D.J. Burns, Jr. "We're Going to Be Hard to Put Up With"
NC State forward D.J. Burns, Jr. met with the media during the 2023 ACC Tipoff event in Charlotte, N.C. to discuss the Wolfpack’s upcoming season.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Burns’ breakout interview. A selected transcript is provided below.
“It’s been awesome. I’ve always considered myself a leader, but the guys listen a lot more than they did last year. It’s definitely been nice to be able to expand my role, and Casey [Morsell] has done a great job in helping me in the places I do lack as far as leadership. I think we’ve been working well together.”
“This year, we’re going to get out and run fast. We’re going to put a lot of pressure on you from the three-point line, and when that’s not working, we’re inside all day. We’re going to be pretty hard to put up with, and we’re going to be really pesky on defense, and that’s going to help us a lot.”
“I took some time to humble myself after [the NCAA Tournament loss to Creighton]. I felt like, with the year we were having and especially after what everyone expected us to do, it was easy to get complacent. That taught me to never do that again. That was one of the things that motivated me the most. I don’t think I’d ever played that badly in my life. I made it an emphasis to make sure that doesn’t happen again.”
“Honestly, when I saw [Ben Middlebrooks], I didn’t know that was him. Then I came in the locker room one day and heard we got this kid from Clemson, and then Jack [Clark] left and went to Clemson. I was like, ‘What kind of NBA trade stuff is this?’ It felt weird at first, but once I got to know Ben, he’s one of my favorite people on the team. I’d say he and D.J. Horne are the two I’m closest with right now."
“I have to use a little more power because [Mohamed Diarra] keeps up with the finesse. The guys’ quick on his feet on defense. I don’t understand. He guards one through five. When he’s in, they switch ball screens, and you would think he’s six-two the way he guards the guards, and you would think he’s seven-foot the way he guards me. He makes us all better.”