NC State guard Casey Morsell had been anticipating his return to Charlottesville, where he had spent the first two years of his college career, for quite some time.
Tuesday evening, Morsell and his red-hot NC State Wolfpack came into John Paul Jones Arena doing well, having lost only once since the new year began.
But, as JPJ has a tendency of doing, it brought the opponent crashing back to reality, as Virginia frustrated the Wolfpack from the opening tip, winning 63-50.
Morsell, however, had a solid evening, scoring 18 points, on 6-of-11 shooting from the floor, including making 4-of-9 from behind the arc.
That’s where the marksmanship ended for NC State. The Wolfpack had only three other players score, and the rest of Morsell’s teammates were a combined 13-of-46 from the floor.
Credit JPJ?
Morsell didn’t bother to argue that.
“Well, it’s no secret this is a difficult environment to play in. Everyone in the league knows that, or they should,” said Morsell, who has figured things out a bit since playing for the Cavaliers.
In two years at UVA, Morsell was 88-of-272 from the floor (32.5%) and an even worse 25-of-123 from behind the arc (20.3%).
Contrast this to his two years in Raleigh, Morsell has connected on 185-of-435 from the floor (42.5%) and made 97-of-241 from three (40.5%).
In his postgame press conference, Virginia coach Tony Bennett made clear his thoughts about Morsell’s decision to leave UVA: “I wish Casey would have never transferred, I wish all the guys that we bring in here wouldn’t have.
Bennett added, “I shook his parents’ hands after,” said Bennett. “He’s a fine young man. And again, he just, I guess it wasn’t meant to be.”
Catching up with Morsell after the game, he remembered me from the UVA team media day back in 2020. I had mentioned to Morsell having visiting his hometown of Fort Washington, Md., and having dined at a local favorite seafood hangout.
We talked more about food than hoops, a lot more.
Morsell said being on Grounds at UVA was his first real time away from home. He liked the fact that someone covering the team knew a little bit about his hometown.
The JPJ crowd, as it did with Justin McCoy, who transferred to UNC from Virginia, was not easy on Morsell. From the opening introduction, the 14,000-plus in the building made their feelings known, loudly.
I said to Morsell, if it makes you feel any better, that’s the treatment McCoy received when Carolina came to town.
Morsell responded, “I sort of anticipated it, to be honest, I really didn’t try to block it out. After a while it was just noise.”
Trying to turn the mood back to something more positive, I told Morsell of the kind remarks Coach Bennett had for him in his postgame remarks.
It must have worked.
Morsell got a huge warm smile on his face and said, “That’s Coach, that’s who he is.”
As Morsell took the final few steps to the bus waiting to take the Wolfpack to the airport, I asked, so what’s the difference in your shooting since leaving here – technique, style of play?
Morsell, with that big smile replied, “Maybe a little of both. I definitely have a little longer leash now.”
I replied, “best of luck,” and that I hoped the two teams would meet again, in the championship game of the ACC Tournament.
Morsell replied, “Me, too.”
Virginia fans, after his big scoring night, may have seen enough of Casey Morsell.
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