Kevin Keatts explains difficulty of coming back from first-half deficit

Kevin Keatts and NC State took one right on the chin Saturday afternoon against Clemson. The Wolfpack fell hard at home, 96-71. The defeat was largely thanks to NC State’s struggles in the first half, as Clemson nearly doubled them up. After the game, Keatts tried to explain why the first-half deficit was so difficult for his Wolfpack to come back from.

“Well, it’s so hard when you’re playing catch up,” said Keatts. “And we’ve never been behind that deficit, and because we didn’t defend, the game got away from us. I thought we had moments where we chipped away in the second half. But you would make a 5, 6-0 run, and you’re still down by a lot. And so it’s psychological that bothers you a little bit. I’m not worried about our guys. It was a tough game for us, and if we could figure out how to learn from this, we’ll move on.”

The Wolfpack offense was asleep in the first half as they could only muster up 29 points to Clemson’s 54-point to open the game. In the second half, it was a much better showing from NC State as they were able to put up 42 points. Unfortunately, the damage was already done, and even a high-scoring second half could not help them undo the deep hole they dug themselves to start the game. With the loss, NC State drops to 22-8 on the year and 12-7 in conference play. Currently, they have the 6th best record in the ACC and would be the No. 6 seed if the conference tournament started today.

Clemson ruins NC State’s home season finale

For all the excitement NC State basketball has delivered this season, Saturday against Clemson in the home finale at PNC Arena in Raleigh for the Wolfpack was a rare clunker. For the first time this year, NC State was thoroughly dominated, getting crushed by a red-hot shooting Tigers team that spent most of the afternoon shooting over 60 percent from the field.

Clemson made 10 of 14 shots to start the game, including 5 of 6 threes, to open up a 28-13 lead when NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts called a timeout. By that point, Keatts had already been assessed a technical foul, one of the initial signs of a frustrating afternoon looming for the Wolfpack.

Even a court side fan would be ejected from his seat during the second half.

While officiating may have led to that particular fan’s frustration, Clemson’s shooting was the primary culprit for the Wolfpack’s struggles.

The Tigers shot 59.6 percent for the game and made 10 of 19 threes. At one point their lead ballooned to 30 points in the second half after going into the locker room on a 7-0 run to take a 54-29 halftime advantage.