NC State coach Kevin Keatts provides Braxton Beverly update, previews Pitt game

Published Feb 15, 2021

Kevin Keatts provides Braxton Beverly update, previews Pitt game

Justin H. Williams • TheWolfpackCentral

Staff Writer

Turnovers have been the theme of NC State head coach Kevin Keatts’ last two postgame availabilities, and understandably so.

The Wolfpack (8-9, 4-8 ACC) turned the ball over a combined 38 times last week in home losses to Syracuse (77-68) and Duke (69-53).

Even more problematic for the Pack was how both the Orange and the Blue Devils were able to convert those takeaways into points. Syracuse scored 21 points off of 20 NC State turnovers, and Duke produced 22 points off of 18 takeaways.

For the Wolfpack head coach, taking care of the basketball is the primary area the Pack will focus on in practice between now and its upcoming game at Pittsburgh on Wednesday at 4:30 p.m.

“We talked after the game with the coaches and we ask, 'Are we over-dribbling?' No,” Keatts said. “We're turning it over in several different ways. We just have to continue to stress to those guys the importance of taking care of the basketball. Some of this is timing because when you look at [senior guard] Braxton Beverly and [freshman guard] Cam Hayes, who both turned the ball over against Duke, neither one of those guys practiced the day before because they both were dealing with a stomach bug. Some of that has to do with just getting out on the floor and making plays.

“We're going to continue to play the way we play. We're going to try to cut down on our turnovers. In basketball, you're going to have travels, you're going to have charges, you're going to have different stuff. The ones that I don't like are the ones that you can't defend against. When you look at the fact that we've given up close to 20-something points in the two games because of turnovers, that's what the biggest issue is.”

Beverly’s status for the Wednesday road contest is questionable as of Monday morning. The senior guard went to the locker room with an apparent back injury in the first half of the Duke loss Saturday, and while he did come back to the bench midway through the second half, he was unable to return to the game.

Keatts didn’t have an updated timeline for Beverly’s return Monday, but he did provide more insight as to what was ailing the senior guard.

“He's been getting treatment all morning,” Keatts said. “We're going to practice here at about 2:30 p.m., so I'll have a better update then. He's banged up. He's a guy that's been through a lot over the last three or four years, not so much his back as I thought it was. I think it's more of a hip deal now. We're just trying to get him back aligned, and we'll see how he can go.

“He may be a guy from this point on that may get one day of practice before the game and some days he may not even practice before the game. I have to determine with him if I'm going to be able to get more out of him in the game or practice. I'm not sure I can get both right now.”

With or without Beverly, the Pack will have its hands full Wednesday afternoon when it travels up to the Petersen Events Center to take on Pittsburgh.

The Panthers (9-7, 5-6 ACC) are coming off of a 71-65 road loss to Georgia Tech Sunday and have lost five of their last six games.

Pittsburgh, however, will present NC State a tough matchup by featuring the current frontrunner for ACC Player of the Year: sophomore wing Justin Champagnie.

Champagnie leads the conference in both scoring and rebounding, averaging 18.7 points and 11.6 rebounds per game.

“He's playing at a high level,” Keatts said. “It says a lot about what Jeff [Capel] has done with his program, and it says a lot about the kids that are in our league. When we do retain some of these guys who don't turn to the pros right away, you can see how good the players that we have in this league are. He's been one of the bright spots. He's a tough matchup, he can score the ball inside and out. It's unbelievable how he's rebounding the basketball. I don't care who you are, if you've had a game where you got 20 rebounds, you're pretty good.

“He’s a tough matchup for us. It's hard. How do you play him? Do you switch screens like we typically like to do one through four? He's become a three-level scorer. He's scoring around the basket, he's getting out in transition, he's getting to the free-throw line, and he's also been deadly behind the three-point line. He's one of the two guys I think are really a tough matchup problem for us, we just played against one in Matthew Hurt, and I think Champagnie is similar in that way.”

The Wolfpack is desperate for a win after losing eight of its last 10 games in the past six weeks.

After losing fifth-year senior guard Devon Daniels, who was the team’s leader in scoring, assists and steals, to a season-ending ACL tear in late-January, the Pack is attempting to find its new identity.

Since the Daniels injury, NC State has looked to its frontcourt for a majority of its scoring production. The Wolfpack has outrebounded and outscored its opponent in the paint in three of its last four games but has only been able to come up with one win during that stretch.

With a bid to the NCAA Tournament likely out of reach short of winning the ACC Tournament in Greensboro just over three weeks from now, Keatts insists there is still a lot to play for, and it starts with the development of his young backcourt, which includes Hayes (freshman guard), freshman guard Shakeel Moore and redshirt freshman guard Dereon Seabron.

“I'm looking for us just to play better,” Keatts said. “For me, it's more about ball security. As we talked about after the Duke game, our desperation for me is to see some of our younger guys start to play a little bit better basketball as far as taking care of the basketball.

“This time of year, we're talking about February 15th, everybody is in some type of desperation. If you're in contention for the NCAA, you're trying to fight for what seed you can get. In our league, unfortunately, the talking heads don't have a bunch of us going to the tournament, so we're all fighting to get to the tournament and finish out the season strong. I want to see some improvement in some of our guys.”