He sat out last season. Now, NC State’s Dereon Seabron is proving how good he really is.
Before Dereon Seabron came to the postgame podium, he got a personal introduction from head coach Kevin Keatts.
Seabron’s game against Wake Forest, in which he had a career-high 14 points and nine rebounds, was like the redshirt freshman’s introduction to the rest of the ACC. Keatts wouldn’t call Seabron’s performance in the 80-62 win a breakout game, but it’s hard to argue that it wasn’t.
Making just his third start of the season, Seabron set the tone early with his energy. The 6-7, 180-pound guard from Norfolk, Virginia was expected to play a key role this year after sitting out the 2019-20 season.
His energy on fast breaks, with an ability to not only run the floor but handle the ball, was something Keatts has been expecting all season.
When Devon Daniels was healthy those minutes on the wing were hard to come by for Seabron. With Daniels done for the year after suffering a season-ending ACL injury, Seabron has seen his time increase (consecutive games of 30 minutes or more) and he has produced.
Seabron scored eight points in 30 minutes versus Pittsburgh on Wednesday and was tied as the leading scorer Saturday against Wake Forest. It might not be a breakout game to Keatts, but it was a good sign heading down the stretch ahead of the ACC tournament.
“We’ve asked him to continue to be aggressive,” Keatts said. “He’s different because he’s long, he’s athletic, he can handle the basketball. He can bring so much to our team when he plays with toughness.”
Part of that toughness, according to Keatts, came from Seabron sitting out last season due to academics and having to practice every day against Daniels, C.J. Bryce and Markell Johnson. Not playing, just watching, gave Seabron a chance to learn. Last year when the rest of his team was in Greensboro at the ACC tournament, Seabron was back in Raleigh working.
“I made sure I was in the gym,” Seabron said. “I kept working on my game, kept getting better. Just getting more reps up. Me being out there, getting more playing time, I just got more confident.”
Seabron gets his chances and proves himself
Before the Pittsburgh game, Seabron hadn’t scored in double figures. The most minutes he played was 22 against Campbell on Dec. 19. He even recorded one DNP (did not play) at North Carolina on Jan. 23. The game against the Panthers, the first without Daniels, thrust Seabron into the starting five. Guard Thomas Allen’s injury hurt meant Seabron, who Keatts once said could defend spots 1-4, got more touches. He made the most of them, finishing with 8 points on 4-6 shooting against the Panthers.
That carried over to his second start Saturday against Wake. Seabron had 10 points in the first half and came close to finishing the game with his first career double-double.
If he can step in for Daniels and pick up some of the scoring slack, N.C. State could make a late push for the postseason. That’s asking a lot of a player with just 18 career games under his belt. But his aggressive start to the Wake Forest game shows he might be ready for the spotlight.
“That’s one of the main things (staying aggressive),” Seabron said. “It was just a big confidence thing, me being out there, getting more playing time.”
With Virginia on the horizon and N.C. State needing all the wins possible to play beyond the ACC tournament. Keatts said he’s asked Seabron to play with more grit and toughness. He told the media that Seabron is the closest thing he’s got to Daniels, a big guard.
“One of the things we need, we need toughness from him,” Keatts said. “We need him to rebound, we need him to guard bigger guards. I think he’s starting to understand it.”
Sidetracked DUE TO COVID-19
Because Seabron sat out last year he didn’t travel with the team, particularly in March when State played well in the ACC tournament.
COVID-19 shut down and Seabron, like everyone else, went home. That meant Keatts and his staff didn’t get to work with him until he returned to N.C. State over the summer. While the team traveled and later when Seabron was home, Keatts depended on him to work out on his own.
“And you know how that goes,” Keatts said.
After finally being able to practice with the team over the summer and getting adjusted to college play, Keatts and the rest of the staff is starting to see Seabron become the player they expected. There were certain aspects of the game that Seabron needed to experience before he could blossom.
“The main thing was the game speed,” Seabron said. “I know I got to practice last year with the team, so this year getting to play I noticed that the game speed was a lot faster than it was in practice.”
Being able to step up, on the road, made it appear that things have slowed down.
“I just go out there and play my hardest,” Seabron said. “Do anything I can to help us get the W.”
This story was originally published February 20, 2021 at 6:38 PM with the headline "He sat out last season. Now, NC State’s Dereon Seabron is proving how good he really is.."
