NC State’s ‘defense didn’t travel’ in loss at Florida State
NC State’s defense was not up to par in its road trip to Florida State on Tuesday night, and it showed in a 90-83 loss to the Seminoles.
Wolfpack coach Kevin Keatts voiced his displeasure with his squad’s execution on the defensive end for the second time in as many losses.
“You can’t give up 90 points,” Keatts said on the postgame radio broadcast. “We did a poor job of understanding the defensive scouting report. No middle drives, paint-touch team, not a very good three-point shooting team. … We did a poor job of ball-screen coverage and giving up paint touches.”
Florida State was able to make offense look easy for much of the contest. The Seminoles shot 59.7% from the field for the game, including a 61.3% clip in the final 20 minutes to put the Wolfpack away.
Keatts thought NC State’s 83 points should have been enough to win the game, but it allowed its most points to an ACC opponent in its eighth conference defeat of the year.
“Our defense didn’t travel and that’s the tough part about today,” Keatts said. “Our defense has been pretty good on the road thus far, and tonight we didn’t do it.”
The Seminoles were able to keep the Wolfpack frazzled on defense by pushing the ball up the floor with intensity. Florida State dominated in transition with 18 fast-break points, but that was not the only opportunity it took to take advantage of NC State’s defensive errors.
Florida State also moved the ball with a sense of urgency after NC State’s made baskets. The Seminoles got the ball in quick and tried to create a manufactured fast-break situation, and it worked.
“We didn’t do a good job of matching up,” Keatts said. “We were in a lot of scramble mode. … When our keys on our defensive end was no middle penetration and get back in transition, which I didn’t think we did well. We just didn’t guard.”
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The Seminoles were able to dominate with 46 points in the paint to go with its fast-break scoring. Florida State’s potent offensive attack with its extreme length led to the home team leading for 36:46 of game time, while the Wolfpack led for just 31 seconds — a 1-point advantage in the early going of the contest.
While NC State was in an 8-point deficit at halftime, the Wolfpack tried to claw its way back into the game in the second half. The red and white were able to cut the home team’s lead down to 2 points, but it could not get any closer than that.
Keatts thought his team tried to get in a shootout with the Seminoles on the offensive end instead of trying to lock down Florida State on the defensive end of the floor. That strategy did not work out well for the visitors from Raleigh.
“This was one of those games where we tried to outscore a team instead of defending,” Keatts said. “This team has been able to hold their own on the defensive end and do a really good job, and tonight we weren’t very good defensively.”
Though it was a 9 p.m. tip, Keatts did not make any excuses other than his team’s defense did not appear to board the flight to Tallahassee, Fla. In the end, it came down to which team was ready to go — and that was not the Wolfpack.
“It’s so tough to win on the road, and when your defense doesn’t travel, it doesn’t help you,” Keatts said. “A late-night game, I say this all the time, the team who is ready to play at 12 noon and 9 p.m. that comes out ready to play, is typically the team that comes out on top. We didn’t do a good job with that.”
