NC State finds some answers in first game without Daniels
Devon Daniels’ injury leaves N.C. State trying to re-define roles at a critical juncture of the season. The Wolfpack showed, albeit in a 76-73 loss to Syracuse, that doesn’t have to mean they take a collective step back.
N.C. State coach Kevin Keatts expressed disappointment in losing for the fifth time in six games. But he saw plenty to be optimistic about in their first game playing without Daniels, who led the team in scoring with 16.5 points per game.
“We haven’t had time really to adjust without playing with Devon,” said Keatts, of Daniels who tore his anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee Wednesday against Wake Forest. “So (Syracuse) was our first opportunity to see how these guys would respond and I thought we answered a lot of questions. Now, we just got to get back and we got to build on it.”
One of those answers came from his frontcourt, where forwards Jericole Hellems and Manny Bates did things they’d never done before. Hellems posted career-highs with both 24 points and 10 rebounds, which also marked his first-ever double-double.
Bates had only reached 10 rebounds in one other game this season. And he had only one career double-double scoring and rebounding until Sunday. His 17 points and career-high 14 rebounds set a new standard of what is expected of him -- especially if D.J. Funderburk is out for a significant amount of time.
“He’s 7-for-9 (field goals) for 17 points, I’ve seen that and I know that he can do that,” Keatts said. “The next step in his development is to be an outstanding rebounder.”
Their performances came with senior forward D.J. Funderburk held out of the game, but on the bench, due to “university policy.” Keatts said as of Sunday, he was not sure if Funderburk, who is their second leading scorer, would be back to face Virginia on Wednesday.
Daniels’ absence meant freshman guard Cam Hayes made just his fourth start of the season. And it also made for more playing time for freshman Shakeel Moore and redshirt freshman Dereon Seabron. Keatts said he thought all three played “great minutes” even though their stats didn’t stand out.
“Did they make mistakes? Absolutely,” Keatts said. “Are they going to make mistakes? Absolutely. But they’ve got to grow up and they’ve got to grow up fast and I thought test one was pretty good for us.”
Seabron had arguably his best game of the season, setting a new career-high with nine points. He’d been averaging just 3.8 per game, but had seven points in the first half including an impressive steal off Marek Dolezaj and dunk.
He was on the floor in the game’s final four minutes and made two big plays. He blocked an Alan Griffin shot, and his layup with 1:30 left pulled State within 70-69.
But Seabron’s earlier steal may have contributed to his second half mistake. The Pack chose to defend Syracuse for the shot clock while trailing 72-70 with 44 seconds left. The Orange had six seconds left on the shot clock and 20 seconds in the game when Seabron committed a reaching foul.
“After I committed the foul, I knew that wasn’t the right play to make,” Seabron said. “It was just in the moment of it. He was just playing with the ball in my face and I just thought I could get a steal.”
Those are the kind of growing pains the Pack will have to get used to while learning to play without Daniels.
“We’ve got a lot of season to play and we’ve got things to work on and make adjustments like any other team would do if you lose a player or have a player go down,” Hellems said. “So we just have to be mentally strong on and off the court and we’ll be fine.”