What happened to the defense? NC State basketball continues slide at Wake Forest

Guys don’t have to hit logo 3s or rack up the points to play for Kevin Keatts. That’s not necessarily the kind of program he wants. Sure, shooting efficiency is important, but he wants opponents to think about defense, rebounding, boxing out and tough pressure when they think of the Wolfpack.

N.C. State prides itself on disrupting opponents’ offenses, running them off the 3-point line and forcing turnovers. It started the season doing those things well, but it hasn’t carried over in the last 20 days.

“I think we have to get connected defensively,” Keatts said after the 77-59 loss. “This particular group is having too many breakdowns. … We’ve got so many new pieces. Now, I get it. So many other people do, too, but we’re still trying to learn each other, and we got to learn each other really quick.”

N.C. State’s scoring defense was 66.3 points per game — good for No. 4 in the ACC. It was holding teams to 43% on all field goal attempts and 29.8% from the perimeter.

Additionally, it was leading the ACC in turnover margin by forcing 4.2 more turnovers than it committed.

In three of the last four contests, the Pack allowed its opponents to shoot 50% or better from the field, often an increase of roughly 10% in its other games against major programs. Its 77 points on Saturday were the most allowed this season. Kansas scored 75.

The Demon Deacons entered the game ranked last in the ACC for field goal percentage, averaging 42.9%, and 3-point shooting (27.7%). They finished above their average. Add in 13 layups, two dunks and 38 points in the paint, and that’s a winning combination. The Deacs averaged an offensive rating of 105.3 in its first 14 games. They topped 126 against the Pack.

N.C. State’s defense only gave up six 3s against Wake, but they came at inopportune times. Ty-Laur Johnson made a triple with 12:11 remaining to put the Deacs up 12. Then, Parker Friedrichsen added another bucket seven minutes later and put Wake Forest up 20.

Kansas shot 30 of 53 overall (56.6%), Virginia made 26 of 48 shots (54.2%) and Wake Forest went 28 of 51 (54.9%) on Saturday.

Texas held the previous high for opponent scoring efficiency, shooting 24 of 53 (45.3%), in early December. Still, the Pack held the Longhorns to 63 points.

Even in its loss to Virginia on Tuesday, N.C. State only gave up 29 first-half points before falling apart in the second.

Turnovers have been an issue as well. N.C. State only created 31 turnovers in its four recent games but committed 32. In the five previous games, opponents — including Purdue, BYU, Texas and Florida State — the Pack committed 45 and forced 60. The latter three ended their respective games with double-digit turnovers.

Dontrez Styles and Marcus Hill attributed the breakdowns to mental and physical lapses. They said the team lacks focus and its positioning is off, especially on pick-and-roll coverage, leading to easy buckets. Sometimes guys relax, stop communicating what needs to happen on the court and don’t remain present.

They’re fouling — or at least getting called for fouls — and letting up at the end of shot clocks, too.

“I feel like we have our little spurts where we’re locked in and we’re focused on the game plan,” Styles said. “There’s some points of the game where we’re not as focused, and we let the game get away from us, like we did tonight. We can’t do that.”

The most frustrating part about the current trends is that N.C. State can play well and compete with other Power Four programs, but it keeps digging holes and they’ve been too big.

Keatts doesn’t want to be the comeback team. He wants his program to perform well from the jump and remain in contention for a win for the entire game.

Right now he’s getting 25 to 30, maybe 32, minutes of good play each game. But the remaining eight to 15 are hurting them. N.C. State may not get 40 minutes of lockdown defense and efficient shooting, but it needs 37, 38 minutes.

“If you take segments out of our games, we’re really good, but we haven’t been able to sustain it for the entirety,” Keatts said. “And it’s a little bit of everything. We’ve got to get better in certain areas, but it’s a little bit of everything that’s hurting us.”

N.C. State is still convinced it will be OK since it’s only three games into ACC play. Recent history is on its side and Keatts said the team is practicing well, but the closed-door success hasn’t translated on game day.

“The bad thing about it is we’re losing games before because of (breakdowns),” Keatts said. “The good thing about it, if we clean it up, then obviously we will win those games on offense.”