DALLAS – DJ Burns Jr. had a rare moment when the lights and cameras were not present Saturday afternoon inside the America Airlines Center. Reporters asked the NC State center how he preferred to be defended: with single coverage or with two teams?
“I’d rather win,” Burns said. “So however you come at me, I’ll do whatever it takes to win. I don’t care if that’s passing or scoring. I don’t care if I don’t get any keys. “It matters to me that we win, because when we win, everyone gets attention.”
Once the only recorder on the table in front of him was turned off, Burns was asked again: What are you doing? In fact prefer?
“I mean s—,” Burns said. “Nobody knew my name until we started winning, even with all those stats.” He paused and then Burns, the rapper, presented his way of summing up this incredible, inexplicable race in North Carolina: “Nobody cares about a loser. That’s why I decided to be a winner.”
What Burns wants, Burns gets.
On Sunday afternoon, Duke went one-on-one with the nation’s new favorite player, and it turned out to be the wrong decision. Burns cooked the Blue Devils for 29 points (21 of them after halftime) in a 76-64 victory that also gave the United States what it wants: the dancing bear against the Purdue juggernaut in the Final Four.
The No. 11 Wolfpack, winners of nine straight, have now won more games in three weeks than they did from the time the calendar flipped to 2024 until the end of the regular season. Nobody saw any of this coming, if they’re honest. “God, no,” said her mother, Takela, as she watched her son celebrate on stage. “I couldn’t have imagined it.”
His son and his well-traveled teammates, no matter what happens from here, will always be a part of the March tradition. His career is more improbable than anything else, including the 1983 championship run of the Wolfpack, which was a preseason ranked team and at least had a winning record in ACC play. This one had to win five games in five days in the ACC tournament. East was trailing at halftime of the first round of the ACC tournament in Louisville. Louisville! – a team whose coach was fired right as the buzzer rang. And none of this would have been possible if Virginia’s Isaac McKneely hadn’t failed on a one-on-one with 5.3 seconds left in the ACC standings, giving Michael O’Connell the chance to force overtime with a banked 25 feet. -on 3 when the bell rings.
Thank basketball heaven, because it gave us Burns, who most of the basketball viewing universe didn’t know until the Wolfpack decided to become this generation’s Danny Manning and The Miracles. (It’s time to think of a nickname for this group.)
GO DEEPER
‘He’s like a polar bear and a ballerina’: The incomparable DJ Burns is powering NC State
The SparkNotes version of how the inconceivable happened: Burns decided to start dominating, the Wolfpack started defending, and that was it. A monster unleashed.
Tactically, NC State’s coaches opted before the ACC tournament to make a small adjustment to their defense. His starting point would be closer to the 3-point line and not as spread out, which meant opposing guards didn’t have as long a lane to attack Burns, who always sinks back into drop coverage.
The Wolfpack also became very good at switching Burns to allow him to stay in the paint. That’s a question of chemistry, more than anything. And it’s no surprise it took some time considering the Wolfpack brought in eight new players (seven transfers, one freshman) last offseason. The idea was to build around Burns, who was an unconventional fit two years ago when the Wolfpack recruited him as a graduate transfer from Winthrop.
Burns began his career at Tennessee and left after redshirting as a freshman, landing at Winthrop, where he was the Big South Player of the Year in his third season, averaging 15 points and shooting 62.6 percent. from the field while playing just 20.9 minutes per game. . He was one of the most efficient scorers in the transfer portal, but his size limited him to playing extended minutes. The Wolfpack decided to take a risk.
“We just didn’t feel like we could pass up a guy who could give us a low-post presence,” assistant coach Kareem Richardson said. “We knew he wasn’t going to be a regular big man for coach (Kevin) Keatts. “It wasn’t going to be those hoop runs, or dunks outside the ball screen, but we have to admit that the coach changed his style.”
The original plan a year ago was to bring Burns off the bench as a microwave scorer, a change when stars Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner went to the bench. It was an NBA-type approach, with Burns leading the second unit.
Dusan Mahorcic, who had transferred from Utah, was the starting center. But Mahorcic dislocated his right patella tendon 10 games into the season, and Burns was forced to start. He started the next five games, then came off the bench for three, then returned to the starting lineup for the rest of the year. In a game at Wake Forest in late January, the Wolfpack decided to play through him; He scored 31 points on 26 shots in a 79-77 victory that was a preview of what was to come this season.
Keatts built the roster around Burns and former Virginia end Casey Morsell, with the vision that Burns would be the centerpiece of the offense. He got off to a good start but was inconsistent in January, and after a January. 27 at Syracuse when he scored 10 points on 14 shots and came off the bench that night, Richardson led what was essentially an intervention, working to get Burns in shape and psyched up.
While the Wolfpack lost its final four regular-season games, and Burns struggled in three of them (a goose egg and a combined 15 points in two others), he had his most dominant performance of the season in a home loss to Duke when the The Blue Devils never felt a double team and scored 27 points.
Since the ACC tournament began, he has scored in double figures in every game except the Sweet 16, when Marquette double-teamed him and he dished out a career-high seven assists. The difference?
“I just decided I don’t care about being overwhelmed,” Burns said, “and I’m just going to make things happen.”
The attention he attracted also began to help his peers get going. O’Connell, who averaged 4.4 points during the regular season, has averaged 10.2 during this nine-game winning streak. Mohammed Diarra, who scored in double figures in consecutive games only once in the regular season, scored in double figures in five of the six games leading up to Sunday and has emerged as an elite rim protector. And Burns’ promotion hasn’t taken anything away from DJ Horne, the team’s leading scorer.
“DJ Burns’ energy just runs through our team,” Keatts said.
DJ Burns Jr. and his teammates celebrate after earning a spot in the Final Four. (Tim Heitman/USA Today)
The Wolfpack also stopped making the kind of careless mistakes that lead to losses. They played well this season when they minimized turnovers and got good shots. During the four-game losing streak that led to the postseason, the coaches remained optimistic because the offense was improving and the effort was there. They had simply fought to get themselves arrested.
That’s why at halftime Sunday, when Duke led 27-21, everyone on the Wolfpack side was optimistic. They only turned the ball over twice, they got the shots they wanted and Burns played only eight minutes because he committed two fouls. Before the coaches entered the locker room, they could hear the players inside saying, “We’re fine. “We are going to win this game.”
“I don’t think there was a second where we thought we were going to lose the game,” Burns said. “Even the energy that the coach came in with at halftime was completely different than what we expected.”
What was that?
“He was just happy. “We were losing the game and they didn’t tell us.”
Message from Keatts: “They are playing good defense. “Go out there and say that again, we’re going to win this game.”
Burns also realized that Duke was going to stick to the game plan of not doubling him: “Honestly, that’s a big mistake,” he said. “We decided to take advantage.”
The Wolfpack opened the second half with a touch at the mid-post for Burns, who backed up Kyle Filipowski and felt Filipowski cheat on his right shoulder, so he turned the other direction to set up the ball. A few minutes later, he got the ball in the same place, Filipowski stayed right behind him and got his left hook. Well, actually it’s not so much a hook as it is a high flip.
Time and time again, he would back Filipowski or Ryan Young and hit one of his unorthodox shots, putting his shoulder on their chest and lifting the ball out of their reach, or spinning when they tried to body it up and pirouetting in space.
“His touch is the best I’ve ever had,” Richardson said. “It never goes in cleanly. It just bounces, bounces, bounces and then goes in. “I’ve been in college basketball for over 25 years and I’ve never seen one like him.”
On the other end, Duke tried to involve Burns in as many on-ball screens and off-ball screen actions as possible. But he backfired because he threw the Blue Devils out of their rhythm and the Wolfpack shrank the floor enough that they couldn’t run around Burns like they expected.
After Burns spun the baseline around Mark Mitchell and then floated a floater over Sean Stewart with 4:19 left, he nearly outscored Duke himself in the second half. They were Duke 17, Burns 15. And Wolfpack led by 14.
During the final minutes of the game, Burns played to the crowd, jumping onto the bench every time Keatts replaced him on defense and chest-pounding his teammates, even knocking poor junior guard Breon Pass over his chair.
Afterward, he danced on stage as NC State faithfully sang the team’s new rallying cry: “Why not us?” – And she threw her triple-XL Southern Region championship jersey at her cousin. His parents watched from afar, filming him cutting the net and pinching that this was really happening.
“This is one of the proudest moments of my life,” said his father, Dwight. “Everything he’s been through, his journey, for this moment to come today, that’s the pinnacle. Let me rephrase that, because it’s not the pinnacle. There is more to come.”
Burns previewed and reviewed before leaving the arena, performing in front of reporters and essentially performing his comedy routine.
On his arsenal of moves: “We’re not going to talk about that. “We are not going to give away all the sauce.”
On when all of this will happen: “What time is it? (It was 7:30 pm CT.) From 12 to 2 pm Then I’ll wake up and we’ll be at the gym in the morning.”
On why he didn’t wear the championship jersey like everyone else: “I just didn’t want it to get dirty before I could wear it tomorrow.”
Then Keatts appeared, joining the media group.
Kevin Keatts, NC State basketball, a couple of questions. How do you feel about your coach throwing the ball at you 19 times in 28 minutes?
“I hope we keep that mentality next week,” Burns said, flashing his toothy smile.
As for what Purdue star Zach Edey has in store for him in the next game?
“A good game. “I won’t talk too much about it.”
We will be happy to wait. Because we all know that, eventually, he will have something to say.
(Top photo: Lance King/Getty Images)
