Yurtseven Won't Travel To Italy
NC State sophomore center Omer Yurtseven will not play with the Wolfpack in its upcoming trip to Italy in August.
Kevin Keatts met with the media Wednesday and stated that barring a call-up to the Turkish senior team Yurtseven’s travel schedule with the Turkey under-20 squad would be the extent of his basketball work over the summer.
“I think it's important, with the whole European trip,” Keatts said. “Obviously Omer playing for his national team, I felt that was one of the most important things. I wanted him to have a chance to go back and play with his team and get his confidence back to a high level. He was playing at a high level because his confidence was there.
“I think playing on the national team, he's done a tremendous job. I think he's right at 13 points, 13 rebounds, and almost two and a half blocks a game. I think that's going to help him more than obviously being with us right now.
“So he won't play for us in Italy. There's a chance that he may be in Italy at the same time, if he plays for the senior national team.”
Yurtseven’s absence will leave Keatts with two big men, seniors Abdul-Malik Abu and Lennard Freeman, for the trip abroad. Although the frontcourt will be then, the first-year head coach likes the idea of two bigger players in the lineup at a time and anticipates the duo to play together in Italy.
“I like the fact of playing big right now,” Keatts said. “We'll have the option obviously of playing a little small ball if we need to but...I would say probably in Italy I could imagine playing Malik and Lennard together to start the game. Then where I'm going to look at the Italy guys is, we're scheduled to play three with the possibility of four games, and there'll be different combinations that I'll play.”
Although the trip is still a couple of weeks away, Keatts expects a variety of looks from his team.
“Some games, some guys won't play,” Keatts said. “The transfers, even though they're not eligible to play next year, they're eligible to play in Italy. So there is a chance that one of those games I may play those guys, but I'm going to look for a different combination, different mixtures, and see who plays well together.”
Stay tuned to Inside Pack Sports for more on NC State basketball as the Wolfpack prepares to travel to Italy!