Speedy NC State basketball transfer Jarkel Joiner thriving as a ‘team-first guy’
Jarkel Joiner always has his motor running.
As N.C. State’s point guard, Joiner knows only one speed: fast. He’s always on the move in a game.
Fifteen minutes after a game, Joiner seems ready and willing to play another one, still oozing energy. Lace ‘em up and go again.
In the Wolfpack’s 3-0 start, Joiner has been an on-court catalyst, handling the ball, always looking to push the pace and attack, knocking down jumpers or slashing to the basket.
And playing solid defense. That, too.
It was Joiner who stepped up to hit some big shots in the final minutes to secure a 73-67 win over Campbell last week. Against Florida International on Tuesday, he was constantly on the accelerator in a 107-74 win, hitting six 3-pointers and finishing with 26 points.
“He’s huge,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said after the FIU game. “Let’s not shy away from it. It’s great to have a veteran point guard.
“He’s a tremendous personality, he’s great in the locker room. He’s a good basketball player and he’s good for our team because he’s a team-first guy.”
Coming off a dismal 11-21 season in 2021-22 and needing an instant infusion of talent, Keatts looked to the NCAA transfer portal for help and brought in Joiner, who played the past two years at Ole Miss and was a graduate student.
“Coach is a winner and he wants to get back to that,” Joiner said in preseason. “We’re going to surprise some people. Coach always says, ‘All work, no talk,’ and that’s what we’re going to do in games.”
The idea was to pair Joiner with sophomore Terquavion Smith in the backcourt and let them play off each other, push each other, help each other.
In the Campbell game, played at a slow pace, Smith had 17 of his 19 points in the first half and Joiner 13 of his 17 in the second — the perfect complement.
“I don’t coach in the ACC, so I don’t know how it looks when you play the likes of those teams, but I think they’re pretty darn good,” Campbell coach Kevin McGeehan said of Smith and Joiner. “I think that’s a good duo that’s going to carry them a long way. When you’ve got multiple guys at the guard position that can just do it, it can take you a long way.”
Neither is hesitant with the ball. Smith’s 3-point range is impressive — also a long way — and Joiner has shown the ability to hit 3s, but also medium-range jumpers.
Smith missed 7 of 8 3s against FIU, but Joiner hit 6 of 8 3s and senior guard Casey Morsell 6 of 7 in also scoring 26 points. The Pack was 15-for-33 on 3-pointers in the fast-paced game.
“He’s put a lot of work in, and we knew Casey could shoot like that,” Joiner said. “Any time, any night, he can get hot like that. It just feels good.”
Joiner, 23, was the scoring leader at Ole Miss last season, putting up a career-high 33 points in a February game against Alabama. Despite being hampered by a back injury, he averaged 13.2 points a game and a team-best 2.3 assists a game.
A native of Oxford, Mississippi, Joiner was a big-time scorer as a senior at Oxford High, his 36.5-point scoring average fourth-best in the nation. He played two seasons at Cal State Bakersfield, leading the Western Athletic Conference in scoring in conference games as a sophomore (18.6 points), before transferring to Ole Miss after the 2018-19 season and sitting out a year.
Joiner laughed in preseason when asked if he was recruited harder in the portal than coming out of high school. Yes, he said, a “bunch” of schools did reach out to him, an experienced point guard, in the portal.
Why N.C. State? Keatts and his staff, Joiner said, the passion of Wolfpack fans and Raleigh “feeling like home.”
Another question: What’s it like playing with Smith?
“Oh, man, it’s fun,” Joiner said. “Explosive, quick, bouncy. He’s competitive. He’s all about winning. He wants to win.”
Almost sounds like he was talking about himself.
N.C. State vs Elon
When: Saturday, 1 p.m.
Where: PNC Arena, Raleigh.
Where to watch: ACC Network Extra.
This story was originally published November 17, 2022 at 5:30 AM.
