BREAKING: NC State assistant Joel Justus to join Ohio State staff
NC State assistant coach Joel Justus will depart the Wolfpack to become the associate head coach at Ohio State, sources told TheWolfpacker.com Monday afternoon.
Justus spent two seasons on staff under coach Kevin Keatts and was instrumental in guiding the Pack to the Final Four this season. He will join Jake Diebler’s inaugural staff in Columbus, Ohio. Diebler was named interim head coach during the season and earned the full title on March 17.
He helped lead NC State’s guards the last two seasons and was key in the development of graduate guard Casey Morsell. The Ft. Washington, Md., native went from making 60 three-pointers in his first three seasons of college basketball to nailing 78 in his first year with Justus. Morsell hit 37 treys this season and finished his collegiate career with 175 made triples.
Justus also had his hand in assisting Terquavion Smith, Jarkel Joiner and DJ Horne during his time in Raleigh. Smith went undrafted in 2023, but is currently on a two-way deal with the Philadelphia 76ers. Joiner hit 35% of his threes alongside Smith during the 2023 campaign.
Horne, meanwhile, had a career-best season with the Wolfpack this year. He averaged 16.9 points a game with a 40.4% mark from beyond the arc in his lone season in Raleigh.
Before Justus arrived at NC State, he spent one season at Arizona State and the previous seven on staff at Kentucky. While he was with the Wildcats, Justus helped Kentucky become the first team in college basketball history to start a season 38-0, doing so during the 2014-15 season as the director of analytics.
Justus worked his way up to assistant coach under John Calipari, where he helped the Wildcats win the SEC regular season and tournament championships during the 2016-17 season.
Justus began his coaching career at Elon, where he spent four seasons. The coach was a standout at UNCW during his playing days and helped the Seahawks to a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances.
