LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
Several NC State players met with the media following the Wolfpack's 72-59 win over The Citadel Monday evening.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview in the player above.
D.J. Burns
“[Diarra] is my boy right there. He makes it easy for me. I’ve got someone to pass it to the first spot and will knock it down. He’s going to drive. He’s going to dunk the ball. He’s going to play hard against those blocks. He had his first double-double tonight. I’m very proud of him.”
“I’m just having fun, man. I’ve worked on that shot all the time. We’re going to do a little something-something when we make it.”
“I don’t think he needs a confidence boost. He knows he’s good."
Mohamed Diarra
“I told you. If I’m open, I’m going to shoot.”
“I’m proud of it. That’s who I am. I can get 14 rebounds every night and make my shot. If I’m confident in defense and rebounding, the offense will come.”
“No[, this isn’t new for me]! Of course I can shoot threes!”
“I’m going to [create opportunities for my teammates] every time.”
“There’s no easy basket in basketball. It’s a grown man’s game.”
“I love it. That’s my first double-double in college basketball, so I hope I get many more. I’ll definitely get more, but I’m going to work for it.”
D.J. Horne
“It feels good. A win is a win. That’s one for us, so we’re looking to build off of that.”
“I definitely think we did [improve on what we wanted to improve on from the exhibition]. We definitely wanted to get more assists, move the ball better, definitely get better in transition defense, and rebound more, and I think we did all those things today.”
“They’ve definitely got some athletes. I think they’ll have a pretty good season. It’s everybody’s first game for real, so people are going to have some areas to grow in, and I think that’s going to be a really good team.”
“We definitely want to keep getting better. We have to build an identity with this team that we’re going to get everything started on defense, and I think we took a step forward in that direction today. We just want to keep building on that.”
“[Kevin Keatts] told us that it was [Diarra’s] first career double-double today, so congrats to my boy Mo. There’s going to be more to come."
Ben Middlebrooks
“It felt great. We’ve been playing against each other for a long time, and obviously we had a game before, but this is the first one that counts. We got to play against another jersey and see how everyone feels.”
“I played well. I tried to capitalize on them, and it was good. We had a lot of guys who were doing a lot of good things. We had Mo shooting the ball well. He led us scoring and rebounding. D.J. [Burns] couldn’t miss. Mike shot the ball really well. I tried to go in there and find open guys, and if I had a look, I tried to take it. It worked out well.”
“100 percent. We have so many different guys who can play and do things differently. It’s going to be a challenge for teams to guard us because we can do so many things and give teams so many looks.”
“Absolutely. They’re a very good team, and obviously they’re very well coached. The ACC is a different level, but they’re a very good team, and I definitely respect them. We had a good game plan, and it worked."
Michael O’Connell
“It was a great experience, and I’m excited for more to come.”
“It feels good, for sure. I work on [my three-point shooting] everyday with the coaches, and I give all the credit to them. They put a lot of time and effort into getting shots for me on early mornings, reps after reps after reps, to work on shots like these in the game. They have all the confidence in the world in me, and they push me to take the shots and get better everyday. I’m grateful for them.”
“I was excited for sure. It’s the first game at this place, the first game in this uniform. I was excited to be out there with the guys and get the season started."