How NC State is approaching the quick turnaround to play No. 10 Duke

As NC State coach Kevin Keatts sat in the North Carolina media room for his postgame press conference, his eyes wandered to a TV on the wall to his right. Duke and Virginia were midway through the second half, and the seventh-year coach joked he was starting his scouting early. 

Why? NC State has a quick turnaround to host No. 10 Duke at PNC Arena on Monday night after its 79-70 loss at No. 9 North Carolina on Saturday afternoon. 

Keatts’ preparation didn’t actually start as he sat for his postgame press conference, but it was set to begin on the 26.1-mile bus ride back to the Dail Basketball Center. 

“Unfortunately I don’t have the chance to look ahead, so I’ll start on the ride back,” Keatts said afterwards. “I’m going to watch our game on the bus and then I’ll start watching Duke as soon as we get back and we’ll put a game plan together.”

Every team in the ACC has to play a quick-turnaround game at least once this regular season. That means a squad plays on Saturday and then again Monday night. It’s a tough timetable for any team, but the Wolfpack has a pair of top-10 rivals within 72 hours of each other. 

Keatts noted a couple times during the last few days that “we might be the only team in America that’s ever played Carolina on Saturday and Duke on Monday without it being a tournament situation.”

But that’s the schedule, even if the top two teams in the league are on a near-back-to-back for the Wolfpack. 

“These guys will be ready to play,” Keatts said. “They (ACC) didn’t do us any favors with the tough schedule but it’s what we have. I know that. It will be ‘Senior Night’ and an opportunity for us at home and a last time for our fans to see our team at home. That’s what it’s about.”

Since NC State had just over 48 hours to prepare for the Blue Devils from the time the Pack’s game ended just after 6 p.m. on Saturday evening and tip off at 7 p.m. on Monday night, Sunday’s practice will not involve any live practice. 

The Pack “can’t do anything on the floor,” Keatts said, which means the team will have to do its entire prep through watching Duke — and itself — on film. 

“There’s got to be a lot of film,” Keatts said. “There’s got to be a lot of walk-though. There’s got to be a lot of conversations and talk. You’ve got to try to go through your scouting and hopefully you’ve done enough this year they’ve picked up stuff on film.”

That may be slightly tougher since this is the only meeting between Duke and NC State this season. They did not play each other at Cameron Indoor, so it is entirely up to the Pack’s ability to diagnose what Duke does on film to prepare for the team that has won seven of its last eight games. 

But the quick turnaround might be good for NC State’s players. The team led North Carolina by 8 at halftime before an 0-for-15 shooting stretch put the Wolfpack in a 10-point deficit. The faster the turnaround, the better.  

It still could be a challenge to put the loss in Chapel Hill behind the red and white for the coaching staff, however.

“The good thing about today’s kids is they have a much better short-term memory that we do,” Keatts said. “With the coaches, I’m the one who is going to have to figure out how to get my emotions right and turned around.”

Though NC State saw its lead evaporate within the first 10 minutes of the second half at the Dean Smith Center, it was able to cut the deficit to 5 with less than three minutes left in the contest. That’s been NC State’s identity this season: it won’t quit. 

Keatts, whose team has lost five of its last seven, has not seen his team give up throughout that stretch with four of the losses coming within 7 points. 

“Man, this team is fighting,” Keatts said. “If anybody is looking at this team and doesn’t think they’re fighting, then they’re crazy.”

Fight is not something that the Wolfpack have had to worry about, even when playing a top-10 opponent in a hostile environment. It gets another premier team in college basketball on Monday night, but now on the Pack’s home floor. 

Duke may still have immense talent — four top-20 freshmen in On3’s 2023 Top-150, headlined by Jared McCain — but Keatts thought NC State’s desire to keep itself in games is what sets it apart from the highly-touted rosters. 

“This team has a lot of guts and fight,” Keatts said. “Where we might be not as talented as most, we’ve got more fight than people.”

That fight will be put to the test against the Blue Devils. And the Pack will have to do it in a very fast turnaround.