It has been a wild few weeks for NC State: 5 wins in 5 days to clinch an ACC tourney title, and then 4 NCAA tourney wins to clinch a spot in the Final 4 this weekend. Earlier today HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel got to speak with NC State basketball parent John Nunnally about his son Alex.
As a senior at Cary Academy in North Carolina your son Alex made 81 3PM to break the school record that had been set by 2021 NBA 1st round pick Trey Murphy III: what is his secret to make shots from behind the arc? I do not know where he gets it from: it is not me! He practices his butt off and works out early before classes: I have always supported him and his discipline is amazing. Even when we go on vacation we must find a court somewhere so he can work on his shooting.
He originally signed with D-3 Juniata College out of high school: did you always think that he would eventually end up at a D-1 school? I did…eventually. He was concerned about playing time but decided that he really loves NC State. We were at the College World Series a few years ago and he talked to some people about it and decided that he loved it. Now he gets to practice with D-1 players every day.
You are an NC State alum and you 2 have traveled to games for years: what did it mean to you when he finally transferred to NC State? I met my wife there and Alex has been going to games with us since he was a baby. It was special to us because we love State, but we wanted him to go wherever he would fit in best.
He made the ACC Honor Roll during each of his 1st 2 seasons: how does he balance his work on the court with his work in the classroom? He is incredibly dedicated about that. We saw him in Dallas last weekend…and then he said that he had to go do some homework. His teammate Michael O’Connell is the same way: I talked to his dad about Michael graduating from Stanford in only 3 years.
He is a walk-on: does it make the experience any less sweet because he does not get as much playing time as the guys on scholarship? It probably makes it sweeter because he knows the history of how good NC State was before the struggles of the past few decades. He has tried to convey the history of guys like David Thompson/Dereck Whittenburg to his teammates. They have had plenty of great players since then so it is surprising to me that it took 37 years to win another ACC title. We were doing great at the 2021 College World Series that I mentioned before some players caught COVID and the team was sent home: how does that happen?!
The Wolfpack were 13-4 in mid-January but lost 10 of their last 14 in the regular season: how on earth did they turn things around at the ACC tourney in DC last month by winning 5 games in 5 days? I am stunned: I really do not understand how it happened. I had to reshuffle my schedule just to get to DC but my wife could not join me for the opening game. I was worried that she would miss her chance to watch us play if we lost in the 1st round…but we destroyed Syracuse, and then played even better vs. Duke. Virginia was a tight game but they could not put us away: the team just got stronger in every single game. Mo Diarra has been fasting during Ramadan and Alex was his roommate in DC: Mo would get a huge breakfast at 5:45 AM and then just not eat the rest of the day. Even during the season we had moments where we played pretty well but it just did not “click” until the Syracuse game. We started 5-1 in ACC play and I started to get excited before they started to stumble.
In the NCAA tourney they have won 4 straight over Texas Tech/Oakland/Marquette/Duke: did you even have a chance to spend time at your day job (lawyer with 30 years of trial experience) while watching them win 9 games in a 20-day span? It has been rough but thank God for technology and phones and understanding clients/judges! We all grew up watching the tourney so I am lucky that people have been incredibly accommodating.
He was born/raised in Cary, NC, which is the same city that 2 of his current teammates are from (KJ Keatts/Jordan Snell): is the whole town just going to explode this weekend? It has been incredible throughout the whole area. They have been showing me behind the bench on TV because I am living/dying with every play and some people have started to recognize me on the street. There is a buzz in the region because I think this is the best the program has played in a couple of decades.
The last time NC State made the Final 4 was in 1983 when they upset #1 Houston to win the title: what do you remember about their own incredible run more than 4 decades ago? I remember it very well. We crushed Wake Forest to end the regular season and were playing very well entering the postseason. People forget that it was not a 68-team tourney back then so UNLV had 8 days of rest before playing us. I still remember the shock of beating Houston: there was no shot clock/3-PT line so it is weird to see when they replay it on TV. They just dribbled around for the last few minutes until Whittenburg took that final shot.
Any predictions for this weekend? No! If you had told me earlier this year that they would be playing in the Final 4 I would have laughed but I am cautiously optimistic. My son got to cut down the net at the ACC tourney and again at the South Regional so I will never get tired of watching him do that. I know how much they push him and it is a solid rotation of guys. They have become like a family unit: both the players AND parents.