LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Wolfpack Players
NC State's D.J. Horne, Casey Morsell, and Ben Middlebrooks met with the media following the Wolfpack's 83-66 win over Detroit Mercy Saturday afternoon.
Horne led the way against the Titans with 26 points on 9-for-15 shooting from the field, 6-for-11 from three, to go along with six assists, six rebounds, and one steal. Morsell tacked on three points, three rebounds, and two steals. Middlebrooks came off the bench and added 11 points, seven rebounds, one assist, and one block.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each interview in the player above.
D.J. Horne
“I’m just tried to stay confident in my game and, knowing we kind of got off to a slow start, tried to give my team a spurt.”
“We definitely do. We’re about to get into conference play, and that’s going to be a totally different monster. We can’t afford to get off to slow starts like that.”
“I don’t think we really overlooked them. They’re a Division I team, so we’ve got to treat everybody with some respect. The fact that it’s getting toward the break and everybody’s starting to go home probably played some factor, but we’ve got to stay locked in.”
“We’ve spent a lot of time off the court together. That’s definitely helped a lot. You’ve got to actually like the person in order to play basketball with them. Doing that helps a lot. Once you’re around somebody everyday, you grow to like them. Even if you don’t, there’s some type of respect there. That’s pretty big for us.”
“I’m looking forward to it. It’s a chance for guys to get their bodies restored. As a fifth-year guy, I’m kind of hurting right now. Everybody gets to reset and come back locked in.”
“Not really. We come back on a Tuesday and don’t play again until Monday. We’ll have all those days to practice and get back into the flow of things. It’s going to do us some good more than anything.”
Casey Morsell
“Honestly, we tried to get momentum and tried to get on a run with different rotations. We tried to try out different things. It just didn’t really work out until later on.”
“Overall, it was solid later on. We definitely need to play a lot better. I was out for most of the first half. I didn’t know what was going on with our lineups. I guess that was all part of it.”
“Well, we were heading in the right direction. We might’ve taken a step back tonight. We’ve got to pick that back up.”
“Finding a rotation first will help. That’s it. It’s late December, and we’re trying to figure out who’s playing and who’s not. That’s a big challenge.”
“I’m going to go home right after we change and see some family. We’ve got to come back and get ready for ACC play. It’ll be a quick turnaround, but I’m looking forward to it.”
Ben Middlebrooks
“It’s a really good group of guys. We’ve got so many new guys; probably more than half of the team is transfers or freshmen. It’s taken some time for us all to figure each other out, figure out each other’s personalities, and how we play. Every game, it gets better, and I’m looking forward to see how we keep progressing.”
“One hundred percent. [Clemson is] playing great this year, so I’m sure it’ll be a fun game.”
“[Kevin Keatts] gives me a lot of freedom to do what I want to do, but at the same time, I’m an older guy. I’m a junior who’s played in the ACC for three years. It’s really more of emphasizing things off the court, trying to lead the guys in practice."