Swipe Life: Why Keatts, NC State are interested in grad transfer Ehab Amin

As discussed yesterday with regard to Delaware transfer Ryan Daly, NC State is in the market to add another player. According to ESPN’s Jeff Goodman, there’s a second name to consider: Ehab Amin of Texas A&M Corpus Christi.

NC State isn’t the only major program that’s pursuing Amin, who last played in the 2016-17 season; the 6-foot-4 guard sat out last season with a hip injury. He is eligible to play in 2018-19.

Let’s take a quick look at why Kevin Keatts would be interested Ehab Amin.

 

New Steal

The Southland Conference may not be the highest level of basketball in Division I; however, one number of Amin’s jumps right off the page: steal rate.

According to KenPom, Amin stole the ball from opponents of 5.8 percent of the team’s defensive possessions. This number ranked second nationally. The prior season (2015-16), Amin was third in the nation with a steal rate of 5.4 percent.

In both his sophomore and junior seasons, Amin averaged four steals per 40 minutes. The native of Alexandria, Egypt forced a turnover on 12.5 percent of the spot-up possessions he defended in the 2016-17 season, per Synergy Sports.

He is capable of turning those steals into points, too. According to Synergy, Amin scored 1.09 points per possession (59.1 eFG%) in transition during the 2016-17 season. In general, Amin is good at finishing around the basket — 1.17 points per possession, 56.5 percent shooting.

 

Back in Raleigh

All of this would appeal to Keatts, and his pressure-packed full-court switchy defense. NC State finished outside the top 100 in terms of adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom; the Pack had issues this season, especially defending the rim.

But NC State ranked 52nd nationally in steal rate: 10.2 percent. The Pack also finished inside the top 60 in opponent turnover rate.

An addition like Ehab Amin — someone that can apply ball pressure and force turnovers — could be a serious boon for Keatts and NC State’s defense.

 

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