NC State Earns Commitment From Talented Defender RJ Keene
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RALEIGH — NC State continues to assemble a roster for the 2026-27 season under first-year men's basketball coach Justin Gainey. Following the surprising coaching change, the Wolfpack needed to make sweeping additions to remain competitive in ACC play. It added a fifth transfer to the mix Friday.
Former Boise State guard RJ Keene II became the latest transfer to join NC State in the last two weeks, per an announcement from his social media accounts. The former Bronco played three seasons with the Mountain West program and will join the Wolfpack with one year of eligibility left, likely filling a key bench role behind some of NC State's other backcourt additions.
The RJ Keene basics
Go pack🐺 #committed #glueguy pic.twitter.com/rWmdd4ZDMn
— RJ Keene (@rjkeeneii) April 24, 2026
The Wolfpack is getting a player with heaps of experience in one of the best mid-major conferences in the country, the Mountain West. In his first three collegiate seasons at Boise State, Keene played in 88 games, starting 35 between his second and third years. The stats don't jump off the page, but NC State is getting a low usage, high-impact player in Keene.
Keene averaged 2.6 points, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 assists in the 2025-26 season, his third season of action after redshirting as a freshman and losing a year to injury. The guard scored eight points and pulled down five rebounds in his team's 81-70 loss to the Wolfpack in the Maui Invitational. Keene has improved his 3-point shooting in each year, shooting a career-best 34.5% from distance last season.
Defense and rebounding will be Keene's calling cards with NC State. The guard developed a reputation as a player willing to do a lot of the dirty work for the Broncos when he saw the court, creating chaos and diving for loose balls. In the 2024-25 season, he was ranked as the second-best defender in the Mountain West, according to Evan Miyakawa.
Given Gainey's emphasis on toughness and defense, Keene fits the mold for what NC State is looking for in some of its options off the bench. He's a player who won't need the ball in his hands to make a massive impact and likely wants a shot to prove himself against high-major competition at a more consistent rate than he got at Boise State.
Keene became the third guard to commit to NC State out of the transfer portal, joining Preston Edmead (Hofstra) and Christian Hammond (Santa Clara). He is the fifth transfer overall, as a pair of frontcourt players, Eemeli Yalaho (Washington State) and Kyle Evans (UC Irvine), also signed on to be a part of Gainey's project in Raleigh.
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Tucker Sennett graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in Sports Journalism from the esteemed Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication at Arizona State University. A former basketball player, he has gained valuable experience working at Cronkite News and brings a deep passion for sports and reporting to his role as the NC State Wolfpack Beat Writer On SI.
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