NC State smokes Mount Olive in exhibition game, 113-73

NC State scored the first 11 points of its exhibition game against Mount Olive on Sunday afternoon, not bothering to let the Trojans hang around even briefly. The Wolfpack had 22 points less than four minutes into the contest and built a 17-point cushion in the process.

I’m not sure we learned anything today that we didn’t know already, but that was to be expected. This was just a warm-up for the more serious business around the corner.

Markell Johnson was dominant in the first half, where he scored 20 of his 26 points. Kells earned 12 free throw attempts from a Mount Olive defense that had no hope of containing him, and he finished with nine assists to go with six steals and three rebounds.

C.J. Bryce also got off to a fast start and finished with 20 points, a team-high 10 rebounds, and six assists. Devon Daniels also scored 20 points.

Kevin Keatts played 11 guys, all of whom scored at least one bucket. That included freshmen walk-ons Max Farthing and Chase Graham, who finished with three points apiece. Junior college transfer A.J. Taylor finished with seven points and three rebounds in about 21 minutes.

Grad transfer Pat Andree finished 3-8 from three in his debut, all of those makes coming after halftime. Danny Dixon only logged seven minutes, but did grab five rebounds in that time.

Jericole Hellems was limited after a minor shoulder injury in the first half and didn’t play in the second, more out of precaution than anything. I am assuming that he’ll be fine for the season-opener.

That opener is a week from Tuesday. Basketball is just about back, everybody.