NC State still figuring itself out, seeks consistency ahead of Notre Dame

When NC State played at Notre Dame last season it was the team’s second ACC game of the year, and there were several players still figuring their roles out. Graduate guard Michael O’Connell was coming off the bench, while junior forward Mohamed Diarra was a sparingly used player in the frontcourt. 

Both of those things changed as the season went on with O’Connell becoming the key initiator of the Pack’s offense and Diarra gobbled up nearly every rebound. Those two were critical parts of NC State’s late-season turnaround that culminated in a run to the Final Four at the end of the year. 

While the Wolfpack was eventually able to figure out what worked — and what didn’t — a year ago, NC State seems to have a case of deja vu going into its latest bout with Notre Dame. 

The Pack (8-6, 1-2 ACC) is riding a two-game skid — league road losses to Virginia and Wake Forest — and it is still “trying to learn each other,” according to NC State coach Kevin Keatts. NC State, in all reality, is in a very similar spot this season as it was last year against Notre Dame (7-7, 1-2 ACC) with the Irish set to visit the Lenovo Center on Wednesday (7 p.m., ESPNU). 

Keatts said he rewatched last season’s meeting – a 54-52 Wolfpack win — on Sunday and he was amazed at the difference in team he saw on that tape to what NC State was at the end of the season. 

“I was like, ‘Man, how different were we at that point?’” Keatts said on the ACC’s weekly coaches Zoom media availability. “We had no identity, we were trying to figure it out. We got better that game and things changed after that game. It’s the same thing here. We have so many new pieces.”

Yes, NC State has eight new faces on this season’s roster, but the team feels even more new since a majority of the returning players are in different roles than they were at the end of last year. O’Connell is the only constant since he was the team’s starting point guard during the postseason dash, the rest are in new positions. 

Senior guard Jayden Taylor is relied upon for key starter’s minutes after serving as the sixth-man (an increase of 10-15 minutes each night), while senior forward Ben Middlebrooks is in the same boat after he was the primary reserve for DJ Burns. 

Although NC State is still feeling its roster out with players getting comfortable in new spots, Keatts isn’t worried that his team is still “learning” each other at the current moment. 

“I don’t know that you could ever tell me after last year about timing. It takes some teams longer than others,” Keatts said. “For me, it’s not a concern. I think every team, at some point, if they continue to get better, there’s no timetable of when they start playing really good basketball.”

But while the roster might be growing together, Keatts did stress that the team needs to provide more consistency throughout each game. NC State has demonstrated it can score after it held a 10-point halftime lead at Virginia, but in the same token, it showed the ball can get stuck to make it seem like the offense is stuck in neutral. 

Keatts and his staff are working to see quality basketball for 35 or 37 minutes a night, while he thinks the Pack is only doing that for 20-25 minutes currently. 

“That’s been one of our problems. It’s been both offensive and defensively,” Keatts said. “Defensively, we gotta be a little more solid to create some more opportunities. And offensively, at times, the ball will stick with us. We’re continuing to preach that we have to stay consistent.”

Notre Dame, who just took UNC to the wire with a 74-73 loss over the weekend, will not be a pushover when the Irish visit Raleigh. The Wolfpack is well aware of that, and it is hoping to see more players find their groove. 

At the end of the day, NC State’s wins are dependent on a majority of the roster playing in harmony. The Wolfpack doesn’t have an electric scorer that can give the team 20-30 points in a given night, creating an issue when inconsistency arises on the offensive and defensive ends. 

For Keatts, who believes the Wolfpack is still growing in the right direction, the process is going to take time. He doesn’t want to bank on another red-hot March, requiring growth to show itself sooner or later. 

But, for now, he knows the team is ready to work inside the Dail Basketball Center as a crucial week of basketball approaches with Notre Dame and UNC visiting the Lenovo Center. 

“The good thing about our team is they understand where we have to get better at,” Keatts said. “The approach after a loss, we have really worked and they guys have gotten better in some areas. … We’ve gotta get back to being a little more stingy on the defensive end and then our shots will fall offensively.”