The NC State men’s basketball team has lost four of its last five games, leaving much to be desired. However, the play of freshmen point guards Cam Hayes and Shakeel Moore gives the indication that big things are on the way for the Pack.
“Yeah, you know Cam [Hayes] and Shak[eel Moore], they’re both really competitive,” said redshirt senior guard Devon Daniels in November. “Cam [Hayes] has like a smooth, never-get-too-frantic pace to his game. He’s really a well-rounded guard. [Moore], he’s athletic, very tenacious on defense. And both of them bring a lot to our team.”
The offense as a whole often looks stagnant, as if it’s stuck in mud, and a huge reason for that is the sheer lack of playmakers on the roster. Markell Johnson wasn’t a perfect point guard, but he offered poise and skill, as well as a steady veteran presence when the team needed it last season. Johnson finished his senior season averaging 6.8 assists. The current leader for the Pack, Daniels, averages 3.2.
NC State went from being in the middle of the pack in assists per game to dead last in the ACC. Much of that can be attributed to the workload that Moore and Hayes have had to endure early in their careers.
“Our young guys have had moments where they were really good,” said head coach Kevin Keatts in November. “But because they’re young guys, that keeps them from being consistent. And it’s not their fault, they just haven’t been able to go through college practices for this long and know how to be consistent every day.”
Though large chunks of playing time were to be expected, Moore, a former three-star recruit, averages over 18 minutes a game and has even started one contest. The guard play as a whole outside of Daniels has been shaky, but the freshmen guards have shown promise that should give the Wolfpack confidence about its future moving forward.
Starting with Hayes, the 6-foot-3 point guard out of Greensboro Day School has shown tremendous potential as the type of lead guard that can control an offense. While he has a high turnover percentage, much of that can be attributed to his adjustment to this level of competition. Even though he plays less minutes than anyone in the rotation other than redshirt freshman Dereon Seabron, he is second on the team in assists per game.
And while Hayes isn’t jacking up 3s every chance he gets, he has a high 3-point percentage on a moderate amount of tries per game. Hayes is getting the opportunity to learn under a marksman in senior guard Braxton Beverly, and it’s already showing in his on-court product.
Hayes, like the rest of the team, looked shaky against the great guards of Florida State and UNC-Chapel Hill, taking ill-advised shots. However, the shot selection will improve over time, and Hayes has already shown so much in such little time with the team.
While Hayes brings the offensive punch, Moore comes in with the defensive right hook. Moore has tremendous potential to be an anchor on defense on this team and is already one of the best on-ball defenders on the entire roster.
Moore’s defensive statistics are almost unbelievable until you remember that he played defensive back for his high school football team. His hands, and 1.7 steals per game, give that away. Per 40 minutes, Moore averages a whopping 3.8 steals per game, while also clocking in a 5.3% steal percentage, a statistic that indicates what percentage of time an opponent’s possession ends in a steal, which leads the team by far.
The 6-foot-1 guard also leads the team in defensive rating, with only defensive tank redshirt sophomore forward Manny Bates close behind. This means that when Moore is on the floor, opposing teams are having evident troubles finding ways to score.
After having a breakout game against UNC-Chapel Hill in the first matchup between the two rivals, Moore only played four minutes and attempted just one shot in the second matchup. According to Keatts, this was due to a stretch where Moore practiced poorly.
However, with the season slipping away by the game, with matchups against Duke, Virginia and Syracuse on the horizon, Keatts is going to need contributions from every potential scoring outlet on the team. Moore and Hayes will both need to step up in that regard.
Funny enough, both Moore and Hayes have a lot to learn from each other. If you combined the way that the two are playing this season into one guard, you’d have one of the best freshmen in the country. It’s a matter of one or both of these bright young players taking the next step and addressing the flaws in their games.
“During my time here we haven’t really had a deep freshman class like [the one we have now],” Daniels said. “The energy the young guys bring is a major difference in practice. With grad transfers, you know they’ve been around, they know their role. But with the young guys coming in, they’re hungry, they want to play, they want to help the team. Just the competitive stuff they bring in practice that’s been helping us out as a whole.”
N.C. State's Shakeel Moore (2) makes the jumper with 26 seconds left in the game to give the Wolfpack the lead during the second half of N.C. State’s 79-76 victory over Boston College at PNC Arena in Raleigh, N.C., Wednesday, December 30, 2020.
