NC State guard duo leading way as Pack still seeks first ACC win, end to losing streak
N.C. State’s Dereon Seabron and Terquavion Smith slowly walked up to the podium, the look of dejection as clear as day.
For most of the Wolfpack postgame media availability this season, it has been the same duo — Seabron, the sophomore, Smith the true freshman.
It was the dynamic duo once again, and rightfully so. Seabron continued his impressive rise to stardom, scoring 32 points, dishing out seven assists. Smith might be one of the most overlooked true freshmen in the country, scoring 23 points, including a season-high seven made 3-point baskets.
The duo combined for 55 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists. As the Wolfpack went back and forth with Florida State, Seabron and Smith combined for 22 points in the final 10 minutes. The last person to make a basket for N.C. State not named Seabron or Smith was freshman Breon Pass, who knocked down a 3 to put the Pack up seven with 11:23 remaining.
Seabron and Smith are a nice one-two punch for head coach Kevin Keatts, but it’s hard to get ACC wins without others contributing consistently.
“Right now it’s so tough on our guards because we don’t have anybody we can throw the ball inside and get a basket,” Keatts said. “A lot of the stuff is either paint touch off a drive or either a jump shot. That’s what we are right now and we have to continue to develop some guys.”
The Wolfpack did score 32 points in the paint, mostly off layups. The two post players who logged the most minutes — Jaylon Gibson and Ebenezer Dowuona — combined for the same amount of points as Manny Bates, the center who is out for the year. Neither Gibson and Dowuona even attempted a shot.
That puts a ton of pressure on all of the N.C. State guards to play well offensively each night. Keatts inserted senior Thomas Allen into the lineup and got an early return on that move. Allen scored nine points on 3-of-4 shooting from behind the arc in the first half. He finished the game with those same nine points on 3-of-10 shooting. Keatts wanted Cam Hayes, the guard Allen replaced in the starting five, to see the game from a different perspective. Hayes finished with two points in 14 minutes of action.
“Cam didn’t lose his spot, but Cam hasn’t been playing great,” Keatts said. “I wanted Cam to see the beginning of the game and then come in for the game. The narrative is not that Cam Hayes is not going to be our starting point guard anymore, I just wanted to look at something else.”
Jericole Hellems had eight points, but six of those came from the foul line. Pass had a nice game (five points, 2-of-4 shooting), but only logged nine minutes.
In the second half of the two-point loss to the Noles, N.C. State scored 40 points. Seabron and Smith scored 30 of those.
Keatts doesn’t have the bodies to see who else can contribute at this point. In the past he’s had 8-10 guys he can depend on and can tweak the lineup when he needs to, but the bodies aren’t there. Seabron and Smith have been consistent, but the hard part has been finding a third scoring option on any given night.
“When you’ve lost a few games in a row you have to make some type of change,” Keatts said. “The change was I wanted to see what a different lineup looks like and we saw it.”
Seabron is looking like an All-ACC caliber player and Smith almost a lock for the All-ACC rookie team. If the Pack doesn’t find some help for those two, it might be more of the same the rest of ACC play. Seabron is making the leap from a guy who averaged 8.4 points per game a year ago, to nearly 20 a night. Smith might be the most fearless player on the entire roster.
“I just have a high level of confidence,” Smith said. “And I know my teammates believe in me, just like I believe in them.”
Keatts believes in the rest of the guys on the roster, but desperately needs contributions from one of them immediately.
“The other guys didn’t try to miss, they just didn’t make shots,” Keatts said. “I thought we had a great game plan at the end of the day.”
This story was originally published January 2, 2022 at 7:00 AM.
