Kevin Keatts raves about impact of Jarkel Joiner at NC State

Saturday’s 96-71 loss to the Clemson Tigers would likely be NC State guard Jarkel Joiner’s home last regular season contest. Despite the difficult loss, the Wolfpack suffered at the hands of their ACC rival, head coach Kevin Keatts took a moment to rave about the type of player Joyner is and what he’s meant to the program.

“He’s a warrior — a great person,” said Keatts. “He’s a great human being (and) he’s a better person than he is a basketball player. And we know what type of basketball player he is. He’s the ultimate competitor. We’re so glad that he decided to come to our program and join us. He’s forever part of the NC State family, even though you only get it for one year. But he’s meant so much to us, not just us as a coaching staff, but to Wolfpack nation and also the guys in the locker room. And so, we’re going to miss him. Like, we’re going to miss all my kids; I love them all. But what that young man’s been able to bring to our program has really injected some energy on both ends of the floor and a positive mindset.”

In the Wolfpack’s home regular-season finale, Joiner had a rough day from the field. The senior guard from Oxford, MS, was an abysmal 4-14 shooting from the field for 16 points. Joiner also had three turnovers to his four assists.

Keatts explains difficulty of coming back from first-half deficit

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.