Kevin Keatts: "A Road Win is Golden"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 73-69 road win over Virginia Tech Saturday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening Statement
[It was a] tough, hard-fought game. I want to give my team a lot of credit. I feel like our defense traveled, especially in the first half when you see how we played. Give Virginia Tech a lot of credit; they played all the way to the end, and they made it a really tough game at the end. We ended up pulling it out. I thought our veteran guys stepped up and made free throws at the end when we needed to have them. It’s a good win. Any win in this league is really good, but a road win is golden. I’m proud of our guys, and we want to keep on building on it.
On what he liked about the defense…
We’re making it tough to score, and our guys are communicating and talking. When I looked at the halftime score, it was based on our defense. We’ve worked a lot in the last couple of weeks since our Clemson game improving on our defense. I’m proud of some guys. They’re talking. We’re developing a winning team, and the way they’re playing is really good for us.
On responding to Virginia Tech’s surges…
It’s a game of runs. We came out in the second half, and this team, Virginia Tech, has a lot of pride. They came out and cut the lead to seven, and it was a 7-0 run, and we were kind of on the back of our heels. We had to regroup. I thought we did a good job regrouping. We played a good in-between game. Then at the end, they surged again, and it was fortunate for us that we made plays and were able to finish the game.
On the final minutes…
We finished the game, and here’s why we did it. Everybody talked. There was no panic. We threw the ball away. Typically, when you throw it away, everybody’s yelling at each other. Nobody yelled, and we were like, “Hey, they made a play. It was a good trap in the corner. We threw the ball away.” Certainly, we talked about burying the basketball, stepping through traps, making the passes, and running your hands through passes. Once we did that, I thought we finished.
On Virginia Tech's adjustments at halftime…
I thought they did a great job. It was a game of matchups. When you look at [Grant] Basile, he had a lot of pick-and-pop opportunities. I thought it hurt us. In the second half, they started setting a lot of slide screens, and he had a lot of pick-and-pop opportunities. Fortunate for us, he didn’t make many. We switched, and we put a four man on him so we could switch the screen, and we put our five on [Justyn] Mutts who didn’t have a Mutts game. He’s typically a little bit better than that, and I think we did a good job on him. He’ll bounce back from that. I did think they made adjustments. They came out and got more open looks. They were able to get down the hill on us. They got some paint touches, and they got to the free-throw line.
On getting to a .500 record in the ACC and the seven-day break before the next game…
I don’t know if [the break] is important or not. When you start playing well, you want to play. I’m going to try and see if I can get a game on Wednesday. No, it’s important. Our guys are tired. This stretch has been pretty tough on us. To come on the road knowing you’ve got seven days in between and to get a win, it feels a lot better than sitting on a loss for seven days.
On the team’s composure…
I thought our guards were tremendous. When you look at [Terquavion Smith] and you look at Jarkel [Joiner], both go 8-for-10, and Terquavion made two shots at the end to seal it. I actually thought Greg Gantt, who didn’t know he shot two air balls, he goes to the free-throw line and makes one of two which gave us a two-possession lead. I thought we made free throws. We made plays down the stretch when we needed to. I’m proud of our guys. It’s hard to finish games. It’s hard to win games in the league, especially on the road.
On Smith’s performance…
“It says a lot about these guys. When you look at it, he played 38 minutes. Casey Morsell played 35, and Greg Gantt played 37. The guys who really helped us win the game were D.J. Burns who came off the bench and really scored the ball. Early in the first half, Breon Pass and L.J. Thomas were good. Terquavion Smith is one of the most natural scorers in college basketball, and the way he played in the first half was really, really good. I thought Virginia Tech did a good job making adjustments and making it a little bit tougher for him in the second half, but man, he put us on his back in the first half.