NC State ‘right where we need to be’ going into 2021? It depends on who’s talking
N.C. State basketball senior forward D.J. Funderburk was sharing his best “coach-speak” when he met with reporters Wednesday night after the Wolfpack’s 79-76 win over Boston College.
When that message was relayed to the actual coach, Kevin Keatts, he wasn’t sure he knew exactly what Funderburk meant.
A confident Funderburk, fresh off a 21-point, five-rebound night, said the team was “right where we need to be” heading into 2021. Funderburk isn’t wrong. N.C. State is off to a 2-0 start in the Atlantic Coast Conference for the first time since the 2014-15 season. Both of those wins were at home, and both came down to the final seconds, showing some toughness in the team.
The Wolfpack are 6-1 overall and could possibly be undefeated if not for a bad second half when they played shorthanded at St. Louis on Dec. 16. Right where they need to be is currently atop of the ACC standings, but would Keatts agree with the assessment from Funderburk?
“I have no idea what the hell he’s talking about, to be honest with you,” Keatts joked. “A lot of times those kids will repeat what the coach said. I don’t know if I said we are right where we need to be, but I like where we are — put it that way.”
For the first time since Dec. 3, Keatts had his full roster, which didn’t last long after Manny Bates went down with an injury in the first half Wednesday after playing seven minutes. Keatts said Bates will get an MRI on Thursday morning, but he wasn’t overly concerned.
N.C. State is off to a 6-1 start (2-0 ACC) thanks to another gritty win. The Wolfpack started the season with blowouts over lesser-known opponents, but have shown some toughness against the big boys, defeating UNC and Boston College by a combined six points.
Against the Eagles on Wednesday, N.C. State led by double-digits most of the first half, then found themselves down one, 76-75, with 1:30 remaining. The next two buckets came from an unlikely source.
It wasn’t Funderburk, who scored a season-high 21 points; or Jericole Hellems, who poured in 20; or senior Devon Daniels. The clutch baskets came from freshman Shakeel Moore, who scored four points in the final 26 seconds to secure the win. The confidence from a first-year player like Moore, who was named the ACC Freshman of the Week last week, shows the makeup of this team early in the season.
“I told these guys if you want to win a championship, you’re going to have to win every type of game,” Keatts said. “You have to win the game when you’re up 20, you’re going to have to win the buzzer beater, you’re going to have to win when the lead goes back and forth.”
Boston College guard Wynston Tabbs, who scored 12 of his 18 points in the second half, almost single-handedly took the game away from N.C. State. Tabbs scored the final 11 points for the Eagles, hitting one big shot after the other. His last three with 1:30 remaining seemed like the dagger. He didn’t account, however, for Moore not realizing he was a freshman and making a veteran play — not once, but twice.
To this point, no one outside of the Wolfpack locker room has probably accounted for N.C State showing the toughness they’ve shown in the last two games, not caving and fighting to the end. In the last two minutes against the Eagles, everything that could go wrong went wrong for the Wolfpack. Yet somehow when the final horn sounded, there was once again a celebration going on in the home locker room.
“For the most part, Tabbs started hitting big-time shots,” Funderburk said. “I felt like we had to really lock in to pull out this win. It shows a lot, it shows that we are really tough, that we can really play and we come out and play hard each time. I honestly think we’re right where we need to be.”
This story was originally published December 31, 2020 at 10:35 AM with the headline "NC State ‘right where we need to be’ going into 2021? It depends on who’s talking."