With the odds stacked against it, what did Kevin Keatts learn about his NC State team?
Braxton Beverly wasn’t making excuses, he was just pointing out the obvious.
N.C. State traveled to St. Louis to take on the undefeated Billikens. SLU is an experienced bunch, with all five starters back from last season and an impressive win over an SEC team (LSU) on its resume.
Plus, it just played a game on Tuesday.
The Wolfpack, on the other hand, had only nine players dress out and hasn’t played a game since Dec. 3 due to COVID-19. This game was a last-minute scramble and one that went about as well as expected considering coach Kevin Keatts couldn’t even hold a 5-on-5 scrimmage leading up to the game.
The Billikens outscored the Wolfpack 21-11 in the final seven minutes, improving to 6-0 with a 80-69 win. Beverly, who scored all 13 of his points in the second half, stated the facts after the game.
“Not here to make excuses or anything,” Beverly said. “But we haven’t played a game in two weeks. They’ve been playing, they are a veteran club. They have a really good team, they won a lot of games last year. We have a lot to be positive about going forward that will help us learn and become better.”
N.C. State (3-1) played without senior forward D.J. Funderburk and freshman guard Cam Hayes, a combined 19.6 points left in Raleigh.
The Wolfpack didn’t seem to miss either player that much in the first half, leading by as many as 10 points. It seemed like, even with everything stacked against it, Keatts was going to find a way to improve to 33-3 against unranked opponents. But Saint Louis won the second half, outscoring N.C. State 51-34. The entire second half doesn’t tell the whole story. That final seven minutes when the Billikens’ lead ballooned to as many as 15 makes the outcome look worse than what it was. But Keatts, eager to get the game in after a two-week break, learned a lot about his guys.
First, he may have found another scoring option in sophomore forward Manny Bates. The shot-blocking machine from Fayetteville scored a career-high 20 points and swatted eight shots, also a career-high. In the first half Bates was as aggressive as he’d been during his short career, making up for the absence of Funderburk. Most important, he played the entire game without fouling out, proving he can be valuable for an entire game.
“We needed him to stay in the game,” Keatts said. “He was aggressive, he scored in every different way. He played a majority of the game, and I needed him to show us he was able to stay on the floor.”
Bates played a team-leading 37 minutes, the most he has played in an N.C. State uniform. Keatts said he changed the game, especially since he had to play so many minutes. When Keatts gets his full roster back, it’ll be a team with a more confident Bates, which bodes well with ACC play starting next week.
What didn’t Keatts like? There were a few things to choose from.
The Billikens outrebounded the Wolfpack 53-26 and, according to Keatts, SLU won more of the “50-50” balls. And in a situation where he was only going to play eight guys, everyone needed to be on their A-game, or at least B-plus. Keatts felt like he didn’t get that.
“We didn’t have all our guys that were with us that played well,” Keatts said. “When you got a short bench, we can’t have one or two of those guys not to have good games.”
Jericole Hellems, returning to his home state for the first time, finished with just six points. Devon Daniels, the leading scorer coming into the game, finished with 15 points, but was 0 for 6 from three. Daniels and Hellems were a combined 0 for 9 from 3-point range. Guys who play as much minutes as Daniels (36) and Hellems (35) needed a better offensive night if State was going to pull off the upset.
“Jericole didn’t have a great game,” Keatts said. “Obviously, Devon Daniels didn’t have a great game. When two of your guys who are your leading scorers don’t play well, it doesn’t bode well to get a win.”
But Keatts did like the fight he saw in his team, knowing a lot was asked of them in the last couple of days. Bates said he learned that his team, no matter if it’s eight of them or 14, will battle and he sees the upside once everybody returns.
Keatts isn’t one for moral victories, but he knows they will learn from this one. There isn’t such a thing as a good loss, but this seems to be as close as it gets to one.
“There are a lot of good things I’m going to be able to take out of this game,” Keatts said. “We led at halftime with a short bench, of course there are some things I can take from it, we just have to get better in certain areas.”
This story was originally published December 17, 2020 at 11:54 PM with the headline "With the odds stacked against it, what did Kevin Keatts learn about his NC State team?."
