Kevin Keatts: "Tonight Was a Special Night"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 90-74 win over Wake Forest Wednesday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening Statement
Today, for me, was a very special game. Having the ’83 team back for the last couple of days, they came to practice yesterday, and they were able to share some knowledge with our players. I think there were six of those guys at practice, and last night I was able to go to dinner with them. I stopped by, and I was able to talk with them. We want to win every game, of course, but I wanted these guys’ experience over the last couple of days to be perfect, and from my standpoint, “perfect” was being able to win on the night that they were going to be honored. Give all of our players a lot of credit. I thought they stepped up. We needed the win for us to get to 12 wins in the conference, 22 overall, but it wasn’t just a win. It was a special night with so many special guys in the building who have paved the way for a lot of these guys to be here. I’m proud of the ’83 team. I’ve had a chance to now meet pretty much all of those guys. I met a few of those guys in Chicago when we played Vanderbilt. I had the three or four guys that were there talk to our team. It was great to have Sidney Lowe back. It really was. Sidney’s been really good to me. Obviously, he was an outstanding player here. I was able to send a couple of guys to him like Lorenzo Brown and a few other guys. Obviously, his experience as a coach didn’t go as well as he would’ve liked, but for him to come back and celebrate with his teammates, that says a lot about him. I thought that made the night really special. Jarkel Joiner was really, really good. He’s been good ever since the Georgia Tech game and maybe Virginia, I think it was. He’s played extremely well. I thought a lot of guys did a great job. In the first half, we didn’t do a great job of defending the three-point line. Before the game, [Steve] Forbes told me he made 15 threes at Miami and lost, and I told him, “Well, I hope you don’t make 15 tonight.” I didn’t think they’d come out and shoot the ball as well as they did. I thought we did a much better job in the second half coming out of the locker room, only giving up three three-pointers. The team’s growing. We’re getting better. Some of our bench players are starting to contribute. It may not show up in the scoring column, but it’s showing up in general in how we play. I’m proud of these guys. I’m proud of the way we fought. Steve’s done a tremendous job with that program, and for us to get a sweep of those guys for the year, it says a lot about this team and how much they’ve matured.
On Jack Clark’s status…
I don’t know. Of course, it was late, and I spent a lot of time with the ’83 team and talking with my team. I don’t have an update at this moment.
On if he was concerned that the team would come out sluggish after the win over North Carolina…
I didn’t worry about it because we’d just played Carolina and beat them. There were a lot of things going against us. Wake’s good; they’d won three out of four. It’s a nine-o’clock game. There was everything surrounding the ’83 team, which was great. I worried about the stuff I couldn’t control. Our guys just ended up playing really, really hard. The first half was a H.O.R.S.E. game. “Who could get to 50 first?” We actually got to 52 when they had 46. I think both teams were shooting in the high 60’s. I thought we were better in the second half.
On the change in defensive approach in the second half…
We guarded them. I thought we lost them in the first half. [Damari] Monsanto was great. He made shots. [Tyree] Appleby came out ready to play. I think he was 3-for-4, and he’d made some shots. I thought we made some adjustments because we started pressuring a little bit more and made the passes a little bit tougher for those guys to make those plays.
On if he enjoyed the back-and-forth pace of play in the first half…
Oh, I’m not enjoying it. If somebody’s shooting 65 percent [against you], that’s not good. Look, neither one of us could have been happy with that, but if I were a fan, I would’ve loved both ends of it. It was a great game, but I didn’t think we defended at all in the first half. I didn’t yell at halftime. I would normally yell if somebody’s shooting nearly 70 percent, but we talked about it, and I thought our guys responded.
On if there are any parallels between this team and the 1983 team…
It’s not fair. It’s just not fair. There’s no way I can compare these guys to a team that won a national championship.
On the team being inspired by the 1983 team…
There are going to be a few videos, if they're not already out, of those guys speaking to our guys, and you can see that everybody was locked in and focused. Everybody was listening, and I thought they did a good job of sharing their knowledge and spending extra time tonight and after practice with our guys and really connecting with them. I encouraged our guys to exchange numbers with those guys if they wanted to talk.
On if Joiner’s defensive prowess is overlooked compared to his offense…
No, he’s a really good defensive player. He actually starts our defense because he’s at the beginning of it, and he really gets after it a little bit. He typically has the best offensive guard on the other team. I think people in our league recognize that.
On if he expected to have the success he did in the transfer portal…
I love the guys that we're recruiting. Here’s the great thing about the portal: you can be really picky and recruit the guys that you think can fill a great need. We had a tremendous hole at the point guard position and one at the five. I knew, not only with D.J. [Burns], Dusan Mahorcic was a great pickup for us and a tremendous role player. So was Jack Clark and obviously Jarkel Joiner. I wanted to get great personality kids that were great people and would fit our culture on and off the court. Those four fit with us.
On Joiner as the “pit bull” on the team…
He’s a winner. That kid’s been a leader. He’s great. He’s great around the community. He’s been so great not only for [Terquavion Smith], and I know I talk about T a lot with him, but also for our younger guys. He’s always in everybody’s ear. He’s also one of our hardest workers. It wouldn’t surprise if, seven-o’clock or eight-o’clock in the morning, he’s in there getting shots up. He works on his game, and he’s playing really good basketball. He won’t get drafted because of the fact that he’s an older guy, and the league likes to draft younger guys, but I hope he gets an opportunity to tryout for some really good NBA teams one day and hopefully makes it.