NC State adding Rutgers transfer Diamond Johnson

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — North Carolina State has added Rutgers transfer Diamond Johnson, an all-Big Ten performer as a freshman.

The program announced the addition Friday. The 5-foot-5 guard averaged 17.6 points and 4.3 rebounds for the Scarlet Knights last year after arriving as the nation’s sixth-ranked recruit. She made the Big Ten’s all-freshman team and was a second-team all-conference pick.

Wolfpack coach Wes Moore says Johnson is a scoring point guard who can push the ball and stretch defenses.

It’s the latest good news for the Wolfpack, who added Mississippi State freshman guard Madison Hayes as a transfer on Thursday. The program also announced earlier this week that graduate transfer Raina Perez, and seniors Kayla Jones and Kai Crutchfield would return with the extra year of eligibility granted by the NCAA due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

That means N.C. State is set to return all five starters and its top eight scorers from a team that won a second straight Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament title and earned a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament before losing to Indiana in the Sweet 16.

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