QUICK HITS: From NC State’s 74-64 loss to #2 Duke

NC State jumped out to a 13 point lead, but foul trouble led to Cooper Flagg heating up, which led to Duke mounting enough momentum to overcome NC State’s best performance of the season. This was also Kevin Keatts best coaching job of the season, as he finally showed a little confidence in his freshmen and tried out some alternative lineups.

– Give it up for Dontrez Styles. This was Georgetown Styles, the guy Keatts envisioned when he was signed this offseason. Styles was on fire offensively, going 7-12 from the field and 4-6 from 3pt range. He finished with 18 points. But he was equally important on defense, where he was assigned Cooper Flagg, the star freshman. And Styles made Flagg look like a freshman. He was physical, he was in Flagg’s space, not allowing him to get any clean looks and even blocking a couple of his shots. Once he got into foul trouble, Flagg started doing what he normally does, and Duke eventually came back.

– Trey Parker is finally handed the reins
We finally got to see an extended look at Trey Parker. If you want to read more about Parker’s 15 point coming-out party, and check out the highlights. Click here. Joey wrote an entire article about it.

– NC State’s best game of the season by the numbers
According to the Adjusted Offensive Efficiency and Adjusted Defensive Efficiency numbers, this was the Pack’s best game of the season with a 119 AdjO and a 90 AdjD. Those numbers look like the numbers we were seeing consistently from the postseason run last year. NC State needs to TRY to replicate this performance. Yes, they shot 45.5% from long range and that is not sustainable, but you could replicate everything else and drop that 3pt % down to 33 to 35% consistently. The reason I say that I believe you can sustain the higher 3pt % is because of the way NC State was getting those shots. They were driving, dishing, and move the ball effectively, which got them a lot of clean looks.

– Paul McNeil gives you positive minutes AGAIN. Play him.
McNeil played 8 minutes and didn’t score, but he did have 3 assists and a block and he did play good defense, and he does give you height and length with a jumper that defenders need to respect. He was +2 in this game, one of only 2 guys in the +/- positives (Styles at +16 was the other). This is after he was one of only 2 guys to have positives in the +/- vs. SMU. He was +5.

-Keatts finally starting to tinker with the Point Guard situation
It took until now, but over the past two games, Kevin Keatts has put lineups out there without O’Connell or Pass. He did it against SMU and had he stuck with it, it may have been enough to give NC State the win. He did it again tonight and Trey Parker showcased a skill set that NC State has been missing all season and it almost resulted in a massive upset.

– NC State is set to start winning
I’m going out on a limb here and saying that as Keatts starts continuing to increase minutes for Paul McNeil, Trey Parker and eventually Ismael Diouf, NC State is going to start winning basketball games. The Pack has been a few possessions away from so many wins. I think these are the guys that give you the push to get you over that hump. I personally don’t agree with some of the criticism of Kevin Keatts, because I think he gets massive buy-in from his guys and always has a high-effort team on the floor. But the one area I do think the criticism has been warranted has been the lineups and the minute distribution. Not acclimating the freshmen with skill sets that you just don’t have otherwise. Not trying Diouf at the 4 and Styles at the 3. These are things that I think are really what is driving the fanbase, and the NC State media, crazy. I think Keatts could sidestep a lot of the backlash if he just starts tinkering and making adjustments with the personnel decisions. I think we are seeing him being more willing to do that now, and while it’s too little, too late for this season, we can hope it’s something he notes going forward.