Where Are They Now? Former State Player Update
There are currently four players that began their college basketball careers on scholarship at NC State still active at other schools.
Big man Omer Yurtseven is at Georgetown, shooting guard Lavar Batts is at UNC Asheville, power forward Darius Hicks is at Eastern Kentucky while wing Shaun Kirk is finishing out his career at UNC Pembroke.
With the Wolfpack's current team off this weekend preparing for Tuesday's game at Syracuse, here's a look at how the quartet of State transfers is faring:
Yurtseven, 7-0, redshirt junior
The former five-star prospect has grown a man bun since his days at State, where he played two seasons from 2016-18 before transferring after helping the Wolfpack to the NCAA tournament in Kevin Keatts' first season as coach.
Yurtseven averaged 13.5 points and 6.7 rebounds per game as a sophomore and finished second in the voting for the ACC's Most Improved Player award while posting a career-high 29 points in a game against Clemson.
He has been even better since moving to Georgetown to play under legendary big man Patrick Ewing. After sitting out the 2018-19 season under NCAA transfer rules, he has returned to action to lead the Hoyas in rebounding at 10.1 per game and blocked shots with 35 while ranking second on the team in scoring at 16.3. He is shooting 54 percent from the floor.
Georgetown is currently 14-10 overall, 4-7 in the Big East
Batts, 6-3, redshirt sophomore
Batts (pictured above) played only one season with the Wolfpack. Although he saw action in 30 gmes, he averaged only 3.7 points, 1.5 assists and 1.2 rebounds per game. His career highlight was a five-assist performance in State's upset of second-ranked Duke on Jan. 6 in 2017-18.
A consensus four-star prospect coming out of Robinson High School in Concord, Batts set a Carrabus County record with 2,174 career points. He is currently averaging 13.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game for UNCA while shooting 51.2 percent from the floor for the 10-12 Bulldogs.
Hicks, 6-8, redshirt junior
A three-star prospect who chose State over Cincinnati, his career with the Wolfpack never really got off the ground.
He played sparingly as a freshman in 2016-17, totaling just eight points and eight rebounds in 21 games. He was set to play a bigger role as a sophomore, but suffered a season-ending injury after just four game, in which he averaged 4.3 points and 3.0 rebounds.
Like the others, Hicks sat out a season. He's back now and averaging 5.8 points and 5.5 rebounds a game for Eastern Kentucky, which despite being 12-13 overall, is 9-3 in the Ohio Valley Conference and still very much in contention for the league's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament.
Kirk, 6-9, redshirt senior
Kirk's story is the most interesting of all. He reclassified to graduate high school early because then-coach Mark Gottfried was short on warm bodies, turned down a late offer from Kentucky shortly after committing to the Wolfpack, then played in only 33 games over three seasons at State.
His most memorable attribute was his dunking ability and he had several spectacular ones, most in garbage time late in games that had already been decided. He scored his career high of seven points in a game gainst South Carolina State in 2017-18, shortly before deciding to leave the program.
Although he didn't have to sit out a season after transferring to UNC Pembroke, since it's a Division II program, he did sit out 2018-19, returning this season to play along side his younger brother Tyrell -- who leads the Braves in scoring. Shaun is averaging 7.3 points ancd 2.2 rebounds while shooting 51.7 percent from the floor in this, his final season of eligibility.
UNCP currently leads the Peach Belt Conference at 18-4 overall, 12-0 in the league.
