 transfer portal

D.J. Horne – 6’1 Guard – NC State Wolfpack

DJ Horne joins the NC State Wolfpack looking to boost their backcourt scoring attack after spending the past two seasons in the Pac-12 with the Arizona State Sun Devils. He’s a confident shooting guard that can get going in a hurry from the perimeter and should battle a number of transfer portal additions for minutes.

Head coach Kevin Keatts will have his work cut out for him with roster turnover this offseason as he returns just five players from last year’s squad. Horne is the lone transfer out of the portal with four years of college basketball already under his belt with his career spanning back to 2019-20 when he joined the Illinois State Redbirds.

Since then, he’s proven to be a consistent perimeter shooting threat as he shot 41.4 percent from deep from 2019-21 on 2.0 made 3-pointers. Across 65 appearances with Arizona State, he knocked down 35.7 percent of his 3-point attempts and 2.2 3-point attempts per contest.

Horne finished fifth in the Pac-12 in 3-point shots made (73) in 2021-22 and seventh in the conference in 3-point shots made (72) in 2022-23 as one of the top perimeter threats in a power conference.

He’s quite the playmaker with the ball in his hands whether it’s scoring or passing the ball. He finished 19th in the conference in total assists (83) despite having Frankie Collins running the point last season.

He’s also sneaky on the defensive end of the ball as well. He finished with 38 total steals in 2022-23, good for 13th best in the Pac-12.

He’s shown he’s more than capable of creating for himself at the off-guard spot, something that’s been a staple in the isolation-style offense of Coach Keatts. With a ton of guards battling for playing time, he’ll certainly be one that’s at the top of the list entering 2023-24.