Kevin Keatts: "We Did Some Really Good Things"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 83-66 win over Detroit Mercy Saturday afternoon.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening Statement...
As you guys know, the December 23rd game is one of the toughest non-conference games you are going to play because half of the guys are already at home. Fortunately for us, D.J. Horne already lives in Raleigh. He was the only one that was comfortable because he only had to drive five minutes to get home. I thought we did some really good things. On top of that for D.J., I thought he was great tonight; he had 26 points, six assists, and six rebounds. Between him and Michael O’Connell, we had 12 assists. We had 18 assists on 32 made field goals. We did some really good things. I thought the guys on the bench were completely the reason we got going. We made a couple of substitutions and I thought it took our energy to another level. I’m proud of our guys. It’s exciting that they get an opportunity to go home.
On subbing in multiple players early in the game...
It’s not “mass” because we didn’t sub all five, I left D.J. Horne, but I needed energy. I thought the guys that started the game didn’t come out with great energy and that’s sometimes to be expected. I thought when we made the subs, they made a difference in the game.
On Dennis Parker’s technique...
He knows how to play, just overall good basketball. He can throw the ball at the top of the key and he’s a big three-point shooter because he made one shot last game. After he made that three, I don’t think he missed a three point in practice yesterday.
On having too many players...
I don’t think any coach in the country is going to tell you that. No, I don’t have too many players. I got a lot of guys who are starting to buy into that role today. The minutes today we’re kind of like I want them: playing a guy like D.J. Burns for 20 minutes and then finding the hot guy and keeping them on the floor. D.J. Horne had 29, and Michael played well at 26. I kind of like having a bunch of guys around 18 or 19 to 22 points a game. It makes our system effective because our depth is the reason we were able to turn them over 16 times.