DJ Burns tried to make his senior night special, as he poured in a season-high 27 points. Too bad none of his teammates felt the urge to do likewise. State jumped out to a 9-0 lead but ended up on the wrong end of a 79-64 loss to Duke Monday night. The loss dropped the Pack to under .500 in conference play at 9-10.
Many times this year, State has suffered a bad shooting night that in my opinion had more to do with their team rather than what the opponent’s defense did to them. But this was a really good defensive night by the Blue Devils. They played tight perimeter defense and said they would live with what Burns got against them inside. Burns hurt them but the strategy paid off in spades, as no one could get loose for free jump shots and other interior players got their shots turned away at the rim.
Burns hit 12 shots from the floor. The rest of the Wolfpack hit 15 shots and only three from behind the arc. DJ Horne, who has been terrific in conference play, managed just eight shots and eight points in the game.
State was in the game for about 30 minutes but Duke overwhelmed them down the stretch. A Mo Diarra layup at the 12:08 mark gave the Pack a 46-45 lead. An old fashioned three-point play by Burns at the 9:43 mark made it 55-50 Duke. But Duke outscored State by 10 points the rest of the way for the blowout win.
For so many years in the Kevin Keatts era at State, the offense was good and the defense was bad. But when Diarra is on the floor this year, the defense is pretty good. But the offense simply doesn’t have the firepower we’re used to seeing. It’s not a particularly good shooting team and it’s rare to have more than two players have strong offensive nights. And tonight, there was just one.
Diarra was the only other player in double figures, as he had 10 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 3 blocks.
Keatts’ offensive system is big on giving players freedom. And that works great when you’ve got shot makers, like last year’s team had with Jarkel Joiner and Terquavion Smith. But the offense this year is throw it in to Burns or trying to set picks for Horne and simply too much standing around by the other players on the court.
It’s enough to make you long for the days of Herb Sendek and the Princeton offense.
While others have been calling for Keatts to be fired, my take was to support him because the team always plays hard for him and the defense has gotten significantly better. But this clogged-toilet offense is just deflating.
At this point, Keatts either needs to bring in an assistant coach to overhaul the offense or he needs to be replaced.
It feels like the pieces are here to have a good team. But the results haven’t followed. And part of that is the dismal final season for Morsell. Last year, Morsell had a good year because he was the fourth option and he could spot up for open 3s. But this year those looks haven’t been there, yet he plays 30-plus minutes every night.
You can never question Morsell’s effort. But he has the game of a 6’8 player yet he’s only 6’3. He gets points in the paint due to his effort. But his size requires him to have a mid-range game which he simply does not have. And his 3-point game has fallen off significantly as he’s had to put the ball on the floor, rather than wait for a pass while he’s wide open.
Hopefully next year Dennis Parker Jr. gets to play Morsell’s wing spot. For some reason, Keatts has tried to play Parker at power forward and the results have been poor. He gets bullied by bigger, stronger players down low. Instead, he should be a slasher, using his speed to his advantage. Hopefully he develops a corner jumper in the offseason.
Next up for the Pack is a game at Pitt on Saturday night and then the ACC tournament. Keatts should approach these last few games as if he’s coaching for his job. It’s unclear what he can do to switch things up offensively this late in the season. But, man, he needs to try.