Video: 2014-15 North Carolina State Wolfpack high school highlightsFootage of Cat Barber, Trevor Lacey and Abdul-Malik Abu from their prep days.The stellar high school careers of
Anthony "Cat" Barber,
Trevor Lacey and
Abdul-Malik Abu are all paying off.
In the NCAA Tournament, no less.
The trio has helped North Carolina State into the Sweet 16, and on Friday they face Louisville in the East regional semifinals.
Barber, a standout point guard at
Hampton (Va.)
in the same neighborhood as Allen Iverson, was often compared to The Answer, though surely a different kind of player. But equally
effective.
Barber led N.C. State to a 66-65 first-round win
over LSU with 17 points. He averaged
20.2 points per game his senior year for Hampton (22-6) and was named
state Class AAA Player of the Year as a junior when he averaged 21.3
points per game.
Lacey, a 6-3 junior guard who leads the Wolf Pack in scoring at 15.7 per game, was a four-time first-team All-State player for
Butler (Huntsville, Ala.), leading the team to three straight state championships. He was state finals MVP twice and Mr. Basketball in Alabama twice. He averaged 31.4 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.1 steals per game as a senior.
Abu, a freshman from
Kimball Union Academy (Meriden, N.H.) has started 21 of 35 games and is the team's fifth leading scorer at 6.4 per game. Abu played three seasons at the prep school and scored 1,284 points and averaged 24.5 points and 10.5 rebounds during his final season.
