RALEIGH, N.C. (WNCN) – It’s been almost a month since North Carolina State last won a basketball game. The Wolfpack is riding a four-game losing skid and just last week came off a 10-day pause in play.
The shutdown couldn’t have come at a worse time.
“Pauses hurt,” said head coach Kevin Keatts. “It’s no excuse and every coach in the country is going to go through this.
“Your team is just not the same team when you don’t have a chance to practice as much as you can. But, you have to live with that. You have to get better and live with it and try to figure it out.”
For a team that depends on two freshmen guards, figuring it out can take some time. This is not the Atlantic Coast Conference they expected to be playing in.
“You’re playing in an empty gym like it’s pick-up on a Saturday morning,” Braxton Beverly explained. “It’s different. It’s tough and aggravating and frustrating. But, the best thing we can tell them (freshmen players) and for us, too, is to just stay the course.”
But, at some point, a sense of urgency needs to kick in, and the Pack feels that time is now. N.C. State has 11 regular season games remaining. The clock is ticking.
“This is the point of the season where we really have to focus on the now,” said Devon Daniels. “We can’t just keep saying, ‘OK, next game we’re going to do this, do that.’ No. We’ve got to start making changes now. We don’t want to be a team that gets used to losing.”
N.C. State can end that four-game losing slide on Wednesday when it hosts Wake Forest. Game time is set for 8 p.m. at PNC Arena.