|
Steve Victory JOURNAL – Non-conference 2026-27
Coach Victory got a hunch that this could be a special season while his team was in Alaska. Used to going 2-1 in preseason tournaments, the coach was stunned when his Wolfpack wiped out third-ranked Illinois 91-62 in the Alaska Challenge championship game (yes, this is the same Illinois team State must beat in the NCT title game).
NCSU had played stellar hoops in all three games. They crushed UConn 93-63 in the opener, then sank Oklahoma State 79-48 in the semifinals. Deon Brown was out of sight. He scored 19 points and had 18 rebounds vs. UConn, then scored 17 points with 21 boards vs. OSU. Jalen Hemphill led the way against Illinois as all five starters reached double figures.
From there, the wins kept mounting. Check out these finals during the rest of the non-conference slate (note that State roughed up poor ol’ Mr. Barkley and his ‘Bama boys pretty good in Tuscaloosa). Final 2026-27 records for opponents are in parenthesis:
11/19/2026 New Mexico (18-13) W 75-69
11/22/2026 Missouri (21-13) W 72-69
11/25/2026 @Alabama (12-19) W 85-55
11/28/2026 @Col Of Charleston (24-11) W 88-74
12/2/2026 LSU (21-11) W 85-44
12/4/2026 Washington (8-21) W 75-68
12/7/2026 @Alabama St. (16-14) W 116-48
12/12/2026 Georgia (10-20) W 87-44
12/16/2026 Hofstra (18-13) W 95-67
12/20/2026 Tenn-Martin (12-18) W 100-47
12/24/2026 @Wofford (13-19) W 103-60
12/26/2026 Eastern Illinois (5-24) W 97-56
Granted, this wasn’t the toughest of schedules, but the Pack still proved one of the most entertaining teams around. The bad news – of course, there’s a big injury. Starting PG Roy Wrenn goes down with a ruptured disc against New Mexico and is lost for 3-4 months. Ian Demory gets the start at PG from here and does remarkably well… State moves up to #1 in the polls after the Charleston win. Mississippi State slips into the #1 slot for a few weeks but then State returns when the ‘Dogs lose to Stanford.
The NCSU-Alabama State game is a stat-lovers dream. The Pack leads 60-20 at halftime and makes 40-of-59 shots from the field for the night. While six players reach double figures only one from A-State does, and he scores just 10. Jalen Hemphill emerges as the go-to player during this stretch of games. He could be the next ACC Player of the Year. Junior PF Deon Brown decides he’s ready to go pro and announces he’s not coming back to State next year… surprise, surprise…
After the Eastern Illinois game, the press starts whispering about the perfect season. Victory will have none of it, and doesn’t bite when asked about it. Partly because he knows every team, even the great ones, have off nights and get picked off. Also, he doesn’t want to jinx anything...
|