Kevin Keatts praises DJ Burns' passing ability, personality off the court

The lovable big fella leading NC State on this magical March Madness run, DJ Burns, received some major praise from his head coach on ESPN’s episode of College GameDay on Elite 8 Saturday.

The Wolfpack as a team have stepped their game up across the board in the third month of 2024, but Burns’ stardom in particular has been what’s put them on the map as a nation-wide story. When on ESPN chatting with the GameDay crew, NC State coach Kevin Keatts admitted that the team has been riding DJ Burns.

“For the most part, we’re playing through DJ Burns,” said Keatts, noting the array of defenses Burns has faced. “And teams have a different way of guarding him. Sometimes they let him play one on one, sometimes they’ll double him, but he’s become our second point guard on the floor.”

Jay Williams is particularly enamored with the improved passing ability of Burns as a senior and asked Keatts to speak on that a little more.

“Well Jay, you would love to play with him,” said the NC State coach, lauding Burns’ evolution into a terrific passer.

“By the way, if you see a double — because we’ve seen every type of double — he’s a willing passer. He’s fallen in love with passing the ball. He tied his career high in assists yesterday with seven” — and five of those came in the first half of that Marquette win.

As great as the passing is, though, Keatts wants Burns getting his fill on the scoreboard as well and touted his skill in the post.

“Sometimes I get a little frustrated with him, because I want him to score the ball. But I mean, he’s a throwback. He’s the guy that you can throw the ball inside and he can score with his back to the basket. He’s so different, because he’s a lefty. You don’t really get the chance to play against a lefty post guy. He’s got great size, he’s got great footwork, he’s got great touch.”

Leaving hoops aside, Keatts revealed that Burns is a delightful person of the court, and has used his uniquely-strong NIL appeal to help others.

“He’s an unbelievable kid, I think he’ll be the mayor of Raleigh one day,” Keats joked to a room full of laughs.

“Just a great personality. You wanna talk about NIL, this dude does everything, he does it the right way. He’s hanging with kids, he goes at Christmas, goes to children’s hospital. He might have 30 kids around him after the game.”

According to his head coach, DJ Burns is truly the hero everyone has fallen in love with, on and off the court.