Wolfpack Offensive Slump More Than Just Missed Shots
C.J. Bryce appeared to find the cure for his ailing shooting touch during the second half of Saturday's game against Louisville.
But even with a game-high 15-point contribution from its leading scorer, there is something still alarmingly amiss with NC State's offense.
With just 57 points in its loss to the sixth-ranked Cardinals at PNC Arena, the Wolfpack has now failed to reach the 60-point mark five times in its last seven games. That's a drastic change from the first 15 games, when it scored 70 or more in all but one.
And while State still ranks fifth in the ACC in field goal percentage at .443, it is shooting just .386 (161 of 417) overall and .255 from 3-point range (.255) during that same seven-game stretch.
The standard answer among members of the Wolfpack to explain the recent downward trend is that "the shots just aren't falling." But clearly there's more to the collective slump than just missed shots.
"Basketball is not that complicated," coach Kevin Keatts said Saturday. "I've got to figure out how to get my best players playing better offensively. And they're not right now. It could be a combination of a lot of things -- maybe overthinking, some of those guys are banged up and it could be just the chemistry of playing together."
There's something to be said for the chemistry issue.
Saturday's game marked only the third time this season that all nine of the Wolfpack's eligible scholarship players were healthy and available against an ACC opponent. Six of those players -- Markell Johnson, D.J. Funderburk, C.J. Bryce, Manny Bates, Pat Andree and Danny Dixon -- have missed at least one game because of injury or suspension.
Not only have the lineup fluctuations made it difficult for everyone to practice together, it has also changed the way State plays in its games.
Instead of playing its familiar up-tempo, full-court style in which defense creates offense, the short bench has forced Keatts to slow things down and go to more of a halfcourt game.
That's led to fewer layups and open 3-pointers in transition than during the nonconference schedule and more contested jumpers. And the Wolfpack hasn't exactly excelled when it comes to running offensive sets.
"We're having a hard time and I think the reason we're having a hard time is because I haven't had a lot of practice time with all our guys out there together," Keatts said. "One of the frustrating things for me as a guy who the majority of my career we've scored points in the 70s and 80s. Right now we've had several games that we've been in the 60s. ... I want to be able to score the basketball a little more than we've been doing in the last few games."
The question is how?
Senior point guard Johnson said he plans to "sit down in the locker room and have a good talk with my guys" on Monday, before the team begins its preparations for its next game, Wednesday at Miami.
"We're just not hitting shots right now," Johnson said. "It's on us to get back in the lab and get back on the right track."
As ready as Johnson and his teammates are to get back onto the practice court and work out their shooting issues, Keatts thinks the opposite approach might be the better way to go.
"We're banged up," Keatts said. "We've just got to figure out in the next few days just how to get everybody just a little healthier and a little more on the same page so we can score some points offensively.
"It may be as simple as we're off (on Sunday). There's a chance I may have to take two days off just to get then so rest because right now, the most important thing for us and the program is rest over putting it on the floor."
Keatts is hoping the time away from the court will like players like Pat Andree and Braxton Beverly recover from nagging injuries while allowing others to step back and stop trying too hard as they look to regain their confidence.
The good news is that Bryce finally seems to have snapped out of his funk, which saw him go two straight games without scoring while missing 13 straight shots. He scored 13 of his team-leading 15 points in the second half against Louisville and led a comeback that trimmed a 17-point deficit down to just four before running out of steam.
Bryce's recent struggles have been by far the most publicized. But he's hardly the only Wolfpack player currently having trouble putting the ball in the basket.
Andree, who was shooting 47 percent from the 3-point line over the first 11 games has gone just 5 of 31 since. Johnson, a career 39-percent 3-point shooter, has made only 25 percent of his long-range shots this season. Beverly, battling a bad back, has made just 8 of his last 27 treys while Daniels is 5 of his last 23.
That inconsistency throughout the lineup as led to at least one extended scoring drought every game.
"It's a marathon," Bryce said. "We're going to have stretches. We had a three-game win stretch and now we're on a three-game losing stretch and we know we're looking forward to the grind. It's a grind. I actually learned something when you're getting better and your productivity is going up it's never straight up, it's gonna be up and down. That's what's going on with this team right now. We're still getting better everyday.
"It's just the details down the stretch.. We've got to get better and we will get better. So we're not worried. We've just got to build off this loss."
