Kevin Keatts: "I Can't Say What I Want To Say"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's road loss at Syracuse.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Your initial thoughts...
First of all, congratulations to coach Boeheim and his team, I thought they played very hard.  It’s a good win for those guys.

My initial thought is I’m one of those guys who believes the game should be won by the players, and it’s tough for me because I thought at the end of the game we had five calls go completely against us, not to take anything away from Syracuse, they won.

Was that the conversation with coach Boeheim?
Yes absolutely.

What was that like?
It was a personal conversation. If he wants to share it’s completely up to him, but there was no animosity between us.

What type of value can you take from this game?
We fought man.  It’s a great ACC game on the road, back and forth, two teams fighting in February.

I felt good about our guys. We got down and made a hell of a comeback. If you’re disappointed about the way your guys played there is something wrong with you. I thought our guys played good enough to win the game, we just came up short.

What did you think about the battle down low?
Great battle, two really good post guys in our league.

Have any other centers in the league been able to score over D.J. like this?
It’s plenty. Our league is full of centers, you have Bacot, a bunch of guys.

It’s hard in our league today to play defense in the post. Has he been scored on? 100%. Has he scored on a lot of people? Absolutely.

Did he give you an explanation on some of those five calls?
When do you normally get an explanation?

I don’t know. I’m not privy.
So the answer is no.

Four regular seasons game left. What was the mindset like in the locker room?
I just told them great battle and way to fight. We’ll move on.

We’re going to take tomorrow off and then start preparing. We’ll take it one game at a time. It will be unrealistic and not smart to look at the big picture instead of one game at a time.

More on resolve...
We played great man. You watched the game. I can’t say what I want to say but you watched the game. Tough game at the end. That’s all I can say.

If you see Syracuse down the stretch in the tournament what is one thing you’ll try to do better next game?
Nothing.

I thought they did everything they were supposed to do. I thought defensively they were good.

It was a great game. If the ball bounces one way we win, if the ball bounces the other they win.

It was a great game.