Why NC State guard D.J. Horne is playing with a ‘big chip on his shoulder’

D.J Horne was seated Tuesday in a corner of the N.C. State locker room at PNC Arena, in the stall occupied the past two seasons by the departed Terquavion Smith.

Seemed fitting, too. Horne had just finished up a game that “Baby T” would have enjoyed and applauded, knocking down six 3-pointers in scoring a game-high 22 points in an 81-67 win over UT Martin.

Smith never hesitated in launching a 3. Nor did he care about the range. Horne was more selective, taking the shots that were there and hitting six of 10 from the arc against the Skyhawks, who gave the Pack (7-2) a nice post-exam push.

The Wolfpack had a six-point lead in the second half before Horne drained a 3 from the key. Moments later, he did it again. The Pack was on its way, leading by as many as 22 points.

Horne is back home again after a basketball sojourn. The Raleigh native said his family and friends usually fill up a 16-seat suite in Section 109 at PNC Arena, but that he had to round up 24 tickets for Tuesday’s game.

“My mom’s up there, I’d know that voice anywhere, and when she gets to going …” Horne said, smiling.

Horne began his college career at Illinois State, then was at Arizona State for two seasons before becoming a graduate transfer to NCSU this year.

It’s that way now in college sports. There’s freedom of movement and a lot of athletes do use that freedom to move. In Horne’s case, he also has been moving up. Horne can quickly reel off the schools seriously interested in him after his senior year of high school at Trinity Christian in Fayetteville.

“My five schools were Illinois State, UMass-Lowell, Northern Kentucky, St. Louis and Towson,” he said Tuesday. “Coming out of high school I felt like I was under-recruited and I didn’t have that many options.

“I’ll never forget it. I felt like Illinois State was my best option, in that they offered me first. I felt like they took a chance on me and offered me first, that’s why I wound up going there.”

After two years in the Missouri Valley Conference, it was on to ASU and the Pac-12, playing for coach Bobby Hurley. Last season, he had 20 points as Arizona State won a First Four NCAA tournament game in Dayton, Ohio, against Nevada, then 17 in a close loss to TCU in the next round in Denver.

Then he was back to Raleigh and N.C. State – with, Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts said, something to prove.

“He’s got a big chip on his shoulder,” Keatts said Tuesday. “I mean, this guy has taken an untraditional route to make it back to the ACC. He started off at Illinois State, worked his butt off, then went to Arizona State.

“He’s a competitor. He’s the guy who reminds me of the two guys we had last year when you said ‘Go get a basket.’ D.J. Horne can go get a basket.”

Those “two guys” were Smith and Jarkel Joiner, a transfer from Mississippi. Together they made up a dynamic backcourt and meshed from the start of the 2022-23 season, helping the Pack win 23 games and reach the NCAA tournament.

While Keatts continues to look at different lineups, Horne and Jayden Taylor, a transfer from Butler, have been working well together. Both can score points. Taylor is 6-4 and a willing defender while the 6-2 Horne is …

“He’s starting to buy in defensively,” Keatts said. “He was a mess when he first got here. When we recruited him we talked about it but he didn’t know how hard he had to work. He’s working extremely hard and it’s starting to pay off for him.”

Horne, until Tuesday, had been disappointed by his 3-point shooting. He was a 35.5% shooter from 3 last season at ASU and shot 36% the year before with the Sun Devils.

He was sitting at 33% going into the UT Martin game, converting 15 of 45 of his 3-pointers. He missed seven of eight in the Pack’s 20-point loss at Mississippi in the ACC/SEC Challenge – N.C. State was 3-of-25 on 3’s in that dismal game.

“Yeah, man, I think I definitely got off to a little slow start to this season as far as my shot,” Horne said. “As a shooter you can’t really let that deter you. You’ve got to keep shooting the same way and I did that (Tuesday) and they went in.

“I’m just going to tell myself to do the same thing and hopefully that (percentage) will improve as the season goes on.”

Horne responded from the Ole Miss debacle with 21 points the next time out as the Pack won 84-78 in overtime at Boston College in its ACC opener. His 22 points Tuesday were a season high and the six 3-pointers tied his career high.

Through nine games, he’s averaging 13.3 points a game and has 24 assists and three turnovers. That’ll work.

“He has shot the ball better in practice than he has in a game,” Keatts said. “I think part of his process is, and I love him to death, but he’s starting to learn how to play the defense we play.

“Early in the season he was one of those guys who was a little resistant to get after it, so I think when the game started, it kind of affected him on the offensive end. I think he’s getting in more game shape to be able to play that way.”

Forty minutes of rugged defense and good shooting should be needed by the Pack in its next game: against Tennessee on Saturday in the Hall of Fame Series in San Antonio. The Vols (7-3), coached by Rick Barnes, like to bring the defensive heat and bang bodies. The Wolfpack will have to answer.

“This is one of our opportunities to get a major Quad-1 win,” Horne said. “We definitely want to take advantage of that, knowing we dropped two in the nonconference (Ole Miss, BYU) and this would be a good way to get us back into consideration for the top 25.”