Keatts Hopes Wolfpack is In The Zone At Syracuse
The NC State basketball team got a sneak preview of what to expect in tonight's key ACC matchup at Syracuse during its most recent outing at Miami last Wednesday.
But even though the Hurricanes played primarily a 2-3 zone for most of that game, allowing the Wolfpack to get in some extra work on attacking it, coach Kevin Keatts said it still didn't come close to replicating the challenge his team will face against the Orange's signature defense.
"It will be easily the best zone we would have played against all season," Keatts said Monday on the ACC's weekly coaches teleconference. "They're good at it. They understand it. They do a great job of sprinting back in transition, getting to spots. They challenge you at the rim. You have to be able to make some shots.
"It will be a little bit more of a challenge than everybody else. We have played against a bunch of teams that play zone, especially Miami the last game, but this is a different zone because they present a lot of challenges with it."
As difficult as it might be in attacking Syracuse's zone, State (15-8, 6-6 ACC) has actually fared well against it during Keatts' two previous seasons with the program.
The Wolfpack has won both, including a 74-70 triumph in its most recent visit to the Carrier Dome in 2018, while shooting a combined 36 of 57 (63.2 percent) on two-point field goal attempts.
The key to State's success in those games has been point guard Markell Johnson's ability to penetrate into the zone to either take or set up higher percentage shots rather than trying to shoot over it with an abundance of 3-point jumpers.
The Wolfpack has also taken advantage of the dead spot in the middle of a zone by positioning a player there who's capable of hitting the mid-range jumpers left open by the frequent shifting of the defense.
In prevoious seasons, Torin Dorn has done most of the damage. Wednesday at Miami, C.J. Bryce scored the majority of his game-high 22 points from that same spot.
In addition to Bryce, Keatts said that Johnson and D.J. Funderburk -- assuming he's available after suffering an injury against the Hurricanes -- will also take their turns at being the designated zone buster.
"C.J. Bryce is probably our best guy in the middle because he can make that mid-range shot, but Markell does a tremendous job because he can get the ball and he can facilitate to some of the other players," Keatts said. "It's tough. They do a good job, they don’t rush you in the middle. So guys who play that middle of the zone, you have to be able to make shots and also make plays for others.
"It's tough because they swallow you up. They do a good job once that ball gets into the middle of fanning out and making sure they take away all the other options. We have to have some guys that can finish plays inside the middle of that zone."
As important as the Miami game was in helping State get back on the winning track after three straight losses and preparing for tonight's game, Keatts said that the best preparation was actually no preparation at all.
"We were able to take off a couple days and try to get some guys fresh," he said. "Hopefully we can build on that. Our biggest thing this week was obviously knowing that we had to prepare for Syracuse. But we needed a couple days off just to kind of get everybody a little bit more fresh going into the game."
