Kevin Keatts: "The Only Thing We Can Control is How We Play"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media Monday afternoon ahead of the 2023 New York Life ACC Men's Basketball Tournament.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference
On if the Wolfpack needs at least one win in Greensboro to get into the NCAA Tournament...
Everything is completely out of our hands. I've taken a completely different approach to the NET and all this different stuff. I'm not in control of it. I will say that, at NC State, I'm excited about the record that we have: 22-9 and 12-8 in the conference. We played Miami, Clemson, Duke, Carolina, and Wake twice, and all of those guys have great records. Between those five, they're 64-36, and if you add Georgia Tech in there which we played twice, they're all combined 70-50. I don't know this, and certainly I know some guys can go back and check this, but this may be the toughest conference schedule that I have played since I've been here. All five of those teams are winning, and a lot of them have 15, 14, 13, 12 [wins], and even Wake Forest at 10-10, so it's been a challenge. When I look back and reflect on the season, I’m really, really proud of where guys are just to play that schedule with that many teams who are really good at the top of our league, to play them twice, and for us to be at 12-8. We've done a lot. Certainly, all committees that pick anything have a tough job, and I'm not going to insert myself into that to try and figure it out. The only thing we can control is how we play. We'll get a chance to play against [either] Virginia Tech who's playing really good basketball [or] Notre Dame who, if you watched those guys on senior night in Notre Dame, can beat anybody in the country. Our guys have earned the right to get the first-round bye, and the second round we get a chance to sit back and watch it.
On the team’s time off, especially considering Jarkel Joiner's ankle…
Yeah, I think the time off has been really productive for us. This is a balancing act. "How many days do you take off? Do you get on the court?" You don't want to over-practice, and you don't want to under-practice. We've been taking our time with it, take a couple days off, go a couple of days, and figure it out. [With] Jarkel, I held him out a couple of days once we got back because he was sore. What he did at Duke was simply amazing. When I went over there and saw him, I thought he would be out for the entire game and maybe for a week or two. For him to come back in the game and not only come back in the game but to play the way he played, it was outstanding. It says a lot about him. He'll be ready to go on Wednesday. I don't know that he'll be 100 percent, but I will say this: Who is 100 percent during these days right now?
On preparing for a great three-point shooting team regardless of the first-round winner…
When you look at both of those teams, they’re great-coached teams. They're really perimeter teams. They can really shoot the basketball. No matter who we play, we have to do a good job guarding the three-point line. I looked at Virginia Tech against Florida State the other day, and they made 16 threes. That's going to be a big part of our defense and a big part of our success by defending the three-point line against either one of those teams.
On if he expected the success D.J. Burns had this season…
Of course I did. He and I had a meeting this morning just to chat, and he stops by the office. He's such an unbelievable personality, and we just talked about everything. I'm proud of him. A lot of times when you come up from a lower to mid-major conference, a lot of people will question, “Can he translate?" Well, he's translated. He can score the basketball. I think he's gotten better at rebounding the basketball. That was one of the issues that I had coming in. I think he's gotten in better shape in order to play. There were a lot of naysayers. "Man, Kevin Keatts, he can never play in his system. the way they play, the way they run." He's been outstanding, and I'm happy for the young man. He's done a great job. He's continued to get a lot better. We talked about him getting better defensively too. All of it wasn't good. I had to make sure he understood I need him to become a better defender also.
On evaluating rest versus rust without a game on Saturday...
Yeah, that was tough. It was funny for me because I don't remember the last time I had a Saturday where I didn't have anything to do. It was a little tough on me because my wife gave me a list of stuff to do which was a problem. I would've much rather played. It's a balancing act. It's so tough to try to figure out. We did practice on Saturday because I wanted them to stay in some type of routine. We took off on Sunday which was yesterday, but it's hard to try to figure out what's too much and what's not enough. We just try to balance everything. A lot of times, we've gotten shots up, and the days that we were off, I was like, "I want you to be off. I want you to rest a little bit.”
On getting the bye versus having a first-round win to build momentum…
Listen, I'm not complaining about byes. I think it's great. You get a chance to sit back and at least watch the tournament and see how it's going. I'm proud of our guys because we earned it. We would've loved to have been in the top four and get a double bye, but it says a lot about these guys to go from where we were at last year to the turnaround to getting a bye. Obviously, it's really amazing to me that we went from 11 wins for 22 wins and from four conference wins to 12. That says a lot about the folks in this program. I give all the credit to the assistant coaches, the young men that were in the program, and the young men that we recruited. They turned it around. I was just the general manager.
On if the time off allowed him to reflect on this season's success…
It has. I am super proud. What we've done and what these young men have been able to do… It's really tough, and I'll tell you why: because when you lose, there's so many in today's world, social media and you guys as reporters, you have to write about it, it's the truth. For those guys who go through all of the scrutiny that they went through last year and to be able to achieve what we've done in the regular season, that makes it even more special to me.
On potentially making a run and that coinciding with the 40th anniversary of 1983 team…
I don't think that puts pressure on us, but I'll go back to the '83 team when they were here. I know and I've heard everything about them, and I've watched them with the game, and I watched the 30 for 30 and all that. That was all tremendous, but what we don't get a chance to do is meet those guys. I met them for the first time. I knew that team was good. I thought that team overachieved, and they won a national championship, but they've been winning all their life. Those that are really, really good men. They shared a lot with our guys. That doesn't put pressure on us. That doesn't mean we're supposed to win a national championship. I would love for it to be that miracle run, but to have them around — and I think I said this before — that night was so special because at the end of the day they had had two great days on campus, and I didn't want to be the reason why it was a little bit damper on their reunion coming back so it was great for us to win the game.
On if he’s concerned over Terquavion Smith's recent poor shooting…
No, no concern about him. If it was somebody else, I would be really concerned, but he might not even know he missed that many shots. As a guy who can shoot the basketball, he's got short-term memory. He's been fine. When you go into those situations, it's almost like free throws. If you talk about it too much, it becomes a major problem. He's gotten in the gym. He's working on his shot. He will continue to work on his shot, but he's the type of guy that he could miss 10, and he might not be playing well, and he can go into the tournament and might not miss. There’s no concern from my standpoint.
On Smith's shot selection…
His shot selection hasn't changed since the day he got here. I don't know if that's good or bad. I'm just telling you.
On how Burns' emergence correlated with injury to Dusan Mahorcic…
I had a perfect formula. I mean, it was perfect; it was working to a tee, and then Dusan got hurt. It's crazy because people won't recognize this: Dusan was probably playing 22 minutes at that time, and D.J. was at 18. We were clicking. I had two different centers who could provide something different to our team, and then unfortunately, with Dusan's situation, it forced D.J…. I think what it forced him to do is get into great shape and be able to play longer stretches than he normally would have. He bought in. He embraced it. He worked harder. He got extra conditioning in, and it's really helped our team. Because if he didn't change, I don't think we would be in the position that we're in right now because of his ability to change. Now, that being said, some role players really stepped in those moments. With Ebe Dowuona stepping in after playing so much last year, we were able to move Greg Gantt and Ernest Ross into some of those situations. Through all of that, D.J. got in better shape, and that's how it ended up right now.
On Jack Clark’s status after returning from injury…
In the last couple of days, he's looking better than he has in the last few weeks. His biggest thing is getting back in shape and into the way we play. It's a little different for us because we get up and down so much, and we run. When a guy is out, it takes a little longer to get back into playing shape and the way we play. A lot of times, it doesn't affect you as much on the defensive end. It's the offensive end because we get out and run. We try to score fast, and then a guy who shoots threes, that's what's been his biggest adjustment. He's had a couple of really good days that seems like he should be ready to go on Wednesday.