NC State Basketball
Only 2 games in, NC State already among nation’s best at creating TOs
Over the past 25 years, NC State basketball hasn’t exactly been known for its defense.
Sure, they had their moments under Herb Sendek, but during the Les Robinson era, the Sidney Lowe era and the Mark Gottfried era defense was merely an after-thought.
Those days, thankfully, are over. Kevin Keatts has, in one off-season, changed the culture, the commitment and the dedication on the defense side of the basketball. It’s only been two games and it’s already paying off.
NC State is leading the ACC in turnover percentage (turnovers forced per 100 possessions) at 30%. In fact, NC State is tied for 6th in the nation in that category. And that’s not the only impressive turnover stat.
NC State’s director of communications pointed out a few more yesterday morning.
It’s ridiculously early – probably even too early to tweet about it – but after two games, @PackMensBball is 3rd in ACC in steals/game & leads ACC in Turnover Margin. Last year, Pack finished 13th in both categories.
— Craig Hammel (@Hammel_Craig) November 13, 2017
Also note that the turnover margin is 10.5, which is good for #22 in the nation at this point.
To expand on this. Prior to the 2 games this season, the last time @PackMensBball forced its opponent into more turnovers than made field goals was 1/14/12 at Wake Forest. Pack allowed 16 WF FGs, while WF had 17 turnovers.
191 games between WF game & VMI game https://t.co/xUhUf0CGHd
— Craig Hammel (@Hammel_Craig) November 13, 2017
Now, yes, this is just two games and they aren’t against very good teams, but NC State has played a lot of teams like these over the past 25 years and they haven’t been anywhere close to this dominant on the defensive end, especially when it comes to takeaways.
NC State finally has an identity and although it’s very early, it’s exciting to see the buy-in Keatts is getting from his guys. They may not be a championship caliber team just yet, but any team willing to put in the work on defense is going to find some level of success in the long haul.