NC State’s renewed emphasis on rebounding faces tall and talented test vs. Tar Heels
After N.C. State’s Saturday win over Campbell, Kevin Keatts said it was all smiles in the locker room from guys who helped out in the rebounding category.
Missing 6-foot-10 forward D.J. Funderburk and 6-foot-11 forward Ebenezer Dowuona for the second-straight game because of COVID-19 protocols, it was a team effort on the boards during the 69-50 Wolfpack win. N.C. State had been out-rebounded 53-26 in a loss to St. Louis on Thursday, then won the battle of the boards Saturday 43-23.
Before taking on the Camels, Keatts said two of his three keys to the game were the same: rebound. So everyone crashed the boards. Keatts said guards Shakeel Moore (five rebounds) and Thomas Allen (four) were excited to get their names in the rebound column of the stat sheet, both collecting season-high marks.
Senior forward Devon Daniels, who only had one board against the Billikens, tied Jericole Hellems for the lead Saturday with seven rebounds.
“The whole season, you know the coaches have been really on that point for us,” Daniels said. “And after St. Louis, it was really huge.”
If it was huge after the game against St. Louis and heading into Campbell, then rebounding will be colossal against No. 17 North Carolina on Tuesday night. The Tar Heels (5-2) will be a tall (figuratively and literally) across the front line vs. N.C. State (4-1).
UNC is one of the best rebounding teams in the nation and leads the ACC in rebounding margin (12.7) — the Heels are seventh in the country in that category. They are No. 1 in the ACC in rebounding offense (45.4 per game) and offensive rebounds (16 per game). In seven games this year, UNC has only been out-rebounded once, 42-38 to Kentucky, but still won that game. State got killed on the boards by St. Louis, whose tallest player in the rotation was 6-foot-9.
Carolina will roll out a front line that features three players 6-foot-8 or taller and can bring three others off the bench taller than 6-foot-11, including 7-foot-1 freshman Walker Kessler.
The tallest player for the Pack in its last two games was 6-foot-11 sophomore Manny Bates, who spent most of the game against the Camels in foul trouble. He still finished that game with six rebounds, but Keatts is going to need that combined effort to continue to counter UNC’s tall front court that’s aggressive on the boards.
“Give those guys credit, you know from game to game when you don’t do something well to come back out and rebound the basketball,” Keatts said after the Campbell game. “That’s one of the things that we wanted to do and it was a big emphasis.”
If Funderburk and Dowuona return from COVID protocols, that will give Bates, who leads the team with 6.0 rebounds per game, some help. That was the case Saturday when Keatts called on Daniels (6-foot-5) and Hellems (6-7) to help out. Hellems even played the five position in a four-guard lineup with Bates on the bench.
“I think I’m just trying to figure out and fit in wherever I can help the team,” Hellems said. “Whenever we are obviously down a couple of people, especially our five men, just trying to figure out ways to impact the game in different positions.”
UNC has four players in the top 10 in the ACC in rebounding, and they’re all aggressive on the offensive boards. Armando Bacot (6-10) is third in the league with 8.7 rebounds per game, followed by Garrison Brooks (6-10) at No. 6 (7.4), Leaky Black (6-8) at eighth (7.3) and Day’Ron Sharpe (6-11) at ninth (7.3).
According to Synergy Sports, Bacot (97%) and Sharpe (96%) are almost guaranteed to score when they grab an offensive rebound, both rating “excellent” in that category.
N.C. State was out-rebounded in its first two games against Charleston Southern and North Florida, 66-62, before getting an advantage (barely) against UMass-Lowell. Without defensive rebounding, the Pack struggle to start their break, where they have thrived this season.
“We saw that we’ve really got to, you know, take that initiative and get tougher down there and start grabbing boards so we can get out in transition,” Daniels said. “If we don’t rebound, there is no fast break and that’s a big part of who we are.”
NC State vs. North Carolina
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday
Where: PNC Arena in Raleigh
Watch: ACC Network
This story was originally published December 21, 2020 at 2:22 PM.
