DJ Burns embracing the love during NC State basketball's March Madness run

PITTSBURGH — Boos rained down from the rafters in PPG Paints Arena Thursday night.

NC State basketball fans weren't displeased with their team's performance in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. Far from it. In fact, the 11-seed Wolfpack had outperformed 6-seed Texas Tech so thoroughly in the second half of their 80-67 win that the few holdovers from the Oakland-Kentucky game that preceded it were on board with what they saw from Kevin Keatts' team.

Well, they had a bit more affinity for one player above the rest: DJ Burns, Jr.

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Over the last week, starting with the team's run through the ACC Tournament, Burns has become a bit of a March Madness darling. An atypical body type — 6-foot-9, 275 pounds — with an atypical skillset, Burns' on-court exploits have made him a budding star on the internet.

That lovefest, which the NC State coach said has been common in the Raleigh area for a while, reached a feverpitch during the win over the Red Raiders.

Fans voiced their displeasure whenever Burns went to the bench, and were even louder when he wasn't fed the ball. They came to see Burns, all of him, and wanted their voices heard. Burns getting the ball into his hands were met with voluminous cheers, which crescendoed with each bucket he made.

"When he gets the ball and the crowd turns up for him," NC State forward Ben Middlebrooks said, "there's nothing more fun than that, just seeing it."

Burns said after the Texas Tech win that he's taken his new following in stride, enjoying the moment while staying in it.

"It's an awesome feeling," Burns said, "whether they're cheering or not, my mindset is going to be find a good shot and get my teammates involved in a way that can win games, and it's nice to know they trust in me and believe in everything we're trying to do here."

Burns enjoys himself on the court. A chatty Kathy, if you will, unafraid to mix villain with fan favorite. He went to work immediately on the undersized Robert Jennings, using the full force of his body — sometimes to a fault — to impose his will on the Red Raider interior. Spin moves quicker than a man his size should be capable of led to numerous buckets at the rim, finding the angles around, over or sometimes through the defense for a 16-point effort.

While much of the fanfare has centered around the big fella, Burns said he got just as big of a kick out of seeing Middlebrooks, his backup, go for a career-high 21 points, feeding of each other's energy throughout the game.

"That gives me life," Burns said. "Seeing someone at the same position as you who is giving you that, it makes you better. I can't go out there and not play my best and he's out there giving his all. That would be letting him and my team down."

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Keatts has seen Burns' infectious nature up close the past two years since the Rock Hill, South Carolina, native transferred in from Winthrop. He and his team have known what Burns is capable of, it's just now that the rest of the country is starting to take notice.

"He's just fun," Keatts said. "He scores and he gets beat up all the time. And he's almost gotta play through contact, but it is so fun to watch him. I consider him a closer for us. We put him in the game and he closes the game."