LOVED IT, HATED IT | From NC State’s ACC opening win over FSU

What an emotional roller coaster of a game.

The Pack really couldn’t drop this game. After 3 straight losses, all winnable games, a loss to FSU at home, to open ACC play would have been catastrophic to say the least.

Things started off great, and the Pack really looked good, but they kept having these stretches where there was just so much self-inflicted harm. And honestly, there were spurts where I was really frustrated at the way Keatts was handling his substitution patterns. And look, I don’t usually say that so bluntly, but sometimes Keatts needs to just get out of his own way, and read the flow of the game a little better. I feel this a lot, the rest of us here at PI agree, so many fans I speak to feel the same way, and I’ve been hearing some of the other NC State outlets start raising these questions as well. It’s an issue. Whether he wants to admit it or not. And it’s something that needs to be cleaned up.

But in the end, what matters is, these guys dug in, locked in and got the win. We learned a ton tonight, as well. Marcus Hill is legit. Styles is cold-blooded and this team can compete at a high level when they’re locked in.

This was a HUGE win for the Pack and one they desperately needed. There was so much good to take away from this game and not all that much bad, but you know the drill…3 things I loved and 3 things i hated… Let’s go…

LOVED IT

Dontez Styles decided he wasn’t going to lose tonight– Styles was a great pickup by Keatts, but as NC State started getting crushed on the boards, many of us started to wonder if going with a smaller 4 was really the move. Well, against Texas and then again tonight against FSU, Styles has made it clear that whether it’s at the 3 or the 4, he’s a guy you HAVE to have on the court. And with Huntley-Hatfield having physicality issues on the blocks, and Middlebrooks starting to have to eat most of the minutes at the 5, NC State really needs Styles entrenched at the 4.

Tonight, he showed you why. He ended up with 21 points and 5 boards (3 offensive), shooting 7-13 from the field and 3-7 from long range. And while that state line is pretty juicy. it doesn’t even really start to tell you how big Dontrez was tonight.

He had been having a good game, but at the 3:18 mark with State down 6 and the game looking like it was getting away from the Pack, Styles took over.

He grabbed a huge offensive board and stuck it back. Pack down 4.

Then he gets to the line for 2. Knocks down 2 FTs. Pack down 2.

After a bucket by FSU’s Ewin and then one by Middlebrooks for the Pack, Styles went to work again.

He grabbed another massive offensive board in traffic, and then in that same possession, knocked down a 3. Pack up 1.

In overtime, he was even better.

A 3, a steal and coast to coast for a layup to put the Pack up 5, midway through the extra period. NC State never looked back.

The physicality, the pure will, and the guts to step up when the team needed him. Dontrez Styles emerged tonight as a star for this NC State team, and I loved it.

Marcus Hill is coming into his own– Straight up. I was wrong about Marcus Hill. I watched his highlights and while his game was nice and he was super slippery, he was doing all of his damage around the rim. Now, that might work in some of these smaller conferences, but in the ACC, where guys are huge, long and athletic. It won’t work, right? Well, I’ve rarely seen it work, but somehow Marcus Hill is making it work. The guy is so crafty, keeps his dribble so low, can stop and start on a dime and is an elite finisher with both hands. This unique combo has him becoming the hardest cover on this NC State team.

He finished this game with 23 points and 6 rebounds. FSU is probably the biggest team NC Staet is going to face this season, and Hill had no problem finishing amongst the trees. In fact, I feel like NC State underutilized Hill most of the 2nd half. With Mike O’Connell struggling a bit, I’d like to see Hill handle the ball a little more. I’d like to see him navigate the pick-and-roll a lot more. I think it would help him use his quickness to get others involved.

Either way, when NC State needed a bucket, they went to Marcus Hill, and he delivered almost every time. He has been stepping up as the go-to scorer alongside Styles, and having that 1-2 punch emerge prior to the return of Mike James is a good sign for Keatts.

Ben Middlebrooks won the starting role– Coming into this season Brandon Huntley-Hatfield looked like he was going to run away with the starting role. He’s 6’10, athletic, and strong. But he has really struggled defensively this season, and Keatts has slowly transitioned to using Middlebrooks as his primary big man. Middlebrooks doesn’t usually have a sexy stat line to show off, but he is such a grinder in the paint. Ewin (6’11 big for FSU) was going to have a big game regardless. The guy is a monster. But Middlebrooks made it tough on him. He made him work hard to get looks, while when Huntley-Hatfield was in, Ewin was getting uncontested buckets far too often.

I really loved the way Ben fought tonight, and even though his offense was nowhere to be found, his toughness in the post and play against Ewin helped win us this game tonight.

HATED IT

Chunks of time where Keatts’ substitution patterns can drive you insane – Give it to Keatts, he’s been tinkering with the starting lineup, trying to find the right mix. It was Trey Parker in for Hill, then it was Ben and BHH in over Styles, and tonight it was Ben over BHH. The move to Middlebrooks tonight was perfect, but it’s sometimes the in-game substitution patterns that make you scratch your head.

Styles needed a rest at the 4, so in came Dennis Parker, and honestly Dennis Parker played well most of the night. He had 4 rebounds, 2 assists, 1 steal, and 4 points in 16 minutes. But this kid is a sophomore who is so close to being a guy you can really count on for this team. But with State up 7 and on the cusp of putting FSU away, he makes a bone head reach in foul with 1 second on the shot clock, which gives FSU 2 points. Then immediately inbounds the ball and turns it over. Keatts kept him in there and FSU went on one of their bigger runs of the game. Look, I don’t want you to yank the kid out and scold him, but get him out of there and coach him up after 2 mental errors and then get him back in. FSU looked like they were ready to give up, and a few bad plays later, they are within 2 points.

Meanwhile, during this run, Huntley-Hatfield was out there getting killed by Ewin. I know Middlebrooks needed some breaks, but find otherways to do it. Go zone for a few minutes if you need to. But almost every NC State player was in the positives on the +/- scale. Middlebrooks was +25. Huntley-Hatfield was -17. Almost all of these games have a 2 or 3 possession differential in the outcome, so stopping the bleeding fast and making changes when you can see guys struggling, can be the difference between winning and losing.

Brandon Huntley-Hatfield playing too soft – This guy is a monster of a man, standing at 6’10, 240lbs, but when he came over from Louisville, their fans complained that he wasn’t physical enough. I didn’t really agree with that especially after the Purdue game, where he looked really good early in that game. However, over the past two games, I’ve been kinda disappointed in BHH’s physicality. Forget making shots, I’m not worried about that. What you need in a big in the ACC is a banger who is willing to throw his body around. Hatfield has been getting worked over pretty good in the post and it’s concerning. Keatts obviously saw it and went with Middlebrooks tonight, which was the right move. Like I said, there were only 2 guys who were in the minus column of the +/- numbers. Breon Pass was -2, while Hatfield was -17. Meanwhile, Middlebrooks was +25 when he was on the court. Quite a swing and not a coincidence. FSU’s Ewin was teeing off on BHH, but couldn’t get much going against the more physical, tougher Middlebrooks.

The Reffing – The reffing was so bad on both sides tonight, and I’m not surprised, seeing as TV Teddy (Ted Valentine) was out there making calls. The guy is awful, he’s constantly making late calls, taking way too long to look at replays and missing calls.

First off, they missed a goaltend on a layup by Dennis Parker Jr. No call at all, luckily the ball went in anyway. Then they called one on an NC State layup, which was a very obvious one. They took forever at the monitor only to confirm the call. But that wasn’t all, then they called one on FSU on a Marcus Hill floater just a few plays later and they initially didn’t go to the monitor for that one (although it likely wasn’t a goal tend). Then, strangely, they went to the monitor for it at the media timeout. But that made no sense. If they had taken away the bucket from State, it would have basically been treated as a turnover since they would have just taken the points off, and disregarded the fact that the ball went out of bounds on FSU, and would have simply been NC State ball again. They ended up not overturning it, likely because they had missed their window to overturn it correctly. What a mess.

There were foul calls by Teddy Valentine from the other side of the court when the nearside ref was calling a play-on. Anyways, the reffing was poor, and constantly at the monitor, confused. Classic for a Ted Valentine-reffed game.