Butler transfer Colt Langdon brings strong work ethic to NC State

By Noah Fleischman

Two seconds sat on the clock inside Broughton High’s gymnasium. Raleigh (N.C.) Millbrook trailed by a bucket to Warrenton (Va.) Highland, which was powered by current five-star small forward Nate Ament. 

Millbrook coach Christopher Davis called a timeout, looking to draw up a baseline out-of-bounds play to either tie or win the game in the 2023 John Wall Invitational, a storied event each December in Raleigh. And it didn’t take long for Davis to know who wanted the ball. 

“You know the ball is coming to me, right?” asked junior forward Colt Langdon, the program’s soon-to-be all-time leading scorer. 

Well, who else would it go to? 

Langdon caught a pass in the corner. His only option was to let a tough 3-point attempt fly. The versatile four-man uncorked the triple, falling away into the packed crowd. Langdon’s high-arching shot found the bottom of the net at the buzzer. Game. 

But after the celebration, Langdon made sure to find his coach. “Man, that was a great call,” he said. 

That’s who Langdon is. A confident, yet respectful player that wants to win — and he’ll do anything to get the job done. He’s also the type of player who is also looking to grow in every stage he can. It’s why he graduated from high school a year early to begin his collegiate career at Butler this past season.

Langdon wanted to be pushed. He accomplished everything he felt he could at the public school level — averaging 26.4 points, 10.0 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.5 blocks as a junior en route to a program-best 1,758 career points in his three seasons. Butler, where he redshirted to maintain four years of eligibility as he adjusted to the college game, was going to be the catalyst for him to improve even more.

“He’s a worker,” Davis recently told TheWolfpacker.com. “He’s the kind of kid that’s going to call you and ask what time the gym’s going to be open. Can he stay late? Can he get shots up? There are some kids who live it and want to be it — he is a baller for sure.”

That’s the same mindset he’s bringing to NC State. Langdon committed to the Wolfpack via the transfer portal last Thursday, joining coach Will Wade’s inaugural roster at his hometown program. 

His work ethic has brought Langdon to this point. Now, it’s what will allow him to fight for minutes in his redshirt freshman season. Langdon projects to be a reserve forward and could find a way to carve out a role off the bench for the Wolfpack. 

Landgon’s lone season at Butler paid dividends with his drive to improve. 

“He’s bigger, stronger and was able to go in there and mix it up against those guys,” said Davis, an NC State graduate himself. “He could have helped them this year, but decided to redshirt. Looking back at it now, it was a great decision to do that. He was really doing well going against a bunch of grown men up there. He was holding his own against those guys. 

“He’s going to compete, battle and make Wolfpack Nation proud of how he develops.”

Davis’ observation lined up with how his former prep star felt about his developmental year in Indianapolis.

“I feel like I’m 10 times the basketball player I am now than I was when I was coming out of high school,” Langdon told TheWolfpacker.com shortly after his commitment. 

Langdon wants to be the best he can be. Of course, every player says that, but Davis has witnessed it firsthand. Whether it was missing a shot on the court, where he’d be visibly mad at himself, even though he’d made plenty of tougher attempts throughout the game, or just his willingness to stay in the gym, Langdon is unique. 

The only player that Davis, who has spent more than a decade coaching in the Triangle, could compare his work ethic to was that of Chris Clemons, the former Millbrook star who has spent the last six years playing professionally in the NBA’s G-League and overseas.

Clemon’s drive helped him lead the NCAA in scoring (30.1 points per game as the third-highest scorer in college basketball history) and become a USBWA Third Team All-American during his senior season at Campbell before he kick-started his professional career. 

And Langdon is right up there with him. 

“Some guys play basketball when it’s basketball season,” Davis said. “Some guys will shoot and mess around. But when [Langdon is] in the gym, it’s to get work in. … He’s in the business of trying to be great.”