NC State guard Trey Parker brings ‘Fayetteville mentality’ to Cameron in breakout performance

DURHAM, N.C. — There are no moral victories in college basketball, especially against Quad-1 opponents and, for NC State, teams within the Triangle. Despite the Pack dropping its fifth straight game on Monday night inside Cameron Indoor Stadium against the Blue Devils, there was one silver lining: the emergence of a promising freshman in what was a hostile environment.

His name is Trey Parker.

Parker was a player who started his collegiate career surrounded question marks after choosing to reclassify down a year, playing another season on the Overtime Elite circuit, leaving many NC State fans skeptical that he would ever suit up for the red and white. Fast forward a season later, Parker joined the 2025 class along with fellow freshman Paul McNeil and Bryce Heard on a roster that is built around veteran experience, sitting behind graduate guard Michael O’Connell in order to learn the ropes on the guard-led NC State system.

While playing sparingly to start the year, particularly during the non-conference portion of NC State’s season, Parker entered Monday’s night matchup against Duke just 5-for-23 on the season from beyond the arc, tallying his best game against Coastal Carolina in November. That changed against the No. 2 team in the country, with the 6-foot-1 guard finishing with a career-high 15 points, draining his first six shots including three from beyond the arc.

“Everything was going through my mind, for real,” Parker said postgame. “But I was just like, ‘Go hard for my team in as many minutes as I get.’ Just go hard.”

That’s exactly what Parker did every time he touched the court.

Coming into Monday night averaging just over eight minutes a game, the true freshman gave NC State head coach Kevin Keatts a reason for more minutes in the game, draining a triple just 48 seconds after subbing in at the 12:19 mark in a first half that the Wolfpack lead by as much as 13 against the ACC’s top team.

“A big environment doesn’t really faze me,” Parker said. “In high school I played a lot of games in a lot of places, so coming into here it was just like another game.”

Despite a Blue Devil run to close the first half and open the final twenty minutes, it was Parker who kept NC State within striking distance, giving the Pack their first points in the second half in what was over an eight-minute scoring drought for NC State, one that saw their lead gradually slip away. Parker finished the half as the only Pack player in double figures, as the freshman logged a total of 19 minutes, just one shy of his career high that came against the aforementioned Chanticleers.

Parker isn’t the only freshman to start turning the corner and make impactful plays, with fellow freshman Paul McNeil logging eight points, three rebounds, and three assists in last Saturday’s loss against the Mustangs. It was that performance that helped motivate Parker to turn in a career night in the biggest game of his early career with the Pack.

“Paul [McNeil] had a great start last game,” Parker said. “It was really inspirational to me. Seeing the freshmen get on the court and make plays and do what they do. It’s just the love of the game. Like the love of a brother.”

With a roster makeup of seven seniors, with guard Marcus Hill having the option for an extra year given the recent JUCO court ruling, it was important for NC State head coach Kevin Keatts to see what he had in his trio of freshman in hopes to see what he had for seasons moving forward.

While it’s taken some time for them to come around, Keatts has been impressed from what he has seen from the youngsters here recently early in their career.

“I’m getting really excited about our young guys,” Keatts said postgame. “It’s taking them a little while to come into their own. Paul showed some moments last game. Now you got Trey Parker and Bryce [Heard], all three of those guys are really working hard, and we needed them to develop. Obviously, we don’t have Mike James, and so we needed another guard to step up and play well, and those guys are starting to contribute, and I really like that.”

Keatts wasn’t the only coach to take notice of Parker performance, with Blue Devil head skipper Jon Scheyer singing the praises of the true-freshman’s performance against his team that came into the matchup ranking third nationally in defensive efficiency.

“I wouldn’t say a little — he changed [NC State’s offense] a lot,” Scheyer said postgame with a laugh. “He is, ‘holy smokes,’ man. He was quick. The way he was shooting it, it was a little bit different. … He’s good. I was really impressed with what he did tonight.”

Growing up in Fayetteville, N.C., Parker dreamed of one day making an impact in the storied matchups along Tobacco Road, the kind he grew up watching. It took a pregame conversation with an assistant coach to help him get into the right mindset, setting the stage for Parker to change the game for NC State.

“One of the coaches [Kareem Richardson] before the game said, ‘Bring that Fayetteville mentality,'” Parker said. “That’s what I did. Now we just have stay together. We’ve got to stay together. Me personally, I’ve just got to stay in the gym.”

With NC State currently sitting tied for 15th in the league with a 2-7 ACC record, it’ll be tough sledding ahead for the Pack to even stay in the picture for the conference tournament with the bottom three teams in the league being omitted from ACC tournament contention.

While there’s still plenty of basketball left to be played, if NC State’s struggles persist through the challenging back half of the conference schedule, the bigger storyline may ultimately be the impact made by the trio of freshmen. In particular, Parker, who after Monday night, is well on his way to becoming a cornerstone piece for NC State’s future.

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