NC State newcomer turns defense into points, leads Wolfpack over Abilene Christian
With 15:01 left in Friday’s game, N.C. State’s Jayden Taylor grabbed a defensive rebound and scored a layup on the fast break. He recorded a steal and sank a 3-pointer on the fast break the following possession.
“I like turning PNC up,” Taylor said. “When I see the PNC loud, that just gives me a good feeling, an exciting feeling; like a little rush to the body. It was good for me, and I like playing defense.”
Taylor did it all for the Wolfpack (2-0) in the 84-64 win over Abilene Christian at PNC Arena, becoming the second new player in as many games to make major contributions.
First, Mohamed Diarra recorded his first career double-double in Monday’s opener. On Friday, Taylor finished with 22 points, just two away from tying his career high, and was an efficient defender against the Wildcats.
“I know it’s really early in the season, but I thought we did some really good things. We were very aggressive defensively,” head coach Kevin Keatts said. “If I had to credit someone for getting us going, I would say Jayden Taylor was really a spark plug. He did a great job on the defensive end, and offensively he was really aggressive getting to the free throw line.”
Keatts said this year’s team doesn’t have a “designated paint touch guy,” so Taylor will need to be that type — getting inside and drawing contact — and he filled that role well.
The junior transfer from Butler made all nine free throw attempts Friday, seven of which came in the first half.
Taylor finished with a team-high 12 net points — points produced minus points allowed — according to the advanced analytics. That was by far the best out of any Pack player and more than doubled the net points produced by graduate student DJ Horne.
Taylor’s stat line also included two rebounds, one block and two steals.
“I don’t like people scoring on me, so I take that personally. My matchup, I take that personally,” Taylor said. “I don’t want my matchup to have a good game. That’s just something within me.”
The newcomer received high praise from his N.C. State teammates. DJ Burns called him a “pro,” while Casey Morsell said the success started on the defensive end with Taylor.
Morsell said he loved seeing Taylor’s impact against the Wildcats, noting it helps the rest of the lineup.
“That pressure as you saw tonight: It made the guards uncomfortable, forced them to shoot tough shots, which made it easy on us,” Morsell said. “All we had to do was just kind of finish the possession, because he bought the pressure up front. He makes everyone’s job easier.”
Don’t be fooled by the celebrations in the last couple of games, though. N.C. State isn’t satisfied. The team knows it’s only two games into the season.
In the last five years, though, it hasn’t finished above No. 6 in the ACC for scoring defense. It averaged 70.8 opponent points per game last season and 75.6 points the year prior.
Through two games, the Wolfpack is giving up an average of 61.5 points. Having guys like Taylor embrace the defense-first mindset should put the team in a position to be successful and keep opposing teams from finding a shooting rhythm.
“We’ve taken a huge step on the defensive end. That has to be our identity,” Morsell said. “That was a major weakness of ours last year. We had a significant amount of talent offensively, but that was a challenge. Now we’re locking in on that area and that’s our main emphasis.”
