Kevin Keatts: "We Were Going To Find A Way To Win"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media to discuss the 93-61 win over Maryland Eastern Shore.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

“I can’t start this press conference without saying how proud I am of our university and athletics department for really honoring the GOAT. I’m sitting in that press conference this morning, and honestly, I was emotional.”

“[David Thompson has] been so great.  He’s been really good to me since I’ve been here, always takes my calls. It’s an honor to know we can always walk around Reynolds Coliseum and see that statue of him.”

“I was a kid in a candy store today. I was so happy to be able to do that, and I’m grateful for everybody who made that happen.”

“Tonight’s game was about the GOAT in the building and it’s his day... we were going to find a way to win. We were a little slow to get started, but I thought once we got going everything went in our direction. We did it really on the defensive end.  Really proud of our guys.”

“He’d been practicing for the last couple of weeks and I was trying to figure out when he was ready.”

“He gives us another dimension. We’ve been playing with six of our new dudes and now we’ve added a seventh. I’m happy for him. He’s going to help us.”

“It was good for MJ to see the ball go in the hole... I was excited for him.”

“I think what he does is he gives us the ability to play a little more small ball if we have to. We can play him and Dennis Parker at the three and four. He’s a really good defender at the position and can rebound the basketball. It’s going to take time.”

“I don’t know who is going to lead us in scoring this year. I love the versatility of this team.  One of my messages to the guys is I need consistent play.  It doesn’t have to be from scoring. Who will consistently do the little things like assists, defend, rebound the basketball.”

“I love the versatility. When you go to scout us you can’t focus on one or two players because we have four or five guys on any given night who can lead us in scoring.”

“At Boston College we were 18-of-21.  They just didn’t go in.  I’m not one of the coaches who will make them take 400 shots, because I think the more you talk about it the more it gets in their head. We missed them tonight. If it’s something I have to be nitpicky about, it’s the free throws; we have to make them.”

“We shared the ball, and we’re getting better.”

“We’re so blessed that we have two great arenas to play in. Obviously PNC is PNC, but this is Reynolds Coliseum. It’s a unique place.  I remember being the head coach at Hargrave, and we had some great players who came from Hargrave to NC State when you talk about Kenny Inge, Anthony Grundy, Lorenzo Brown, and I used to bring my team here. I came here more than any university.”

“This is a great place. Anytime we get the opportunity to play in here I’ll wear my red jacket. It was also in honor of David Thompson.  That’s the GOAT, and it’s his day.”

“It was a special night.”

“I saw it in his eyes, I was like, ‘He’s not passing this one. He’s going to go dunk this one.’ If you get a dunk and David Thompson is in the building and he claps? It’s a pretty good dunk.”

“We had two good days of practice, and when you have new people you don’t know how to respond.”

“There is so much parity in college basketball. You can look around and see a lot of good things.”

“Anybody in college basketball on any given day can beat you.”