11/20/2018 basketball Edit

Notebook: Jericole Hellems providing boost off the bench for NCSU

Jacey Zembal • TheWolfpackCentral

Writer

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Freshman Jericole Hellems (No. 4) has averaged 8.6 points in the first five games of the season. (Ken Martin/TheWolfpacker.com)

NC State coach Kevin Keatts had teased that, if called upon, freshman forward Jericole Hellems would be the Wolfpack’s third-string center following the transfer of freshman Ian Steere.

Sure enough against Saint Peter’s, there was the 6-7 Hellems as the de-facto “tallest” NCSU player after redshirt sophomore DJ Funderburk picked up his second foul on a made free throw with 9:17 left in the first half, and then redshirt junior Wyatt Walker got his second foul with 5:56 left in the half.

“Coach really doesn’t like positions so he stresses that you can work the one through five,” Hellems said. “He told us we could switch one through five while Wyatt and DJ were in foul trouble.”

Hellems took care of business and had a nice first half half, scoring all 10 of his points and helping NCSU lead Saint Peter’s 59-27 at halftime. The St. Louis native knocked down a pair of three-pointers and is shooting 6 of 17 from beyond the arc this season.

“I’m not ready to call him the microwave yet,” Keatts said. “He can score off the bench. He’s a talented freshman and he works hard. He deserves to play well.”

Keatts half-joked that he was okay with the tight whistle Tuesday night because Saint Peter's senior center Samuel Idowu also picked up two fouls with 14:33 left in the first half. The game was tied 13-13 but with little height on the court, the Wolfpack went on an epic 27-3 run.

“I thought in the first half we played extremely well,” Keatts said. “I think the officials were trying to help both teams out because all three big guys ended up with two fouls early. I thought that was a great thing.”

Hellems finished with 10 points, two rebounds and a block in 17 minutes of action for the Wolfpack. In the first five games he has solidified a spot in the rotation.

“I work out with the bigs every day,” Hellems said. “I just try and take bits and pieces from Wyatt’s game and DJ’s game. I am just trying to learn and soak everything in as a freshman.”

NC State comes out blazing from 3-point land

NC State entered the contest shooting 40.2 percent from three-point range, but few expected the barrage that proved to be the high point of the first half. Three different players hit two three-pointers to help NCSU go 9 of 11 from beyond the arc for a gaudy 81.8 percent. The long-range shooting did come back down to earth in the second, but the Wolfpack finished 10 of 20 for a still impressive 50 percent.

Hellems, fifth-year senior Eric Lockett and sophomore Braxton Beverly combined to shoot 6 of 7 on three-pointers in the first half.

“We are shooting the ball with confidence,” Keatts said. “If you are going to be a good shooting team, you have to be a great passing team.”

Keatts credited good ball movement for shooting so well. NCSU had 16 assists on 18 made field goals in the first half.

“That was very, very good,” Keatts said. “We shared the basketball.”

Intensity waned in second half

NC State hadn’t been in many scoring droughts all season, but the first 11-plus minutes of the second half proved to be a struggle for the Wolfpack. NCSU came out of the locker room shooting 2 of 11, and the turnover story was just as concerning.

NC State committed 10 of its 12 turnovers in the second half and shot 9 of 22 after halftime, including 1 of 9 from three-point land. Saint Peter’s never was in the game and some chalked the difficulties up to doing a little bit of scoreboard watching.

“It is hard when you look up at the score and you are up 30,” NCSU fifth-year senior Torin Dorn said. “It is hard to muster that same kind of energy, but it is what you have to do if you want to be a great team.”

Keatts called it human nature that after such a dominant closing stretch in the first half that made it hard to continue that in the second. He said the team got up to 33 intense minutes in a previous game, but probably was around 27-28 minutes Tuesday.

“We are a young mental team, we have to get better and have a better second half,” Keatts said. “There are no concerns on my end and I’m happy with the guys.”