The NC State Wolfpack secured an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament after winning five games in five days at the ACC Tournament.
Posted March 19, 2024 12:00 p.m. EDT
Updated March 21, 2024 5:33 p.m. EDT
By Mark Bergin, WRAL senior multiplatform producer and Louis Fernandez, WRAL Sports
Many NC State Wolfpack fans are familiar with the “survive and advance” mantra.
This season’s team did just that by winning five games in five days to claim the ACC Tournament title. The championship was the program’s first since 1987, which helped the Wolfpack secure an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament.
Head coach Kevin Keatts has taken the Wolfpack to the big dance three times in seven years, but he has a 0-4 record as a head coach in the NCAA Tournament during his tenures at NC State and UNC Wilmington.
The Wolfpack last won an NCAA Tournament game in 2015 under former head coach Mark Gottfried. That season’s team made it to the Sweet 16.
“I don’t think our guys listened to what other people thought,” Keatts said on Wednesday. “Chip on their shoulder? Possibly. But I don’t think it’s because people didn’t think we could make it here. It never crossed our mind in our locker room. We have always stayed as a close-knit group.”
Here’s a look at how NC State (22-14, 9-11 ACC) could continue its winning ways.
NC State goes as its “dueling DJs” do: Guard DJ Horne (16.9 points per game) and DJ Burns (12.4 points per game).
Horne sat out in the ACC Tournament opener against Louisville with a hip injury. He scored double figures in three of his team’s next four games. It included 29 points in the ACC title game victory against North Carolina.
Burns is listed at 6-foot-9, 275 pounds. He knows how to use his size to his advantage offensively. He’s got the build of a lineman in football but has excellent footwork.
“The one thing he’s become since coming here is a really elite passer,” Keatts said of Burns. “He’s also a prideful young man. He didn’t make first-team, second-team, third-team, honorable mention in our league. I think that bothered him a little bit.”
Burns posted double-digit scoring in each of the Wolfpack’s five conference tournament games. His passing is impressive too, finishing the title game with 20 points and seven assists.
During the ACC Tournament, ESPN announcer Jay Bilas said defending Burns was “like trying to guard a tank.”
Burns is like college basketball’s version of Zach Randolph, who is also left-handed, had great touch and knew how to use his size.
