Story Poster
NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts: "We Have To Be Aggressive"

January 15, 2019
2,238

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media to discuss the upcoming game against Wake Forest.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.


Can we get an update on Markell Johnson?
We've held him out of practice yesterday, and I don't think that I'm going to let him practice today. He will be a game-time decision for tomorrow.

He’s really sore. He fell on his left hip and the left side of his back and as you guys saw, he took a pretty nasty fall. 

I won't know anything until game time. I may possibly even let him go through warmups to see how he feels, if I do that, and then decide before the game whether he's going to play or not.

If he's not able to go, what impact would that have?
It’s a huge impact. I mean obviously, he's our most experienced guard. He’s our starting point guard.

That being said, somebody else would have to step up in his absence.

How good does it feel to have other options?
I feel better, but anytime you've got one of the better guards in the ACC and possibly the country, I think it's always such a bad situation when you know he may not play.

That being said, we've been through this before. We've got guys who are more than capable of being able to play his position in hopefully a different way.

More on other point guard options.
Braxton has played a lot of point for us in the last couple of years and then Blake is starting to get better and understand what we're looking for. Those two guys would obviously have to step up if he doesn't play to be able to fill that void for us.

How did you handle the Wyatt Walker situation? 
Well, it's so funny. What an incredible kid. I kind of wanted to see how he would react and, and basically he came to me and said, ‘I feel so sorry. I felt like I let my team down... I overreacted. I shouldn't have done it, will never happen again.’  Obviously I accepted what he said.

I know who Wyatt Walker is and a lot of kids will tell you some stuff, but when Wyatt Walker says something, I believe what he says. 

There wasn't anybody more happier that we won than Wyatt... he met each of his teammates and hugged them and apologized to everybody.

Is there any additional punishment?
Everything is a clean slate going forward.

When a guy gets suspended two minutes into the game, he basically lost his game.

It's an unfortunate situation. I thought he should have handled it better. Being an older guy, when you look at it, I can see where he's upset, but still, that's no excuse for him to do that.

He went in to take a charge, and I think he felt like he caught an elbow to the face as he took charge. Then as a guy who sat out for a whole year with a knee injury, as a young man got up intentionally or not, I thought he felt that he thought he was stepping on his knee or rubbing his knee and he reacted in a quick moment, which obviously there's no excuse for that. He should have never done that.

What are you telling your guys to stay focused on a Wake Forest team that seems to be down this year?
I don't look at it that way. I look at it each game as an individual game. Very seldom when you hear us talking about an ACC team, do we ever discuss their record.

I think it would be unfair to do that.

I think every team in this league is capable of beating you and especially on their home floor, so we've only concentrated on the individual players and pieces, what they're trying to do, and what we're trying to do offensively and defensively.

What is it that you need to do to come out with a win?
Well, I think we have to share the basketball. I would love to get out in transition. I thought a little bit in Pittsburgh started playing zone, I thought we stood around a little bit. Once we started screening the zone and get some player and ball movement, I thought we were successful and that's what we have to do.

I thought we played on our heels for the last couple of games. Going back to Carolina, the way we started the game, we played a little bit passive I thought.  We have to be aggressive and come out aggressive.

That passive play, is that a mindset you have to change?
No, I don't think it's a mindset.

I can point to plenty of games where we were great. You look at Auburn, we came aggressive and  even at Wisconsin we did. 

It's a long season and you're going to see all types of different games and how different teams react... that's part of a growing up process for us.

When you get a pretty good handle on how these guys will, it's one game.

Do you have a pretty good handle on how these guys will respond in road environments?
Our teams have shown up and competed.  It hasn't bothered them. They haven't been afraid of the moment, and I expect the same thing.

Is Blake Harris healthy?
Yes, Blake is healthy.. he’s battling little things, whether a knee or a hip. He’s started to get healthy, and if Markell doesn’t go he’ll need to play more minutes than he has.

More on Eric Lockett’s play...
How about that young man? That tells you a little bit about his character and a guy who doesn't get in a game, who's graduated and then doesn't pout because I would have as a kid his age, I would have pouted and he didn't. He stepped in and played, filled a great role for us.

He's getting better and I respect him for what he did.

More on D.J. Funderburk’s development...
You know what he’s doing, he’s maturing.  

We take for granted that as these kids get a year older, I think he's finally got some consistency in his life... knowing where to be, knowing what's expected of him. 

I like his versatility because he's a guy that when he's in a game, he gives us the ability to play ball screens all different types of way.  We can switch everything.

In a lot of respect he has become very valuable with what he brings to this team.

Do you have to talk with him about his fouls and how it could be called in conference play.
A lot of times when guys are driving to the rim, we are raking down, as opposed to us walling up and making guys shoot over us.

Give D.J. credit. With Wyatt Walker out of the game we needed him to be able to stay on the court and not foul and he went to halftime with zero fouls.

He’s very capable of impacting the game without fouling, and that’s what we need from him.

 
×
subscribe Verify your student status
See Subscription Benefits
Trial only available to users who have never subscribed or participated in a previous trial.