Kevin Keatts excited to get DJ Burns back at NC State for 2023-24 season

The NC State basketball team lost its top two scorers this offseason but still has a healthy chunk of production coming back from an NCAA Tournament team. Getting forward DJ Burns back was huge.

Burns is coming off a season in which he averaged 12.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 1.5 assists and 0.9 blocks per game. Importantly, he can be a team leader.

“I think it’s huge that he came back,” coach Kevin Keatts said. “He’s such a tremendous personality. If you could say what’s a great fit for NC State, it’s DJ Burns. That’s both on and off the court.”

Burns has a unique skill set that allows him to fill up the stat sheet at times. His outing in a 83-81 win over Miami in overtime was proof of that.

The senior scored 13 points, pulled down nine rebounds, dished out seven assists, blocked two shots and recorded a steal, all in 34 minutes of action.

“In today’s games there are not many back-to-the-basket low post guys who can score and pass, and to have a guy like him to come back to our program means a lot and it shows you the love that he got in the program,” Keatts said. “He saw success both on and off the court.

“I thought it was important when you look at last year’s team, we had maybe three guys that returned that played a lot of minutes. And this particular team having both DJ and Casey Morsell come back that were starters for us, playing in a big role, it means a lot to our program.”

With DJ Burns back and Morsell, who scored 11.8 points per game, also returning, NC State has a solid nucleus to work with. The best part is fans might not have seen Burns’ best yet.

DJ Burns, back to the basket or not, can be a versatile threat.

The senior forward is hoping to develop more of his game to include even some face-up offense.

“If you talk to DJ he thinks he’s a 3-point shooter,” Keatts said with a laugh. “He catches the ball at the 3-point line, too.”

The goal with DJ Burns back, though, is to continue to build him up as a player. The more guys Keatts can put into the league, the better recruiting will be.

And with a little development, Burns could get there.

“Just expanding his game. Having him to be a face-up guy, make a few plays off the dribble,” Keatts said. “Even though he is a very efficient passer, his numbers don’t always be great. So we want to make sure that he continues in that role.

“We know, because of his ability and losing Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner early in the year, people are probably going to try to throw a couple double-teams at him and he’ll have to make the right decisions and ball-handling and all that other stuff. As we tell all of our guys, not just DJ, I want everybody to get in the best shape of their life. That’s every guy on our team.”