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OUR TAKE: On NC State’s hard-fought win over Virginia Tech

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After losing five in a row, and falling to 0-3 in ACC play, NC State needed a win. Thanks to some stellar defense, and another outstanding performance from Dereon Seabron, the Wolfpack got just that. Here’s OUR TAKE on NC State’s big win.

Seabron at the point created all types of problems for Virginia Tech
Seabron at the point has changed everything (as Wolfertti told us it would). Keatts finally made the move against FSU and suddenly the offense was purring. It didn’t end up giving the Wolfpack a win in that one, but it certainly seemed like it unlocked something in this team that they were missing. Against, Virginia Tech, it finally paid off.

Seabron was a one-man wrecking crew. He had the Hokies on their heels all night long, going off of the high screen, needing just a sliver of daylight to explode into the lane and make a play. He finished with 21 points and 10 boards, once again, leading the team in both categories.

After starting strong, Tech took a charge on Seabron and it seemed as if it caused him to be a little less aggressive. He only had 4 points at the break. But in the second half, he turned that motor on high and was in attack mode on every play. This really bothered the Hokies. They were scrambling to cut him off on the high screen, they were sending help, they were fully focused on stopping Seabron. The one problem? There was no stopping him.

The sophomore guard was just too fast, too quick, too big, too physical and too slippery on drives to be stopped. They tried everything they could, but it didn’t work. He was getting to the rim and finishing everything. He had 17 of his 21 in the second half.

The obsession with cutting off his driving lanes allowed Smith and Hellems to get open shot after open shot. Smith had 17 points and Hellems chipped in with 15. He was so good, that in the second half, even when Cam Hayes entered the game, Keatts had him at the 2, leaving the primary ball-handling to Seabron. This was the right move, and it paid off. Seabron is a jump shot away from becoming an NBA lottery pick and Virginia Tech had to find that out the hard way.

 

Ernest Ross is coming of age
We’ll get to Hellems and Smith in a minute, but we have got to call out freshman Ernest Ross. After not playing a single minute in the loss to FSU (we still don’t know why), Ross was the first (and only) big off the bench behind Dowuona. And Ebe got himself into some early foul trouble. This forced Keatts to turn to Ross. This could have been a catastrophe. Va Tech relies on and features their bigs. Suddenly, the only thing between Aluma and Mutts was Ernest Ross.

Fortunately for Keatts and Co, Ross was ready. The freshman didn’t dazzle in the box score, but he certainly played a big role in this win. He finished with 4 points and 3 boards in 15 minutes, but he did a good job at protecting the rim and delivered two big time buckets down the stretch.

The first was this massive slam on the break.

Then, with 40 seconds on the clock and State up just 5, Seabron missed a layup. But Ross was there for the offensive board and nifty put back. This was the backbreaker for the Hokies.

Ross is just starting to seem comfortable in Keatts system, and we believe he’s going to play a big role for this team as the season progresses.

 

Keatts changed it up and threw double-teams at Aluma
Keve Aluma is one of the more dominant bigs in the ACC (if not the nation), and NC State has a problem with defending the paint. So what was Keatts going to do?

Well, If you were the Hokies, you’d look back at the Purdue game where NC State let Purdue’s bigs go one-on-one, instead deciding to stay home on shooters. It worked, so you’d have guessed they’d be right back to that strategy vs. Virginia Tech.

Wrong. Keatts threw a little wrinkle in and decided to bring double teams anytime Aluma touched it on the block. You could tell this flustered him and that wasn’t part of the pre-game scouting report his coach had given him. Aluma was much less aggressive and played hesitant most of the night. He did finish with 18 points and 6 boards, but he never got into a real rhythm and seemed flustered most of the night.

Credit Kevin Keatts. The guy has taken a lot of heat lately, so it’s only fair to give him his coaching props when he does something like this. Doing this meant that his guard would need to have their heads on a swivel and be ready to rotate on when Aluma looked opposite for the pass. Which brings us to our next point…

The NC State defense was the best it’s been all season
Not just from an effort standpoint, although the effort was on max all night. This defense played extremely smart and communicated as well as I’ve seen a young team communicate in years. If you are going to double the post, you are asking for teams to beat you from outside. Only, somehow the Hokies weren’t getting clean looks despite the double. Credit the guards who were swarming, rotating, and communicating with each other on every rotation. Usually, good passing can beat any type of defensive rotation, but Tech was passing it crisply and quickly, however very few open shots were found.

Speaking of defense, how about the job they did on Justyn Mutts. The guy was coming off of a 20 point night vs #2 Duke and the Pack held him to 6 points and turned him over 6 times. The double team on the block when he got it down there really threw him for a loop. Again, I can’t stress enough how well the double teams worked on the Hokies. It was obvious they weren’t expecting that from NC State.

 

Even without Bates, this team is a rebounding juggernaut
We said in our pregame article that winning the battle of the boards was essential, and NC State did it (36-26). The crazy thing with the Pack is that their bigs aren’t doing most of the rebounding work. It’s the guards. And it’s really a product of throwing out a whole lineup of 6’4 or above guys. Oh, and credit Keatts here too, because getting guards to rebound isn’t easy, but he’s got these guy crashing the boards. Seabron finished with 10, Smith had 7, Hellems had 5, and there were a bunch of guys with 2 or 3.

Not sure if you all realize this or not, but despite the fact that NC State is without Bates, they rank 4th in the conference in rebounding and lead the ACC in offensive rebounding. Meanwhile, Seabron himself leads the ACC with 10 per game (.1 over Bacot from UNC).

They closed it out
This one looked a lot like a lot of other games we’ve watched this season. NC State starts well, goes into a funk, comes back, only to lose it at the end. Keatts kept saying it was just the sign of a young team, and that they were learning from it. He was right. Every time it looked like the Hokies were going to make a run at the end, NC State came up with a big play. You could sense that they had enough of letting games slip away, and they were going to push that much harder to make sure this one didn’t meet the same fate.

 

 

A pasta eatin', Wolfpack lovin' loudmouth from Raleigh by way of New Jersey. Jimmy V and Chuck Amato fanboy. All opinions are my own and you're gonna hear'em.

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Afterglow
Afterglow
1 year ago

Fun game to watch. I liked what I saw and think they did a better job of not giving the Hokies second chance shots (although still think boxing out is a work in progress). My hope is both Ross and Dowuona go hard against each other in practice and in turn, make each other better. Might we see a two headed monster at some point something this season? Without a backup, that may never happen, but I could see scenarios where they could both be out there once they the team and them become more comfortable getting points in the… Read more »

Papajohn
Papajohn
1 year ago

You know, Keatts never lies to us. He may not tell us everything, but what he tells us always proves to be true. He’s said repeatedly that they needed to learn to finish games and finish defensive possessions. Last night you saw some of both. I think there’s something about Keatts and playing on the road. Fewer distractions? I’m not dreaming that “we’ve turned the corner“, it’s never that easy. But you have to think that the players finally saw some results from their hard work, and from what KK has been teaching them in practice. That’s got to encourage… Read more »

Afterglow
Afterglow
1 year ago
Reply to  Papajohn

I don’t suppose we’ll know a corner has been turned until after the season. One thing that has never seemed to be in question is buy in from this team. I think our trajectory is a good one provided they continue to buy in. And as for home games, I do wonder if playing in the PNC Arena will feel a bit different when packed with fans.

NC State Basketball

NC State’s Ebe Dowuona Enters Transfer Portal

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NC State Junior F/C Ebe Dowuona has entered the transfer portal, with two years of eligibility remaining.

This year, Ebe played in 30 games, averaging 1.7 points and 1.9 rebounds in 10.9 minutes per game. As a Sophomore, after the injury to Manny Bates in the first game of the season, Dowuona went on to start in 27 of the 31 games he played in, averaging 4.1 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.

I’m not shocked. I don’t blame Dowuona for wanting to find a place where he would get more playing time.

Nonetheless this is a hit to the Wolfpack’s front court. While he didn’t offer much on the offensive end, he continually altered shots on the defensive end.

Ernest Ross will be a Junior next year, and fans will likely get to see Freshman Isaiah Miranda for the first time after redshirting after arriving to Raleigh midseason. Greg Gantt will be a Redshirt Junior next season as well.

Other questions loom for the Wolfpack front court as well. Will DJ Burns and Jack Clark return for their final year of eligibility? Will Dusan Mahorcic be granted a medical waiver for an additional year of eligibility?

Time will tell.

We wish Ebe all the best!

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NC State Ranked in Top-25 in Men’s Basketball Attendance in 2022-23

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When it was all said and done, the NC State fans represented in 2022-23, ranking 20th amongst Division-1 teams in Men’s Basketball attendance. The Wolfpack ranked 4th in the ACC, behind UNC, Syracuse, and Virginia.

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Wolferetti: Feed me my crow. NC State lost to Creighton and I’m here to break it down (and admit I was wrong)

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I was wrong.

I thought this matchup was a good one for NC State. I watched a lot of Creighton this year and to me, they looked like a team that NC State could roll over. Let me explain why.

I knew a few things. I knew Nembhard was a PG that could get a little out of control if sped up. I knew with a little defense and physicality, Sheierman could be made uncomfortable. I knew Kalkbrenner was a good defender but was going to sink on the pick-and-roll to protect the basket.

Joiner’s pull up just wouldn’t fall

I figured that Joiner, the pull-up king would be taking that DJ Burns screen, getting to the middle, and pulling up as Kalkbrenner sank. I figured Smith would exploit this as well. Well, turns out Joiner was off and couldn’t get his pull-up game going and Smith, well yeah Smith did exploit this pretty well.

Burns didn’t look like Burns

The other thing I’d figure would happen is that I thought DJ Burns would really frustrate Kalkbrenner. If you’ve looked at games where Kalkbrenner had to face a really good, physical back-to-the-basket big man, those bigs usually had pretty good games in the scoring column.  I honestly don’t understand what happened to Burns in this one. Sure he got a few stupid early fouls, but before he even picked up a foul he looked out of it. With no double teams coming, Burns is usually calculated, slowly backing you down and hitting you with a flurry of head fakes, pump fakes or spins. If the big doesn’t bite, Burns can fade away, go with a contested hook shot, or pass out.

In this game, Burns looked sped up for some reason. The first time he got the ball he quickly backed in and threw up a hook that rattled out. Not awful, but usually you see him probe a little more. Then the next time he didn’t even look for contact, instead, he threw up a little floater that didn’t fall. While neither were awful shots, both were uncharacteristic of Burns. On top of those things, he looked absolutely gassed within minutes of coming in. My guess is that it was the altitude, but either way, it took a toll on him.

Whatever it was, it had him frustrated and he had two really bad fouls where he just shoved Kalkbrenner (he also had a phantom foul that was ridiculous). That said, it just wasn’t his night and this made NC State a lot more one-dimensional.

Casey Morsell came to play, but this NC State roster just wasn’t built to get a guy like him going, which is a shame. Jarkel Joiner was a huge reason why NC State got to where they got. His scoring ability, his speed and his toughness and leadership skill were huge. But Joiner is a scoring guard, and great basketball teams need POINT guards.

What is a point guard, and why can’t we have one?

A point guard isn’t just a guy who dribbles it down. It’s a guy who understands the games within the games. Guys who dictate pace, call plays (sets) and are essentially coaches on the floor. NC State and Kevin Keatts never had that this season, and while you can get a long way with scoring guards and good big men, you’ll never compete for anything of worth until you prioritize the skill set of a true point guard. I think that has been NC State’s problem for years, and I find it kind of insane that coach after coach falls into this idea of having a scoring guard play as a PG for more offense to get on the court.

This is no shot at Jarkel, either. The guy was one of my favorite players to watch on this team, but it just is what it is. He is a scoring guard who happens to be slotting in at PG. When you see Keatts bring in a guy whose priority is getting his guys open and dictating pace, then you can start to believe that this program may be close to arriving. Until then, sneaking into the tournament and hoping guys get hot hands is as good as it gets.

Look at Kihei Clark (Virginia’s PG). I know it’s not a great time to be talking about Clark, whose errant pass ended up losing the game for Virginia on Thursday, but look at Clark’s build.5’10, 170lbs. Look at his stats. Mid-30s shooting % from 3. Hight 70s from the FT line. The guy is nothing special when it comes to the numbers, but he’s a leader and he distributes the basketball to the right guys at the right time. Tony Bennett has started Clark for 4 years despite the fact that he’s coaching a team that is always in the running to win the ACC and won a national championship less than 5 years ago.  He could replace Clark with an elite, tall, athlete at any moment. But he doesn’t. Why? Because he understands what I’m talking about. It’s a puzzle that coaches need to put together, and one piece of that puzzle is a guy like this.

I was wrong about this game. I thought things would play out differently. They didn’t. I’m not blaming anyone in particular, but the makeup of this team vs. the makeup of teams that play deep into March are different. Maybe this is step one to getting there. We’ll have to see how the roster shapes up next season.

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VIDEO: NC State falls to Creighton 72-63 in first round of NCAA Tournament | Extended Highlights & Box Score

NC State came out flat, DJ Burns looked gassed, and for the most part, the Pack looked shell-shocked vs. Creighton from the opening tip. However, Terquavion Smith is excluded from all of that. He was amazing and in what was likely his final game at NC State, he kept the Pack afloat, dropping 32 points on 12-25 shooting. In the end, it wasn’t enough as their big man, 7’1 Ryan Kalkbrenner went for 31.

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NC State came out flat, DJ Burns looked gassed, and for the most part, the Pack looked shell-shocked vs. Creighton from the opening tip. However, Terquavion Smith is excluded from all of that. He was amazing and in what was likely his final game at NC State, he kept the Pack afloat, dropping 32 points on 12-25 shooting. In the end, it wasn’t enough as their big man, 7’1 Ryan Kalkbrenner went for 31.

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