Usually, NC State games, win or lose, are a good use of my time. They are almost always fairly exciting, lots of entertainment, and hey, sometimes they even win.

Today, for the first time in the Keatts era, I felt like I wasted my Saturday.

That was just downright depressing. Aside from Hellems and Smith, the Wolfpack might as well not shown up.

First, let’s give props where they’re due. Don’t worry, this will be short.

👍  Terquavion Smith showed up. Surprise, surprise. 
Terquavion Smith deserves more. This kid, a freshman, comes out balling almost every game. Sure, he’s had two or three stinkers, but he’s on pace to be one of the best freshman scorers NC State has ever seen. When the lights shine bright, Smith is at his best. He was 10-21 from the floor, 3-9 from 3, and finished with a career-high 34 points. He added 2 boards, 2 assists, and 4 steals. If someone is going to save Keatts career at NC State, it’s going to be Smith. Huge way to introduce yourself to the Tar Heels, young man.

👍  Jericole Hellems did what he had to do
We said early on that Hellems was a key player in this game. Well, he did what he had to do. After struggling vs. UNC most of his career, he put up 25 points and 7 boards in his final Dean Dome appearance. 9-17 shooting and 5-9 from 3. You can’t blame Hellems.

Ok, I told you that’d be quick. Now, it’s time to say what really needs to be said. That performance was pure sh*t. No one other than Smith and Hellems is escaping without some blame. Here we go…

❌  Kevin Keatts gets big blame for this team’s defense
Yeah, I heard him in the presser. Carolina was red hot. They hit everything. Yeah, Coach, they did. Welcome to the State/Carolina rivalry where you can go ahead and expect UNC to come out and overperform. But look, they were hot and they did hit some crazy 3s. But this NC State basketball team has far too many defensive lapses. For a team that is switching 1 through 4 or at times 1 through 5, there should be very few open looks being had. However, that’s rarely the case with NC State. These are very athletic, long, players, and there is no good reason that they should be constantly losing their men, or getting sucked down into no-mans-land wondering if they should be help side or not.

I understand that having Dowuona and Gibson as your bigs is absolutely hurting this team on both ends of the floor, but man, that type of blowout just is unacceptable against your rival. Especially when your rival isn’t really overmatching you except at center. This team could be very strong defensively, but for some reason, they continue to give up easy buckets night in and night out. As Terquavion Smith said in the presser “We can score with anyone in the country. We just need to get stops. As you can see, we scored 80. But we gave up 100.”

The truth is, between ‘switching everything’ and picking up full court, the staff is putting these guys in vulnerable positions very often. Every position depends on guys picking up full court, then switching multiple times, while trying to remain ready to help if need be. That’s asking too much and it’s just not working in the ACC. If NC State was forcing 15 to 20 turnovers per game, then fine, but you’re taxing your kids with the press and the guys are always on their heels defensively, trying to keep up with the switches and help side. This is a defense that needs to not only have the perfect personnel, but it needs a deep bench and a veteran team used to playing with each other. This specific team has NONE of those. It’s time to scrap it. Go zone. Or stay man and hedge and recover on screens like most teams do. I’ve seen enough.

❌  Dereon Seabron, what in the world? 
Great time to have your first single-digit game. In fact, Seabron only scored 2 points in this one on 1-6 shooting. I have no idea what to say here. Was he scared? Was the moment too big? Was he hurt? Was he going through something mentally? It has to be one of those because I’ve watched this guy all season long and this was a different player.

Seabron wasn’t aggressive at all. He was soft. He was weak to the rim. He didn’t look like he even wanted to be out there. Weird flex for a rivalry game, that’s for sure.

I guess this is one you just flush and move on. Seabron is NC State’s best hope at doing anything this season, so you have to hope whatever was going on in this one was just a one-day thing. All I know is that the NBA scouts aren’t going to like what they just saw.

Was Leaky Black that much of a problem for him? The first time he faces another guard his size, he only is able to muster 2 points? This will be every night in the NBA. Bacot too much of a force in the middle? Again, Bacot is a scrub big in the NBA. He’d be having to face guys twice as lethal around the rim night in and night out.

It’s getting clearer the later we get into the season, Seabron is a jump shot away from being elite. However, without that jumper, he’s going to have nights where he isn’t going to be that dominant player we saw earlier this season (before teams were scouting him so hard.)

❌  Whatever happened to Cam Hayes?
Last year, Cam Hayes was a good freshman. He came on late, averaged 23 minutes per game, 7.8ppg, 3.1 assists, 2.4 rebounds, shot 38.6% from the floor, and a very respectable 36% from 3. This output led many NC State fans and likely the NC State staff to assume Hayes was going to take a big step forward this season. He added some muscle, he had a full offseason, and he was the starting PG when the seasoned opened.

The only problem is that he looks like pretty much the same player in most aspects, and looks like he regressed in a few areas. This year, he’s playing 22.2 minutes per game, 7.6ppg, 2.3 assists, 2.3 rebounds, however, he’s shooting just 32% from the floor and a staggeringly low 21% from 3 point range.

Against UNC, with multiple players battling foul trouble, and Keatts in dire need of someone to step up, Hayes was given 22 minutes. This was another opportunity to help him come out of his funk. But he didn’t. Hayes went 0-6, scored zero points, had 3 assists and 2 turnovers.

You have to feel for Hayes. This is a kid who has the tools to be a quality guard in the ACC, but he seems to have lost his confidence and is stuck in a loop. He comes in, wants to impress, forces the issues, makes a mistake or takes a quick shot, gets taken out.

I know Keatts is at a loss. This is a 4-star kid who was supposed to be the team’s starting PG for the next 3 years. Now, it’s not really clear where he fits in. It’s going to be interesting to see how this plays out. It’s getting a little late in the season to seriously believe he’s going to turn this around. But what happens this offseason? Does he work on things and come back better, fighting for his minutes at point? Does he realize he might be better suited as a 2 guard, and work to make that transition? Or does he give up? I don’t know, but I really hope the kid sticks it out and uses these low moments to motivate him to become the player we know he can become. But we’ll see.

At this point, if these are the types of minutes you’re going to get from him, you might want to start working Breon Pass into the mix a little more. One of these guys is going to have to be your PG or backup PG next season.

Lastly, here are few other reasons NC State lost, but we’ve discussed this ad nauseam, so we’ll just list’em.

– No Manny Bates + No Ernest Ross means no rim protection.
– No rim protection, means guys need to sell out to stop drives and help off of drivers.
– This leads to open 3s. UNC was getting a lot of these.

The hopes of an at-large bid are gone. NC State is now playing to get better by ACC Tournament time in hopes of a magical run that can propel them in the NCAA Tourny. Aside from that, it’s to get your young guys better and get into some post-season tournament.

Hate that it’s come to this, but hell, here we are.