The last five minutes of games have proven to be NC State’s vulnerability this season.
NC State wasn’t playing all that well against Wake Forest on Wednesday, but the Demon Deacons weren’t exactly lighting it up either. Star redshirt sophomore guard Dereon Seabron willed the Wolfpack back into he game with 17 of his team-high 22 points during the second half. Just like that, NC State was down 53-51 with 5:19 left, a familiar sight.
What happened next was not on script this season. Wake Forest dominated the closing stretch with a 16-0 run — making 7 of 8 field goals — to win 69-51 at PNC Arena. The Wolfpack fell to 10-15 overall and 3-11 in the ACC, and play at Pittsburgh on Saturday.
“I wouldn’t say we ran out of gas,” Seabron said. “I feel like we had a couple of mental breakdowns on the defensive end. When we were coming down, we weren’t getting anything offensively. I think people were getting frustrated on the defensive end and gave up those easy layups and wide-open threes.”
The closing stretch was just half of the story against Wake Forest. NC State shot an abysmal 3 of 22 from three-point land, with freshman wing Terquavion Smith make two of them, but needing 10 attempts. Smith went 3 of 16 for eight points and four assists, before fouling out in 29 minutes played. Seabron’s great stretch which started with 13:53 left in the game, and former Wake Forest signee Jaylon Gibson grabbing 11 rebounds and blocking two shots were about the only highlights of the game for NCSU. Backup center Ebenezer Dowuona looked more comfortable in the post with six points in 10 minutes, but the is still playing under certain restrictions and his leg bothered him Wednesday.
“I thought we did a really good job of staying in the game, especially when you look at our numbers,” NCSU coach Kevin Keatts said. “Two [Smith, Jericole Hellems] of our ‘Big Three’ didn’t have a good night. We came out and mixed some stuff up [playing zone defense] and throw them off a little bit. Make them unbalanced or uncomfortable. We did a good job until the last four minutes.”
NC State shot 32.2 percent from the field and were just 10 of 26 on layups against the super-sized Wake Forest frontcourt.
“Our guys didn’t shoot the ball in the first half,” Keatts said. “It’s no secret if those three guys are not having a good night, it’s going to be a long night for us.
“My teams are never going to win a game if we score 51 points.”
Wake Forest improved to 20-5 overall and 10-4 in the ACC, after going 6-16 overall and 3-15 in the league last year. Second-year coach Steve Forbes has two transfers from East Tennessee State, his prior stop, plus Ole Miss, Oklahoma, Indiana State and Colorado.
The Demon Deacons even overcame a slow start from star Alondes Williams, who had 15 of his team-high 17 points after halftime, to go along with nine rebound sand six assists.
Former Virginia Tech and Ole Miss post player Khadim Sy also provided a lift with 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench in 28 minutes.
Keatts was asked if the transfer portal is what is needed for NC State to make a similar turn-around for next year.
“It is experience and they only have one guy who started his freshman year [Isaiah Mucius] at Wake Forest [who starts],” Keatts said. “They got four transfers and three of them were somewhere else last year. You look around college basketball and look around our league, teams that are older are finding a way to win except for Duke, who has so much talent.”
The downside of relying on the portal long-term is that each year it could be a brand new team.
“They’ve done a good job of using the transfer portal and identifying guys who fit their system,” Keatts said. “When you go out and hit the transfer portal, sometimes you hit the jackpot and sometimes you don’t.”
NC State has some winnable games coming up, but Keatts said it’s about keeping the players spirits positive. He figures they’ll get plenty of negative chatter from others around them and are sensitive about the season.
“We have to take the positive,” Keatts said. “For 36 minutes, it was a good game. It’s a long year.
“They are competitors in there and don’t like losing. I would be bothered if they weren’t frustrated.
“We talk about how to stack one game after another. If we were 11-3, we’d be talking about how we are in position to win a conference championship. When you get behind, I’ve kind of stayed away from the negative part of it.”
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