Redshirt Freshman Manny Bates made a STATEment in his 1st year of College Basketball, leading the ACC in Blocked Shots. Bates averaged 2.9 blocks per game, with a total of 83. James Bates III of Georgia Tech averaged 2.5, with a total of 76. What makes Bates’ feat even more impressive, is that he had 7 more blocks than Banks, playing in 2 less games than the Yellow Jackets big fella.
Bates is the 1st Freshman to lead the ACC in Blocks since Chris Bosh (Georgia Tech) in 2003.
To show how unprecedented Bates’ year was, he became only the 2nd player in NC State history to lead the ACC in Blocks since they started tracking them in 1977, joining BeeJay Anya, who led the conference in swats in 2015 as a Sophomore, averaging 2.