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OUR TAKE: On NC State’s sloppy and uncomfortable 74-63 win over Elon

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NC State is 4-0. They beat Elon. But this one wasn’t pretty.

First off, Elon played a lot of zone vs. NC State, making it the first time NC State saw a team well-versed in zone, sit back and make the Pack shoot them out of it. Unfortunately, the Pack didn’t shoot all that great, and it kept the game close throughout. Is this a sign of things to come, or a great learning experience? Let’s take a closer look.

Here is ‘our take’…

– You might look at NC State’s first 4 games and see cupcakes, and you’re not wrong,  but really I’d like to applaud Keatts for the type of cupcakes he scheduled. Austin Peay was kind of a “Hey, let’s slaughter someone and get off on the right foot with this new roster.” Then you had Campbell, which is a local team who had this game scheduled and was invested in trying to knock off the Pack. So you get a less talented but motivated and feisty team, who just so happens to play a 5-out offense that gives you a look you likely won’t see during the regular season, but may run into in the post season. FIU was team that was going to play as physical as they can and not back down, and finally Elon, another local team that was going to be focused on knocking you off, but also going to throw a zone at you, a defense you might end up seeing a lot of this season. These were 4 winnable games that State won. No one is going to hold a parade for this run, but it was well structured, gave the new Pack roster a lot of variety to play against, and had them going up against a couple of pretty hungry teams. Well done, staff.

NC State tried to shoot Elon out of the zone. Unfortunately, Smith, Joiner, and company weren’t hitting enough to do that and that is going to be the case at times this season. The Pack has shooters, but playing against a zone doesn’t mean you should just be hacking it up. Players shoot a much higher percentage when catching a pass coming from inside, with their shoulder squared to the basket. After settling down they did a better job of getting Jack Clark and Dusan Mahorcic involved, which allowed them to hold off Elon. This is something that Keatts will focus on. This team likes to play fast, but against a zone you need patience and to work the ball inside before settling for an outside shot. You need to flatten out that zone and allow your shooters some space. State was only 11-33 from 3pt range.

NC State’s defense didn’t look great. I know they held Elon to the lowest % shooting of any team they’ve played this season at 38.3%. That said, NC State had more talent, length, and athleticism at every position, but they aren’t really able to exploit that because as a team they don’t lock down and play position defense. Like I’ve said a million times, this team gambles too much and goes for too many steals. It hurts them against these weaker teams, but at times it kills them against better opponents. I get that they want to create turnovers, but picking your spots to gamble yourself out of position is extremely important and this team seems to just throw caution to the wind and jumps everything.

NC State really needs Terquavion Smith to sure up his off-the-ball defense. And by sure up I mean learn how it even works. This is an absolutely glaring problem with his game. Run back the game and just watch Smith on defense. When he is in help-side he completely locks in on the ball and loses his man. This cost NC State 8 to 1o points in the second half alone. Almost all of those absolutely wide open buckets on the block that Elon was getting, most of the time those were on Smith. This kid is the best offensive weapon NC State has had in years. He’s a good on the ball defender. But, this type of stuff has to be cleaned up if State is going to be competitive. And for those of you at home wondering what I’m talking about. Remember when your coach told you to “see man and ball!” when you’re playing off the ball defense. This means keeping both in your peripheral view at all times. Positioning yourself so you can see both AT ALL TIMES. And if there is a off-the-ball switch, make sure it’s communicated LOUD. It’s not that hard. If you’re not doing it it’s because you don’t want to. It’s that simple.

-Jack Clark showed a little aggressiveness. He was 9-18 shooting and added 9 boards. Clark needed a game like this, but he still shot just 3-10 from 3pt range. He finished with 21 points. It was good to see Clark being a little more aggressive offensively. He’s a big piece to this team’s offense, but we haven’t really seen him push the issue lately. The shots will fall for him eventually, so he needs to keep shooting. But what was bigger was the fact that he was successful in playing in the middle of this zone.

– DJ Burns didn’t have a great game, and he’s just struggling right now, but usually, he’d be the type of guy who can fill some gaps in the zone and attack them from inside. They’ll need him if they’re going to beat Kansas, so you gotta hope the increase in competition kicks him into gear.

Ross, Pass, and LJ Thomas didn’t look great against the zone. Again, seeing this team play a zone was concerning. They looked sloppy and out of control and it didn’t allow them much depth. These guys didn’t look great against the zone, and if I’m playing NC State this year, this is something I key in on.

– State looked disinterested. Honestly aside from Morsell, Mahorcic, and at times Clark, State looked like they didn’t really feel like playing. Sure, it was kind of a trap game. Easy opponent before the big Kansas matchup. Opponent then lulled you to sleep using a zone. Made you frustrated and started forcing stuff. I get it. And at the end of the day, you walk away with the win. But you definitely hope these things are cleaned up soon, because good opponents will exploit them.

 

 

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Dof87
Dof87
4 months ago

Noon game today. I have no idea what to expect other than our team putting out full effort. As was said, if we hit a decent number of 3s and are respectable on the boards, we’ll probably have a shot.

Last edited 4 months ago by Dof87
40yrPackFan
40yrPackFan
4 months ago

I was at the game and noticed T not playing help defense. Mahorcic apparently also noticed and chewed his butt out while running back down court, then turned and gave him some more. I was thrilled, we have been defense optional for so long, it’s about time a player or coach demanded someone play defense. This team has a ton of potential, but only if they play as a team and on both sides of the ball.I like the new assistant coaches and new teammates, but the leader of the team has to lead.

Papajohn
Papajohn
4 months ago
Reply to  40yrPackFan

Nice!
These upperclassmen holding the younger players accountable could make a world of difference. Never under estimate the power of peer pressure.

Rev
Rev
4 months ago
Reply to  40yrPackFan

Your handle got me thinking. I have been a Pack fan for 53 years now. Definitely seen the Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. Anyway, I don’t think we have the horses to run and gun with Kansas, mainly because I still worry about rebounding…..

Rev
Rev
4 months ago

I know I have been consuming massive quantities of alcohol here in Key West, but Gantt wasn’t in the box score at all. did I miss something? Or did I kill those brain cells?

5662DCFE-A397-453F-BCFC-DA2E55CC19A7.jpeg
Dof87
Dof87
4 months ago
Reply to  Rev

I believe Gantt still isn’t back to 100% game shape yet.

Rev
Rev
4 months ago

All of us saw it and PI just confirmed the defensive flaws and offensive difficulty with the zone. Of course the coaches saw it,too. Let’s hope this new staff is better at fixing things, and quickly.

Papajohn
Papajohn
4 months ago

Really appreciate this generally positive take. This is where PI shines. Great analysis on T Smith’s defense. I noticed it as well, but hadn’t realized that so many of those defensive lapses were caused by him. I’m really surprised DJ hasn’t played better than he has. Based on what we are seeing in the games, the decision to start Dusan (which initially I was surprised about) was an easy call for the coaches. They both like to play physical so we’re probably going to need all of those 10 fouls. We need to see that POY start showing up in… Read more »

Last edited 4 months ago by Papajohn
Dof87
Dof87
4 months ago

Glad we scheduled a zone team to give us some good game film to work with.

Now we have to focus and ratchet up intensity. We can be the feisty underdog this time.

Last edited 4 months ago by Dof87
Rev
Rev
4 months ago
Reply to  Dof87

Good point. Let’s see how these guys respond as the (God I hope they’re feisty) underdog.

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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NC State Basketball

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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