In a fitting end to the 2023-24 regular season, State fell behind by 17 points in the second half, rallied to cut the deficit to three points before running out of gas and losing by eight points, in an 83-71 loss at Pitt. With the win, Pitt earns the double bye in the ACC tournament. Meanwhile State, which once had dreams of finishing in the top four and getting the first two days off, wound up as the 10th seed and will play in the opening round of the tournament.
The Pack came out determined to keep the Panthers from knocking down 3-point shots. They were successful in that regard but that just opened up easier bucket in the paint. Especially in this game, but essentially all season long, State switches on every ball screen, which inevitably leads to mismatches down low. And that’s an even bigger problem with DJ Burns is in the game, as he does not offer a ton of help in the post.
But offense was more of the problem in the first half than defense, as State scored just 29 points in the opening stanza, done in by a 1-8 performance from behind the arc. And to make matters worse, leading scorer DJ Horne suffered an injury late in the first half and missed the final 20 minutes, meaning the Pack would have to find offense elsewhere.
Jayden Taylor stepped up to score a game-high 28 points. Taylor moves more without the ball when Horne’s not in the game. There’s still not enough movement on offense but it’s at least better with just Taylor on the floor.
Meanwhile, Pitt got untracked from long distance in the second half, hitting 6-12 shots from behind the arc. State still switched on screens but the bigs seemed a step slow in getting out to shooters. And the Panthers were still scoring inside, too. For the game, the home team outscored the Pack, 40-28, in the paint.
It was another dismal outing for Casey Morsell, who was 3-9 from the floor and scored just eight points in 32 minutes. And in a game where the Pack lost by eight, Morsell had a -15 in his minutes on the floor. Coach Kevin Keatts’ insistence on playing Morsell big minutes every game out has been a big contributing factor in the team’s sub-par record.
And to compound the issue, playing Morsell that many minutes has limited the development of freshman Dennis Parker Jr. While he should be playing at the small forward position, Keatts has tried to play him at power forward and he’s simply not suited to be a banger down low, on either offense or defense. And he didn’t play a single minute in this contest.
In this era where players transfer when they feel slighted, State runs the risk of losing a four-star recruit, all so they can play Morsell 30-plus minutes a night while receiving terrible production. It’s just been a lose-lose situation all around.
No team who has to play five games in the tournament has ever won it all, which is the situation State finds itself in if it wants to make the post-season. At this point, playing multiple games is the only goal left. The talent is there to beat any team. The coaching/results has been enough to lose to any team in the conference.
Tuesday could be the last game with Keatts running the show. He’s been a good recruiter and his teams play hard for him. But his curious lineup decisions and his lack of creativity on both the offense and defensive end have been too much to overcome. He came to State from UNC-Wilmington, which was a team that played full-court defense. And while he didn’t have the players or the depth early in his tenure to do that on a regular basis, it’s been maddening to see the defense the team plays now, this year especially.
Florida State gave the Pack fits with aggressive full-court pressure. Keatts’ team this year acts like they’re going to press but all they do is have guys in the backcourt who play five feet off the ball. It does nothing to deter the opponent from either getting the ball across midcourt or setting up their offense. Lather, rinse repeat.
It’s time to see the team not rely so much on DJ Burns – who is fun to watch – and Morsell, who is not. The remaining question is if Keatts will be given another year to run the show in Raleigh.