Kevin Keatts: "We Never Really Got Into an Offensive Flow"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 72-52 road loss to Ole Miss Tuesday evening in the ACC/SEC Challenge.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ interview.
“The obvious thing is that we didn’t play well offensively. I didn’t think we shared the ball well like we normally had done, and the ball kind of stuck, and we didn’t really get any good, clean looks. I thought we forced some things, and that’s some of the things that you’re going to get when you get so many new guys and try to figure out how to play together. It really affected our defense because we couldn’t really get into our presses which are some of the things that we do to create some turnovers. We never really got into an offensive flow.”
“They did a good job. They do a good job of protecting the paint, and we didn’t do a good job of driving and making one-mores and extra passes to get shots. I thought we stayed on the perimeter too much. On our team, when you don’t get some of your better offensive players playing better on a given night, we’ve got to be able to figure out how to score. They did a great job on D.J. Burns, and Casey [Morsell] didn’t really have a good night. Two guys I thought played well were Ben Middlebrooks and also L.J. Thomas. You’re going to need more than two guys to play when you’re on somebody else’s floor.”
“It could have, but I’m not going to make excuses. We’ve got new guys. We’re going to get better. We’re going to get back into the practice facility and work on the things we need to work on.”
“I think our defensive transition wasn’t very good. We came out in the second half — we made a run to close the half — and we gave up five straight points, a layup and a three in transition, and certainly when you’re not having a good offensive night, you can’t give the other team easy baskets.”
“I thought Ben was good. He was one of the bright spots. Our team’s going to work, and we’re going to get better, but I thought Ben and L.J. both played well even when we, as a team, didn’t play well as a group tonight.”
“If we’re going to be good in the world of transfers with eight new dudes, then we have to figure out how to play together. That’s what it is. It’s early in the season. I don’t like it at all — I’ll completely accept it myself — but we’ve got to figure out how to get better in there.”