Kevin Keatts: "We Knew It Was Going to Be a Physical Game"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 84-64 win over Abilene Christian Friday evening.

NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.

Opening Statement

This was a very good game for us. I know it’s really early in the season, but I thought we did some really good things. We were very aggressive defensively. If I had to credit someone for getting us going, I would say Jayden Taylor was really a spark plug. He did a great job on the defensive end. Offensively, he was really aggressive getting to the free throw line. I didn’t like, on Monday, that we took seven free throws. Someone came into our house and took a lot more. That was one of our concentrations: to get to the paint and get to the free throw line. I thought we did a tremendous job there. When you look at it, the second game of the year, we’ve got balanced scoring. I thought our guys did a good job. D.J. Burns is passing the ball at a high level which is going to really help our team, and I think our guys are learning how to play with an interior post-scorer like he is. I’m really happy with it. I’ll go back, watch the tape, and see what we can build on, I thought we did some really good things tonight.

On Taylor driving to the rim…

He was really good. There were two guys who I thought were very aggressive. It was him, and I thought D.J. Burns was very aggressive. This particular group doesn’t have a designated paint-touch guy, so Jayden’s got to be that type of guy. I thought today he was completely focused. He got to the rim. He made good plays. I thought he was very aggressive.

On Burns being an “assist guy”…

The problem with him is that he’s passing too much. He’s looking to pass right away. I’m only joking when I say that. He’s going to get so much attention because of his ability to score. A lot of people will double-team him. What I love about him is that he hasn’t forced anything this year. The game's coming to him. He’s finding cutters. Guys really enjoy playing with him. I challenged him a little bit because I didn’t like his ball-screen coverage. The good thing about Abilene Christian: they didn’t run a lot of ball screens. He’ll get an A today because we don’t have to check that out. He’s one of those guys that’s a willing passer, even as a big-time, low-post scorer.

On Abilene Christian having the Wolfpack’s attention after the Wildcats beat Oklahoma State…

What they did on Monday was impressive. Mike [Boynton] has built a great program at Oklahoma State, and they went in there. What was really impressive about their win was the way they won, and they did it on the defensive end. They got after them. They really held them. We knew it was going to be a very physical game. We knew coming in that we had to play tougher in order to come out and win. I wanted to get off to a good start. I didn’t want a team who just won at Oklahoma State to come in here and jump on us because that would've given them a little bit more confidence.

On the rotation in the backcourt…

It’s early. We’ve got a small sample size. We weren’t able to go on a foreign trip this year, so I didn’t get a chance to practice 10 times or see them play in three or four games. In our small sample size, we’re growing. We're getting better. I consider this team of having eight different guys that can start on any night.

On the growth from Monday to Friday…

[We’ve grown] a lot. I think our knowledge of basketball has gotten better. We are completely taking care of the basketball which I really, really like. We’re growing defensively as a group, and we're starting to trust one another. That’s some of the things that you’ve got to keep building on. It’s a long season. We’ve got long days, long games, long practices. We’ve got to figure out how to continue to stay hungry and get better.