Kevin Keatts: "These Are Always the Most Nerve-Wracking Games"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 81-67 win over Tennessee-Martin Tuesday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening Statement
Good game for us, and I’ll tell you why — these are always the most nerve-wracking games that you play, you’re in finals and our guys are being pulled 20 different ways and obviously for me. It’s important that our guys finish up strong academically and so academics takes all, they’re first and everything. So we’ve got to work around academics. I thought we ramped it up where we needed to. I thought D.J. Horne was a big part of that spark – making some shots, did some good things. I was happy with D.J. Burns with the 10 points, 12 rebounds, a double-double and then he had five blocks. I thought Dennis Parker, Jr. really responded with 14 points and 10 rebounds. So, a good win for us against a good team, they’ll have a great chance to win their league. I think they’re in the OVC if I’m not mistaken and they did a good job early in the game. [Jacob] Crews did a great job. We were there on most of those guys, most of those shots he just made himself.
On maintaining team focus during this time...
It’s not even just Christmas, it’s so much pulling at these guys everyday. There’s so many things that they’ve got to do and so many obligations. A lot of them are really good, but we just have to stay focused. Honestly, the only thing we talk about is the next opponent and we try to lock in and focus on who we play next and try not to allow them to look ahead. Here’s what your job is, here’s what you got to do, here’s what your next opponent looks like.
On current team chemistry...
I think we’re getting better. It looks like we’re playing better together. For the last 3 games, our offensive transition has been really good and that’s because we’re sharing the ball, we’re kicking the ball ahead. I think defensively, we’re starting to click a little bit more. We don’t have as many breakdowns as we had early in the season. And all of that’s a process. Now we’re playing 7 new dudes and so what happens is every practice, every game, every minute are opportunities to grow together. You’re not just playing minutes where you’re just getting in, we want to see what you can do. We’re trying to figure out how to develop as much chemistry.
On L.J. Thomas...
“He’s starting to get a groove. The one thing that can always help you is sitting on that bench to get you a little motivated. I think L.J. is starting to get motivated. Looking at tonight, we didn’t have anyone who played over 31 minutes. Casey [Morsell] didn’t have a great game tonight, so other guys played well, which is really good for us because someone else is able to step in and play.
On Horne...
He got a big chip on his shoulder. This guy’s taking an untraditional route to make it back to the ACC. He started off at Illinois State, worked his butt off, went to Arizona State, and it was only fair that he came back to NC State. You have to get three states in there. He’s good, he’s a competitor. He’s the guy that reminds me of the two guys we had last year when you said ‘go get a basket,’ DJ Horne can go get a basket. I’m glad he’s here. He’s starting to buy-in defensively. He was a mess when he first got here. He obviously didn’t know how hard he was going to work and now he’s working extremely hard. It’s starting to pay off for him.