NC State ready to embrace the challenge of all that comes in Final Four game

Michael O’Connell started a new pregame routine in this, his first year, at N.C. State.

Before taking his first shot, O’Connell likes to take a step back, take a few minutes and take a good look around the arena.

“I did it every time I went to a new ACC away game,” the Wolfpack point guard said Friday. “I want to take in the whole environment. Look up at the stands and the top rows and take it all in. Just enjoy it, you know.”

That changed a little, he said, when he entered State Farm Stadium for the first time this week.

“Now, it’s more about enjoying the moment,” he said. “At the end of the day, it’s basketball. It’s something I’ve been doing since I was 4 or 5 and first started dribbling a ball.

“It obviously has all the lights, cameras and more fans. You’d be lying if you said you haven’t been waiting for these moments.”

And what a moment for N.C. State.

The Pack (26-14) is the unexpected guest at the 2024 Final Four, playing its way to Arizona with nine straight wins while North Carolina and Duke faltered. The Wolfpack beat them both in the ACC Tournament, then dispatched the Blue Devils in the NCAA South Regional final.

So much for that. The final stage belongs to the Wolfpack this year.

Photos: Get a preview of NC State basketball team before Final Four game against Purdue

The next hurdle are the Purdue Boilermakers (33-4) and 7-4 center Zach Edey, who on Friday became the first player since Virginia’s Ralph Sampson to be named the AP player of the year two straight seasons.

Again, the Pack is the underdog. Again, the Wolfpack players don’t care.

“We fully embrace it,” guard Casey Morsell said.

The Wolfpack players also embrace the challenge of playing on a raised basketball court in a football stadium, in the home of the Arizona Cardinals. It’s a pretty vast place, as are Final Four sites these days, with more than 60,000 fans to pack the place outside Phoenix.

For some players, that vastness and the different sightlines can be a problem when it comes to shooting the ball.

At the Pack’s open practice Friday, Morsell was knocking in jumpers. D.J. Burns Jr. found a spot about 15 feet from the basket and made shot after shot. No problem.

Forward Mohamed Diarra was taking 3-pointers from the left corner. Only one went in.

That could be significant on Saturday. Or mean nothing. We’ll know when the ball goes up at 6:09 p.m. and the Pack and Boilermakers go at it to see who plays for the national championship Monday night.

“Yes, the court is raised, but once you go up and down the court a few times and focus on the rim, it’s not that big a difference,” said D.J. Horne, the Pack’s leading scorer.

Morsell was quick to paraphrase the old “Hoosiers” line.

“The rim’s 10 feet high and the court 94 feet long,” he said. “You don’t have to adjust anything. It’s more like a mindset thing.

“Of course, the backdrop is significantly different. But at the end of the day, it’s still the same basket we’ve been playing on and we’ve got to make sure we understand that.”

O’Connell hit the biggest jumper in the Pack’s nine-game run, the last-gasp 3 against Virginia. He understands it.

While at Stanford, O’Connell said he played a game at the Milwaukee Brewers stadium, which is covered. That was different then, but much like being at State Farm Stadium, he said.

“It’s definitely not easy to shoot here, but I’m more familiar with it,” O’Connell said. “I’ve had different experiences.”

And experience with those shiny new Wilson basketballs the NCAA uses. Some players find them a bit bouncy. Again, there’s an adjustment.

O’Connell likes to take a few power dribbles early in the game – and did against Duke last week – to get a better feel for the ball.

“I’d like it if it had a little more grip to it, but it is what it is,” O’Connell said.

Chances are, O’Connell will take another long look around Saturday before the game. And why not?

“It’s important to take a step back and realize where you are and what you’ve accomplished,” he said. “Not many people get to experience this.”