Chas Kelley's Breakout Game Powered BC
The good thing about having a really young team in college basketball is that oftentimes, they don’t know what they don’t know.
Chas Kelley III has been relatively quiet during his freshman year, playing a few minutes each game but never really having a huge impact on any outcomes. Until Wednesday night.
Jaeden Zackery went down with an injury on the road against Virginia Tech and with DeMarr Langford Jr. still out, Kelley was called upon to play 31 minutes in an 82-76 win over the Hokies. Kelley III had 17 points, including four three pointers and four assists. Perhaps most importantly, Kelley had two free throws in the final seconds of the game to finish things off and halt a potentially monumental comeback from VT.
Kelley was thrown into the deep end and told to swim on Wednesday and not only did he swim, he showed he has the capability of pulling some guys along with him to help keep the Eagles afloat.
“Honestly, our coach always talks about hunting,” Kelley III said. “On the road, he preaches we need to be at least 6-8 points better…we’ve just got to lock in and know we’re going to look out for ourselves and just go hunt. Nothing that has to do with scoring really, we’re going to play defense and rebound to the best of our ability.”
Defensively, the Eagles embarrassed V-Tech, holding them to 10-32 from beyond the arc.
How?
“We were a unit,” added Kelley. “Credit those guys, they have a lot of guys that like to hunt shots, which can make a team very dangerous. Our communication on the defensive end was really big for the win. Take away the three-ball. They’re great three point shooters, at the top of the conference. Taking away the three ball, force them to put the ball on the ground and make decisions…that was our goal for tonight.”
As far as the two free throws to hero finish off the game, that could’ve been an outrageously stressful spot for a freshman that shot just one free throw all year prior to that moment, but Kelley III handled it as well as you can hope as a BC fan, coach or teammate.
“Just envision myself in practice,” Kelley III said of his mindset stepping to the line to ice the game. “I always try to tell myself hey it’s cool, it’s just two free throws, you’re at the line by yourself. Let’s knock these two down and let’s go home and win the game.”
As BC continues to learn how to win consistently with another big test against No. 22 NC State looming at home on Saturday, the Eagles now know that at least one of their young guys is more than ready for a bigger workload and some big situations.
The funny thing is, head coach Earl Grant already knew that, it was just a matter of Kelley III finally getting enough minutes to show what he’s truly capable of.
“He’s a point guard and you get a lot of repetitions in practice, he’s very successful in practice, his team wins a lot (scrimmaging),” said Grant. “The past three or four games he’s been playing 13 or 14 minutes. Never had to play 30 minutes, but he’s played 13 or 14 meaningful minutes in the last four games. Every night he’s at least getting on the floor, getting some experience. So, I think he was prepared for this moment to step up and help his team. I never thought it’d be 30 minutes, but I thought he’d play 15-20 minutes tonight, even if Jaeden Zackery was healthy.”