How Kai Crutchfield’s brother helped her become NC State’s top defender
Paige Bueckers is one of the best college basketball players in the nation.
She’s the type of player N.C. State’s Kai Crutchfield tends to guard in big games, and the Wolfpack’s graduate guard and best perimeter defender will more than likely get her shot at guarding Bueckers when the Pack takes on the Huskies on Monday in Bridgeport Regional final, with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
Bueckers averaged 20 points per game last year and won nearly every individual award in college basketball. Her numbers are down a bit this year — Bueckers missed 19 games with a knee injury — but she’s been playing well in the NCAA tournament.
But Crutchfield is ready, thanks in large part to ... her younger brother?
Crutchfield has 39 steals this season, including four big ones during the Wolfpack’s 66-63 win over Notre Dame on Saturday. Throughout the season, she’s gotten her hands on more passes. Watching Crutchfield play defense off the ball is similar to a defensive back playing zone coverage in football — she knows exactly when to make a play, perfecting anticipating when to break on the ball.
Family matters
That’s where her brother, Brandon, comes in. And the sophomore at Heritage High School in Raleigh is quick to take credit.
A defensive back for the Heritage Huskies, Brandon had two interceptions as a full-time starter on the varsity team last season. And while he wants to take credit for his big sister’s defensive back skills, at least some of that goes to their father, Buddy.
Buddy played DB at North Carolina Central before spending two seasons in the NFL. He also served as the defensive coordinator for Shaw University for a while. He’s spent time passing his football knowledge down to Brandon and other football players in the area.
Then Kai showed up this summer.
“We have video of Brandon and Kai playing one-on-one and she’s playing receiver against guys and she would play defensive back against guys playing receiver,” Buddy told The News & Observer.
On the court, when an opponent tries to make a skip pass across the floor, Kai is usually lurking.
From the gridiron to the court
In a mic’d up video from an N.C. State practice last week, Kai called her shot, saying she was about to get a steal while hanging just a step or two off the player she was guarding. The pass came in her direction, she broke on it and said, “Told you,” as she took the ball in the opposite direction.
Against Notre Dame, she got both hands on some of those passes and translated turnovers into points. Her second steal and layup of the fourth quarter cut the Irish lead to three. Crutchfield drew the foul and hit the free throw to make it 53-51.
Her teammates said that was the play that shifted the momentum. Crutchfield wasn’t done yet.
Three minutes later, she played the passing lane perfectly once again, getting a steal in the front court that led to a layup.
Crutchfield’s defense, especially in the fourth quarter, was one of the turning points of the game. She has been doing it all year, crediting her summer work with the guys, translating defensive back skills to the basketball court.
“It’s really being able to read the offense better and just knowing when to break on the ball when the person passes it, just kind of like being like a DB or a linebacker,” Crutchfield said on Sunday when the State players met with the media. “It’s one of those things that has become second nature to me, so I feel more comfortable breaking on the balls now.”
When Crutchfield was younger, she played flag football. She also ran track. For a while Buddy thought he would have a tennis prodigy on his hands.
“She did an awesome job at tennis and that lateral movement back and forth was huge for her,” the elder Crutchfield said. “That was something, if she wasn’t doing so many other sports, we may have pursued that a little bit more.”
Taking pride in defense
Crutchfield has shown she can score when the team needs her. She has played in more NCAA tournament games (12) than any other player in school history and scored in double digits in five of them.
But most nights it’s other players who carry the load of scoring the points. Quietly, Crutchfield has usually made life hard for opposing guards. That’s become her calling card.
“Her thing was like, ‘I’m going to take ownership of this and whatever I can do to help my team win,’ I think she started taking it personal,” Buddy said. “Once she kind of bought into that defensive role and she realized if she does her job on that side of the floor it gives her team a better opportunity to win, that’s when we kind of saw the light bulb go off.”
She started showing up in the summer with the guys doing ladder and footwork drills and not ducking when it was time for one-on-one drills.
“Until this day she thinks she can hang with the boys when it comes to playing defensive back or receiver,” Buddy said.
This story was originally published March 28, 2022 at 6:30 AM with the headline "How Kai Crutchfield’s brother helped her become NC State’s top defender."
