NC State’s defensive, mental breakdowns reappear in loss at Wake Forest

WINSTON-SALEM — After NC State’s second straight ACC loss of the season — this time a 77-59 defeat at Wake Forest on Saturday afternoon — the Wolfpack sat in the postgame press conference looking for answers yet again. 

It was a similar script to the Pack’s four non-conference losses to high-major teams: fall behind by double-digits early before clawing back, but exerting too much energy in closing the deficit to ultimately fall short. 

The common theme in most of the Wolfpack’s losses has become “frustrating” for NC State coach Kevin Keatts. The eighth-year coach doesn’t want to be known as the “comeback team,” but for much of the 2024-25 campaign, that’s the identity of his team. 

“We have to figure out how to get off to good starts,” Keatts said. 

But how can NC State (8-6, 1-2 ACC) do that? Locking in on both ends of the floor seems to be a key component of the solution, according to senior wing Dontrez Styles. 

A Georgetown transfer, Styles logged his first double-double of the season with 11 points and 10 rebounds, and he pointed to “a lack of paying attention to the details” as a key reason why NC State hasn’t found consistent success on both ends of the floor against quality teams. 

“I feel like in the game we just gotta lock in,” Styles said. “Sometimes in the game you can forget what you’ve been doing, living in the game and the present. You just gotta focus. We gotta lock in as a team, communicate better, and we will.”

Against Wake Forest, the Pack didn’t seem to be prepared for the first punch the Demon Deacons had waiting for them. NC State took an early 1-point lead after graduate Michael O’Connell hit a three in the early going — but that was the Pack’s lone advantage in the game. 

Wake Forest proceeded to use a 17-1 run to take a 15-point lead, forcing NC State to chase the game for 39 of the 40 possible minutes. The Wolfpack managed to close the deficit to 2 twice, but it couldn’t get over the hump as defensive breakdowns on ball-screen coverage appeared throughout the game. 

And the Demon Deacons were able to take advantage. Wake Forest had several easy layups with cutting guards that were able to power the Demon Deacons to 38 points in the paint with a 54.9% shooting percentage from the field. 

Wake Forest’s clip from the field marked the third time in the last four outings that NC State’s opponent was above 50% for the game. Kansas shot 56.6%, while Virginia had a 54.2% mark — both losses for NC State. 

That is obviously a statistic that Keatts would like to clean up right away, but he noted the Wolfpack’s defense hasn’t translated from the Dail Basketball Center practice court to under the bright lights when it’s time to play a meaningful game. 

“I think we have to get connected defensively,” Keatts said. “This particular group is having too many breakdowns. One of our biggest things is we haven’t been able to take how we practice and how we clean up things in practice when we get into the game situation. We haven’t gotten better at it.”

Keatts pointed to the team having a lot of new faces — which he admitted so do a lot of teams around the country — but he said the Pack needs to learn who each other are. And they have to do it fast.

That’s a main point of the breakdowns, but scheme-wise and mentally, and NC State is quickly falling behind the eight-ball in the conference standings with a 1-2 record through three games it felt as thought it should have won.

Now, as the Wolfpack looks to move on from this to play Notre Dame and North Carolina at the Lenovo Center next week, the team has just a few days to get it corrected.

“I would say we just have to be tougher,” Styles said. “Obviously, we have to focus better. We have our little spurts where we’re locked in and there’s some points of the game we’re not as focused. We let the game get away from us like we did today, and we can’t do that.”