It was not a pleasant start to the season for LeVelle Moton and his North Carolina Central men’s basketball team.
North Carolina State, one year removed from the NCAA Final Four, hammered the Eagles 114-66 on Tuesday in Raleigh.
After the game, Moton explained the reality of what his team faces when matched up against Power 4 schools.
“It’s the NIL era. I thought they were bigger, faster and stronger. The physicality, throwing my center out of the way to get rebounds,” he said. “We’ve got to go back and get in the weight room 10 times a day just to be able to have a chance to compete.”
The Wolfpack, in new coach Will Wade’s debut, tied a school record with 19 three pointers and had seven players reach double figures.
The Wolfpack outrebounded Central 40-24 as well.
“They’ve got some big kids. Their wing is the same size as my post man,” Moton said before summing up his remarks with a reason why the score was so lopsided.
“What you’re seeing in this NIL era is I think a $12-million-dollar basketball team versus a zero-dollar basketball team,” he said. “We’ll learn from this and we’ll keep fighting.”