NC State men’s basketball has had a three-year run of injuries that stalled the progress of the program.
The program bottomed out last year after going 11-21 overall and 4-16 for last place in the ACC under coach Kevin Keatts. The sixth-year coach has inherited messy situations in the past and turned things around — both at NC State and UNC Wilmington — and will now try to reinvent the Wolfpack this season. The team essentially has six newcomers when Providence power forward Greg Gantt is included, and three new assistant coaches.
Keatts went 65-36 his first three years at NC State and wants to get that vibe back. Those teams also pressed and played full court more often, but injuries have curtailed that style of play.
“I am trying to get back to those first three years at NC State,” Keatts said. “We won over 20 games, went 11-7 my first year [in the ACC], beat a lot of top 25 teams, but we had depth.
“We could play fast. We could pressure you. We could get out in transition. I’m trying to get back to that type of team.”
The roster construction came apart in 2019-20 when point guard Blake Harris quit before the season and Kentucky power forward transfer Sacha Killeya-Jones and prep point guard signee Jalen Lecque never made it to the season. Killeya-Jones was dismissed from the program and Lecque pursued his professional basketball career.
Dereon Seabron redshirted after not qualifying academically, Atticus Taylor was hurt in the preseason, Thomas Allen was redshirting as a Nebraska transfer. Even graduate transfer Pat Andree and Danny Dixon missed some time with injuries. NC State would often play with 7-8 scholarship players.
Keatts mentioned the injuries to Devon Daniels in 2020-21, and then losing Gantt before the season, Manny Bates in the season opener and Ernest Ross in the middle of the season last year, and it crippled the program.
“I am two-deep at every position,” Keatts said. “We haven’t been that way for a couple of years. Even the year we were 9-8 and won all those road games, remember, Devon Daniels was having an incredible year and then he ended up going down.”
The lack of healthy scholarship players also meant the days of pressing and wearing out opposing teams simply wasn’t an option. Will it come back this season?
“I would and I think right now, as of today, we have that type of group that can play the way we want to play,” Keatts said. “What was successful about us, when we played that way, we were very successful.
“We’ve always been really good, one of the top two or three teams in scoring in our league. We have to get a little stubborn on the defensive end. In the last couple of years, we haven’t gotten as many steals or deflections as we had, just because we haven’t played the way we would like to play.”
Another change in the program has been the initials A.R.T.T. — Accountability, Relentless, Toughness and Together.
“When you are having success, that is what we want to go by,” Keatts said. “When you are struggling at times or going through adversity throughout a game, that is what you want to be.”
Keatts said he’ll be patient in early going of the season. The first exhibition game against Lees-McRae is scheduled for Nov. 2 at PNC Arena, and the season opener is against Austin Peay on Nov. 7. The first big test is against Kansas in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 23 in the Bahamas.
“Forget about last year and just concentrate on the previous three-four years when we had a lot of success,” Keatts said. “We can actually practice and compete against each other. If you saw the matchups with [centers] Ebenezer Dowuona, D.J. Burns and Dusan Mahorcic, that’s a great battle at that five position.”
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