NC State basketball’s big news on a big man adds to roster rebuild for 2023-24 season
N.C. State’s strong run of men’s basketball roster additions continued this weekend with word that Dusan Mahorcic will be able to play for the Wolfpack next season.
The 6-10 Mahorcic joined N.C. State last season but was limited to 10 games due to injury. He said on social media Saturday he’s received official word that the NCAA has approved him for a medical hardship redshirt for last season, giving him another season of eligibility to use with N.C. State.
On his Instagram feed, Mahorcic posted a copy of an email he received from Jeff Smith, N.C. State’s associate athletics director for compliance, showing his medical redshirt had been approved. Mahorcic added the words, “God is great.”
A native of Belgrade, Serbia, who played high school basketball in suburban Chicago, Mahorcic played for four different colleges in four seasons prior to joining N.C. State last season.
Mahorcic began his career at Division II Lewis (Ill.) before playing in junior college at Moberly (Mo.) Area Community College. After one season each at Illinois State and Utah, he planned to use his final season with the Wolfpack last season.
After playing 20.7 minutes per game and averaging 8.7 points and 6.6 rebounds while starting in nine of his 10 games with the Wolfpack last November and December, Mahorcic suffered a knee injury that required surgery and ended his season.
His approval to play next season adds to coach Kevin Keatts’ roster rebuild. N.C. State added three transfers in 6-5 guard D.J. Horne (Arizona State), 6-5 small forward MJ Rice (Kansas) and 6-10 forward Ben Middlebrooks (Clemson) last week. Earlier in April, 6-4 shooting guard Jayden Taylor announced he was transferring to N.C. State from Butler.
The Wolfpack return 6-9, 275-pound center DJ Burns and 6-9, 195-pound forward Earnest Ross from last season’s 23-11 team that made the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published April 22, 2023 at 2:23 PM.