What happened to NC State vs Syracuse last night in men’s basketball?

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For the ones who get it done. Corey Smith at Corey R. Smith on Twitter pack pride. How you doing, man?

I appreciate your time. I wish we were talking about, you know, wolf back after a win. What's your general takeaway from what we saw last night? Yeah, I'm doing well. I was joking with Victoria about this beforehand. I was like, man, you know, I haven't been on in a while, but I kind of understand. Nobody really wants to talk about it to stay here lately. Come on. Come on. We just like to give you guys a rest. Yeah, exactly.

Exactly. No, uh, you know, in all honesty, it was a, you know, a frustrating loss in multiple senses because of the fact that you call all the way back and the way that it ended not being able to hit shots at the end of the game there. And again, like you were just pointing out the DJ Burns technical foul of the playground foul that led to multiple, you know, free throws being able to be taken. You know, it's a frustrating night for NC State. It's also frustrating because of the way you play defense in the first half, not being able to stop Chris Bell. He burns you for 26 points, 24 of which came on 83 pointers.

Only about two of which you probably defended correctly. So that you know that was on the scouting report. Kevin, she said they were able to make an adjustment at halftime.

But you know, it's a little bit different. Half time. But yeah, that's, you know, all those things lead to ultimately what is a Q3 loss for NC State on a night where they picked up a Q1 win. But the Q3 loss is going to look that much worse for NC State. Wake Forest became a quad one win.

By the way, I know you and I weren't going to talk about this, but it's proof that the net rating is the dumbest formula ever. Because if you Wake Forest jumped 14 points, 14 spots in the net by beating a team. That is, I would say has a 20% chance of being an NCAA tournament at large team pit. And they somehow at home. Yeah, but it has nothing to do with the margin of victory, right? That's what we learned. They won by 30 something. And all of a sudden, like I heard this morning that wakes 26 in the net.

I'm like, how the heck did that happen? Anyway, the the net is a completely separate conversation. Can I I want to ask you a big picture because I've been asked about this and my my absolute honest opinion is that I haven't heard and felt much groundswell of being anti Kevin Keats. So is there something I mean, there's always that no matter how successful a coaches.

There are always people who are crazy, but is there a sense that Kevin Keats is losing support? I guess I don't feel it. Yeah, I mean within the fan. I was going to say within the fan base.

You can certainly feel that. I mean, you know, obviously if you if you log on a social media, you're going to see swings one way or the other. It's mostly been, you know, negative here lately, and the sense that I get is the fact that you know, the fan base is kind of, you know, over this and I don't even know.

I don't even know if there's any way to come back from it unless you go four and one down the stretch or you go five. Yeah, there is a lot of people that came in and said, Hey, we need to get to the round of 32 and try to make the assembly tournament. I mean, the expectations coming into this year were that NC State needed to make the NCAA tournament and the expectations for you know, a lot of NC State fans were Hey, we need to get that one wind at least one wing get to the round of 32 something Kevin Keith hasn't been able to accomplish at this point.

You know, whether fair or unfair. That was the expectation coming into this year with the roster more cell, Jayden Taylor, uh, and only one of those guys has really consistently lived up to those expectations this year. I mean, you know, so, you know, some of it is on the players and their struggle. Uh, and you know, a lot of it is, is put on the shoulders of Kevin Keith cause he's the head coach.

So I don't know. I mean, there, there seems like there is still a way back from this potentially, but that, you know, comes with a lot of success that comes with beating quality teams. And, and right now that's why the empty state fan bases is so down on Kevin. Keith is because when those big moments have happened, the team hasn't typically stepped up to the plate for those Corey Smith pack pride is joining us here on the Adam Gold show at Corey R. Smith on Twitter. Um, yeah, like I always feel that from fans, but I, for, for some reason it feels very different to me this year about, about Keith. And here's the thing. And while I would not have called a timeout and there is a, cause I do think that a lot of these things are tied to DJ burns and, and I don't think there should be an obligation, uh, to use him as much as they are using him, um, because of NIL, I do know he came back and there's obviously, uh, he had a very good year last year, kind of surprisingly good year last year.

And he's a fun personality and all of that translated into NIL dollars, but there shouldn't be an obligation to play him. Um, and I know Kevin Keats is trying to kind of do offense, defense substitutions, but one thing I noticed was that Syracuse did not call a timeout with about 35 seconds left and let Kadir Copeland work from the right wing. And ultimately they set a screen with DJ burns man and burns was forced to come over and help defense. And it was an easy call for a foul, put Copeland at the line who made two free throws. And it was because they didn't call a timeout that burns was stuck on the court. If Syracuse had called a timeout, I'm going to guess that Kevin Keats would have taken burns off the floor.

Right? So he's such a liability defensively. I wouldn't have called a timeout if I were, uh, if I were Keats, although they, they got a good play. I don't, I don't know why, uh, O'Connell waited so long to pass the ball to DJ or the good DJ without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running, everything would suddenly stop hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants.

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Count on real time product availability and fast delivery call click Grainger.com or just stop by Grainger for the ones who get it done. Yeah. I mean, that was, you know, that, that was exactly what they did to get Clemson. Uh, so, you know, you, you have evidence to say, Hey, maybe you just let them, uh, free flow attack and you know, you got 14 seconds left to see what you get. Uh, but you know, there didn't seem to be that sense of urgency getting back up to court. There didn't seem to be, you know, a drive to, Hey, we're, we're going to go and go, you know, get a quick two and, and then, you know, try to not foul on the next possession. It was, Hey, we're going to set up for this last possession and, uh, you know, to, to keep his credit. I mean, you know, I know a lot of people are critical on him.

You get on Twitter X, whatever, right. Very critical of him, uh, not being able to draw plays. He draws up a play in an elevator screen that gives a DJ horn the opportunity at an outside three, uh, with about nine seconds left to go off of that pass from Michael O'Connell. Uh, and if he doesn't get it to dish it inside the DJ burns, Syracuse also has these things called scholarship players. Um, and they just so happened to defend DJ horn very well, once you got the ball in his hands and, you know, and collapse on DJ burns.

Cause they assume either one of those guys are going to be the two they're going to try to hit the last shot. So it went all out. Uh, and it, you know, it led to NC state not being able to get the final shot there. And, uh, you know, I mean, for better or worse, uh, you know, you would have loved to see maybe a foul call there. It seemed like it could have been on DJ horn at the end.

Uh, but it could have been, yeah. But if we're, I mean, if we're being quite honest with ourselves, like we're talking about end of game moments, we're talking about all this down the stretch. None of this happens if NC state plays defense in the first half, uh, and it's not a 55 to 40 game at halftime and they're clawing back and, and not able to hit shots down the stretch.

It's just, there was a lot of things that went wrong for NC state. And I just, I still go back to, you know, the first half defense, allowing the team to shoot 69%, uh, 74% from three point range, uh, in the first half, you're, you're not going to win games that way. Kevin even said it after the game was like, um, I don't, I don't know why we didn't guard him.

Uh, but it, on the scouting report, Chris bell has to be at the top of it. Hey, don't let number four shoot threes because he was not only their best in terms of percentage, but he, he shoots more than six a game. So he's their most frequent three point shooter.

He's the guy you can't leave. He, I can't even tell you how many times, well, you know, you were, you watched the game too, probably a lot more closely than I did. Uh, so he was open all first half. Clearly they got to him in the second half because he wasn't as open. It was, and then it was the Judah mint show, uh, in the second half. And he was dynamite. He's a great player too. Uh, you're right. Syracuse does have a scholarship players. Uh, but man, it's, uh, it's, this is a roller coaster.

I don't want to be on. Yeah. The one thing I was going to say is Keith's actually did make a strong second half adjustment, having, uh, actually put mode Yara, uh, you know, the four, um, out there and, and had him defend bell. And then Dennis Parker went, Dennis Parker Jr. Got some minutes last night. He put him on, on bell as well.

Um, and both those guys, very good defenders. Uh, it did lead to some drives inside Judah men, uh, you know, and they, they kind of relied on the inside shot. They only took two, three pointers in the entire second half because NC state took that shot away for them. Uh, but again, you know, some of it is on coaching and not doing it earlier in the first half, not trying something else out because a man, whatever you were doing early on just clearly was not working on the defensive end against Chris bell. And, you know, again, you know, it led to some other guys being able to create at the end of the game. Uh, but man, you know, if they, if they had limited what he did and at least went in, you know, the first half with a, maybe being five points down seven points out as opposed to 15 points down, uh, it's a different ball game there at the end of the game. Yeah. And, and, and yet I got to give them credit and I give Kevin Keith's credit for this too, is that this is not the first time this year they fought back and they had the lead.

All right. They had, they had the lead. What was it? 82 81 on a couple of Ben Middlebrooks free throws with a five and a half or was it no, no three 21 left. They took the lead miraculously, even after the five point possession for Syracuse state fought back again and took the lead.

We've seen that from them this year. So there is a, there is a tenacity about him that I appreciate. Uh, but yeah, you gotta be better.

Uh, gotta be better earlier in games. Corey Smith pack pride, uh, at Corey R Smith on Twitter. I thank you very much for your time, man. Appreciate it. And we'll talk very soon. More, uh, more frequently. Uh, now that you, you pointed out, uh, my, uh, my problem now, well, uh, you know, spring football will be starting up soon. Uh, and, uh, you know, there, there'll be plenty of talk at here probably at the end of the season, depending on what NC state does, because obviously they still have two games left against Duke and Carolina. So, uh, those are ones that, you know, the fan base will get up for, and I'm sure if they win those, either one of those, uh, you're talking about a different, uh, resume for NC state. So as, as down as things are right now, there's still a chance to turn things around.

You just have to start doing it. That's the thing. If they win either of those games, I will be mad. I'm like, not, not mad that they won the games. I'll be mad retroactively at some of the losses.

It will exactly, it will make, it will make me mad. Corey Smith. I appreciate your time, man. Thanks Adam. Have a good one. You got it. Without the ones like you who work tirelessly to keep things running, everything would suddenly stop hospitals, factories, schools, and power plants.

They all depend on you. No matter the weather emergency or time of day, you're the ones who get it done. At Grainger, we're here for you with professional grade industrial supplies. Count on real time product availability and fast delivery. Call clickgrainger.com or just stop by. Grainger, for the ones who get it done.