Kevin Keatts shares updates on Dusan Mahorcic, Jack Clark and Isaiah Miranda
NC State men’s basketball head coach Kevin Keatts is past the halfway mark of the 2022-23 regular season, and he has the program in NCAA Tournament position as it launches into the rest of the ACC schedule. In an interview with 99.9 The Fan’s Joe Ovies and Joe Giglio, Keatts provided a few updates on a few key players for the Pack.
Dusan Mahorcic has been sidelined since a Dec. 6 knee injury. The graduate transfer big man arrived in Raleigh for his final season of collegiate basketball after a stint at Utah and, based on everything Keatts has said over the past week, he is determined to return to the court at some point this year.
Keatts complemented Mahorcic’s work ethic during the ACC virtual teleconference earlier this week and did so again Wednesday.
“If it was up to him, he would have never put a brace on,” Keatts said. “He is the ultimate warrior. He has spent probably eight-to-nine hours a day in a training room. Obviously, classes just started back, so that will change.”
NC State is set to host Miami, the second-place team in the ACC, at home Saturday with a chance to extend its conference winning streak to three games. The Wolfpack head coach confirmed that Mahorcic will not play.
“It’s funny, when he went down, he targeted the Miami game to be back, this is what he said,” Keatts said. “Now, of course, he’s not a doctor or a trainer, but I think he’s progressing. He won’t be ready for the Miami game. I don’t know when he will play. I’m hoping in the next two or three weeks, but that’s just pure speculation on on my part and here’s why— he had the same, similar injury last year, it took less time. But, the more you injure the same part, it takes a little bit longer to come back.”
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While Mahorcic’s injury seems to be trending in a positive direction, there are still some significant question marks surrounding graduate transfer forward Jack Clark’s availability going forward. Clark left the Clemson game shaken up and has not played since. Keatts and the rest of the Wolfpack staff are hoping to gain clarity on the injury.
“I would say, Jack, it’s tough because we’re going back trying to figure out if it’s more groin, or could it be something to do with his hernia?” Keatts said. “He slipped a little bit, and we don’t know when he’s coming back and I don’t even want to put a timetable out there for him.”
Keatts mentioned that he believes hernia and hamstring injuries are the most difficult to come back from.
Isaiah Miranda arrived at NC State as a highly-touted mid-year enrollee. The Wolfpack head coach confirmed that the freshman big man might redshirt as the former four-star recruit prepares himself for basketball at the Division-I level.
“He’s banged up,” Keatts said. “There is a chance that Isaiah Miranda could be a redshirt.”
Keatts emphasized that the timing of Miranda’s arrival occurring close to Mahorcic was a coincidence. The freshman was already planning on enrolling and just had not publicly announced the decision yet. While he did not completely close the door on Miranda playing this season, he did elaborate on his expectations for the elite recruit.
“I don’t know if it’s realistic for us to think that he’s going to come in and be an impact guy,” Keatts said. “Could he help? Possibly. We haven’t made the decision, but it is a possibility that he could redshirt.”
