DURHAM — In the NC State men’s basketball team’s hard-fought road loss to No. 12 Duke inside Cameron Indoor Stadium Monday night, one issue arose that has plagued the Wolfpack all season long: depth.
Playing just a seven-man rotation as NC State does is difficult and relies on superior conditioning, scoring contributions from all around and disciplined defense. When the Wolfpack plays tired, players struggle to score or the team gets into foul trouble, winning is going to be nearly impossible.
On Monday night inside the most hostile environment in college basketball, all three happened. The Wolfpack ran out of gas in the second half, two of its seven rotation players scored a combined five points, and early foul trouble forced key players onto the bench for extended minutes,
NC State went toe-to-toe with Duke throughout the entire first half and the first few minutes of the second half. But as the Wolfpack searched all over for a solution to the problems the Duke 2-3 zone was causing, NC State ran out of gas. Two free throws from Duke guard Tre Jones at the 14:57 mark kickstarted a 17-possession streak of the Blue Devils scoring at least one point each trip down the court as they boat raced the Wolfpack over the final 15 minutes. With the Wolfpack laboring on one day’s rest against an athletic Duke team, NC State just couldn’t consistently get back in transition.
“These guys are explosive in transition, especially in this building,” said NC State head coach Kevin Keatts. “I thought they were able to get out and get the crowd involved, and that certainly worked against us. We’ve got to do a better job moving forward because obviously that’s not a formula for success.”
A lack of depth scoring limited NC State’s offensive ceiling as only five players scored four or more points. Oftentimes a team can overcome a lack of scoring options by one or two players carrying the load on offense, but no one on the team reached the 15-point mark. With junior guard Braxton Beverly and redshirt freshman center Manny Bates held to three and two points, respectively, there just weren’t enough scoring options.
Foul trouble bit the Wolfpack nearly as soon as the game started, as Bates picked up two quick fouls and spent nearly the entire first half on the bench. Then, less than two minutes into the second half, Bates picked up his third. As Funderburk labored up and down the court due to having to play nearly the entire game as a result of NC State’s lack of frontcourt depth, Duke destroyed the Pack on the glass to the tune of a 46-27 advantage in rebounding. The Wolfpack had no answer for Duke’s star forward Vernon Carey Jr., who had 17 points and seven rebounds.
“We gave up so many offensive rebounds,” Keatts said. “Give Vernon Carey a lot of credit, he’s good. He didn’t kill us on the offensive glass but I told our guys, he was obviously the best player on the floor. He did a tremendous job.”
NC State has struggled all season with depth, and it’s not going to grow players on trees. With Beverly and graduate forward Pat Andree both struggling with injuries, NC State is going to be limited to seven players on most nights. With the rest of its games firmly in the “must-win” category to receive an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, the Wolfpack is going to need to overcome its lack of depth.
