NC State Wolfpack basketball coach Kevin Keatts likes his roster

NC State basketball head coach Kevin Keatts joined Rivals.com national recruiting analyst and ABC Report publisher Jamie Shaw on a podcast released Monday to discuss a variety of topics.

The full podcast can be listened to here.

The prevalent rumors from earlier in the summer that redshirt junior center Manny Bates was going to enter the transfer portal were addressed.

“To set the record straight, he was never in the portal,” Keatts noted. “He never went into the portal. Manny and I never had a discussion about him actually putting his name in the portal. … At the end of the day every kid at the end of the season has to look at where their future goes, and I think he realized this is a great place for him.”

For Keatts, who also noted that he and Bates have a strong relationship, Bates' return is a big part of the 2021-22 Wolfpack team.

“Everybody knows him as a tremendous shot blocker, but how he has become more offensive minded where we can now throw the ball inside to him and have a chance to be really good on the offensive end along with defense,” Keatts noted.

While the return of Bates, who averaged 9.8 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and blocked 64 shots in 24 contests a year ago, is crucial for Keatts’ team, senior forward Jericole Hellems has emerged as the leader of the squad.

Hellems averaged 12.9 points and 5.0 boards per contests and made 31 threes in 25 games. His made three-pointers and scoring average are both tops among returners for the Pack.

“He had a great year,” Keatts said. “He’s the way college basketball should go. As a freshman, just okay, earns playing time. [As a] sophomore, take a big step, and then last year he takes a huge step. We’re going to count on him for a lot.

“When we lost Devon Daniels last year, I didn’t know who could step up, accept that role, and it was Jericole Hellems. He’s been special for us. He’s one of the hardest-working guys we got, and when you got one of your best players who loves the gym and loves the weight room and competes every day, I think everybody will follow.”

Keatts also noted that sophomore guard Cam Hayes, who contributed 7.8 points a game with a team-high 72 assists during his rookie year, is “a special young man.”

“Just tremendous off the court and tremendous in the classroom, and a really, really special freshman campaign for us," the coach said. "We think he’ll take a huge step forward as a sophomore."

Redshirt sophomore wing Dereon Seabron “brings a different blend of basketball to us,” according to Keatts.

“He can get out in transition and finish,” he added. “He's long, he’s athletic. He can rebound.”

Seabron played in 24 games as a rookie and averaged 5.2 points and 3.5 boards in 17.5 minutes per contest.

The team lost all three of its seniors, including leading scorer Daniels, who was averaging 16.5 points and 5.3 boards when he tore his ACL midway through the year. Forward DJ Funderburk has been playing for the Utah Jazz’s summer squad after contributing 12.6 points and 5.6 boards last year.

Guard Braxton Beverly, who averaged 7.0 points a contest, transferred to Eastern Kentucky, a move that Keatts supported in an effort for Beverly to improve his chances of playing professionally somewhere in the future.

Keatts told Shaw that he aimed to bring a blend of veterans and high school signees to replace what the lost, and he feels his accomplished that. In the spring, Keatts signed Virginia guard Casey Morsell and Providence forward Greg Gantt out of the transfer portal.

Morsell started 16 games over two seasons for the Cavaliers and averaged 4.4 points last year. Gantt, a native of Fayetteville, N.C., started 12 times the last two years for the Friars, and contributed 4.0 points and 3.1 rebounds a contest a year ago.

Both will be juniors for NC State this season.

Keatts said that Morsell has “a chance to be tremendous.”

“When you go back to his high school days and you look at his clips, you understand this kid could be really special,” the coach added. “Very talented shooting the basketball, could step in and fill a void where we lost a Devon Daniels.”

The coach is hoping to get Gantt back to the form that made him a Wolfpack target and four-star recruit as a prep standout.

“If we can rekindle what he had in high school as a hard-playing forward that could play multiple positions, could guard multiple positions, play with a high energy and motor, then we have something special,” Keatts said.

The freshman who could generate a lot of buzz is guard Terquavion Smith from Farmville (N.C.) Central. Keatts noted that he could talk about Smith “for hours,” and acknowledged that the youngster has an opportunity to emerge as a freshman starter.

“He’s just a bucket-getter,” Keatts noted. “The young man can score."

For Keatts, the challenge is blending his five returnees that gained extensive experience in 2020-21 with the five newcomers, which also includes four-star signee Ernest Ross from Alachua, Fla., and local legend guard Breon Pass from Reidsville (N.C.) High.

"It’ll be a work in progress, but the more we practice and the more we play I think you’ll see the chemistry get better and these guys have a chance to be a really good basketball team," Keatts concluded.