Kevin Keatts: "Every Game Takes Its Own Identity"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media via Zoom for the ACC's first teleconference of the 2022-23 season.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
On Greg Gantt’s impact…
At the end of the Clemson game, Jack [Clark] had kind of a weird fall, and we didn’t know what to expect from him. Then obviously, we found out he couldn’t play against Duke, and he’s been one of our better players. He can make shots. He’s been our leading rebounder since Dusan [Mahorcic] went down. I will say this: Greg Gantt has been tremendous. I never anticipated playing him 30 and then 38 minutes. What he’s done for our team is he’s played a great role, and he’s been a solid defender, and he’s rebounding the basketball. He’s the poster child for any guy that’s sitting on the bench who hasn’t played, who’s been a little bit injured, and obviously, when your opportunity is in front of you, to take advantage of it. Without him, we wouldn’t have had our two wins that we had last week.
On if he has an update on Mahorcic…
I don’t. He’s getting better, but I have no idea when he’s going to be able to play in a game. I don’t even want to put a timetable on it. I just know he’s one of the hardest working guys I’ve ever had that’s been injured. As far as when he’s going to return, I have no idea.
On the team’s grit, poise, and tenacity…
I said this to my coaches this morning. We’ve been able to put together three really good halves of basketball on the defensive end: the first and second halves in the Duke game and the first half at Virginia Tech — I thought we were really solid. We’re getting better. That’s one of the things that we’ve really put a lot of work into. We were a better offensive team earlier in the year than we were defensively, and I think our guys have taken on some identity and actually fallen in love with playing some defense. It’s helped us out a lot, and it’s actually one of the main reasons why we had a really good week last week: because our guys bought in on the defensive end.
On what he wants to see from his team against Miami…
[Miami is] talented. They’re really good. Obviously, the backcourt is really solid. If you look at [the Wolfpack’s 80-73 loss on Dec. 10], I thought we had a really, really good first half where we scored the basketball, and late in the game, I thought they hunkered down and played some great defense on us. I thought the two guys that really played well against us were [Isaiah] Wong — Wong obviously gets a lot of talk — and [Jordan] Miller who was really good. He stepped up and made a lot of big plays against us, and we didn’t do a good job of guarding those guys late in the game. It’s a good team. Every game that you play, even though it’s the second time around, takes its own identity. It’ll be a completely different game than it was the first time around.
On Isaiah Miranda’s progression…
He’s getting better. It’s tough. I want you to think about this for young guys in the this league to come in as freshmen, but I’d like for you to think about a young guy who just came in second semester and joined a team who had already been playing several games and had been around for a while. I don’t know when he’s going to play. I couldn’t even promise you that he is going to play. I will say that I do feel like he’s getting better. He came in the door with a couple of nagging injuries, nothing major. We’ve addressed those and then tried to get him in practice to get him as many reps as we can. Hopefully, we’ll have the opportunity to see him play this year, but there’s a possibility that he won’t play until next year.
On Casey Morsell’s improved shooting…
To his credit, he’s worked extremely hard on his shot. He’s working really hard. He had to adjust to the way we play compared to when he left UVa which is obviously a good program, but we play a lot differently. When you look back at his stats, I think he had decent stats from the three-point line as a freshman, and then he kind of fell off a little bit. He’s put a lot of work into it. When you look at it, he’s running the floor. He’s getting shots in transition. He’s making threes in transition. I have to give him all of the credit. Our assistant coaches have done a great job, but he’s one of those guys who stays in the gym and really works on his game. When you look back at the Virginia Tech game, even though he’s made shots from the three-point line, I thought one of his most important plays was he was able to drive in there when, at the start of the half, they went on a little run, and he gave us a little more of a comfortable lead. Credit to him to adjusting to playing fast and making shots and also working on his game.
On Morsell being pivotal to the team’s defensive success…
He really guards the basketball. I would say two of the best on-the-ball defenders that we have on our team would be him and Jarkel Joiner. Casey doesn’t get a lot of credit for what he does defensively. He guards the three. He guards the four. He can guard all positions. He’s been a huge part of our success on the defensive end, especially in the last couple of weeks.
On what he knows about D.J. Burns now that he didn’t know before the season started…
Well, what I’ve learned is that he’s a tremendous fan favorite here at NC State. I told him in the Duke game: the guards did all of the work early, and they scored, and then he came in, and everybody was yelling, “D.J., D.J.” Scoring transfers to every level. You saw what he did in the Big South, and he could score the basketball. He’s proven that he can score the basketball at the Power Five level and in the ACC. He’s getting better. He’s a tremendous kid. His teammates and everybody loves him. One of the things we’re working with him is to continue to get better on the defensive end. He’s had some big moments for us. We finally have a guy that we can throw the ball in and get us some baskets. That’s no knock on our former guys, but he gives us a different dimension, especially on the offensive end.
On how unique Terquavion Smith’s story is…
First of all, he committed to me when he was 15 years old. He’s probably one of the most loyal guys that I’ve ever recruited. At that time, he was probably 140 pounds. He was a guy who finished his high school career with three state championships in basketball and very competitive. He barely made anyone’s top 100, and now he’s put himself in a situation where he may be able to provide for his family. I say that because he’s one of the stories where a lot of people said he wasn’t big enough or strong enough. He didn’t have to be a five-star guy at the time, but his hard work and his winning attitude put himself in this position.