Kevin Keatts and Lennard Freeman talk about the team’s tournament, going back to the drawing board and learning how to improve. Watch the video above or read the cliff-notes below.
Was excited for this tournament because he got to see where his team is.
Going to be able to take this film and figure out what they need to work on.
Thought it was a decent week, even though they took two losses. Thought winning vs #2 Arizona was big, but also had chances to win other games.
Think that with a new staff and bunch of new plays they need to go back to the drawing board and figure out how now to be themselves. That’s a good thing.
Every coach in this tournament needs to figure out how to improve the areas they were not successful at.
Never happy with a loss but there are a lot of teaching points they will take from this and they will get better.
Don’t get hung up on words. Saying ‘decent’ was coach talk. The win against Arizona was a program building win. A culture building win. What he envisioned when he took over the program. But says “I want more.”
Knew there would be some growing pains
Freeman: Some positives and negatives. Going to learn from losses. Did some good and some bad. Wanted to be 3-0 and just need to get better.
Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) is a priority for NC State, according to a source.
News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.
After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.
This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.
James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.
He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.
Prior to this season, the record for most games started in a single season in NC State history was 37, with three Wolfpack players doing so: Lorenzo Brown, Richard Howell, CJ Williams.
Morsell now sits atop the list, and a fellow teammate, DJ Burns ranks second, with 40 games started this season.
Styles was the 2nd leading scorer for Georgetown this season, averaging 12.8 points per game, while grabbing 5.8 boards. He shot 36.8% from three.
Originally, Sytles was a consensus 4-Star prospect in UNC’s 2021 recruiting class. 247Sports ranked him as the #62 overall player nationally, and the #2 player in the state of North Carolina, playing for Kinston High School.
After two seasons with the Tar Heels, Styles entered the Portal, and took an Official Visit to NC State and Georgetown, and ultimately chose the Hoyas.
ON3 ranks Styles as the #104 overall player in the Portal.
With his final year of eligibility, Styles’ made the right choice this time.
NC State now has 2 scholarships remaining after Styles’ commitment.