Kevin Keatts: "We Have To Stay The Course"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts discussed the upcoming matchup against Miami, Saturday’s loss to Syracuse, LJ Thomas, and much more with the media on the ACC’s weekly teleconference.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Thoughts on Miami and guard Kyshawn George...
They're really good. I think they lead our league in scoring. Their ability to shoot the three is what really makes them really a dangerous basketball team. Because Omier is starting to make threes they kinda shoot it from all five positions right now.

George is good. I have no idea where Jim found him, but he's a really good player. Once we started scouting him... as you hear about him early, but I thought he was 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, but now you look at him at 6-foot-8 and what he's doing...

He was... he’s growing an inch every month it seems like...
He's a good player.

He's not playing like a freshman, I can tell you that now. He certainly has earned every starting minute that he has and any opportunity that he plays.

He's a matchup problem because he can shoot the three, but he's long enough to put the ball on the floor and finish and doesn't need a lot of dribbles to get to the rim. He completely adds value to their team.

Is there one or two things you can put your finger on that’s changed over the last three games with your team?  That Wake game was emotional, how much did that take out of you guys?
Yeah, I just think we've had a rough week and we played two teams on the road who are actually -- I looked this up today, they're 21-1 combined at home... between UVA and Syracuse, and UVA, I don't think they've lost a game in 21 or 22 tries at home. So two completely different opponents.

But when you look back at the Virginia Tech game, I thought we played really good basketball, similar to Wake Forest at the end, except we let those two guards really get going late in the game. I just think every team goes through a rough patch during the year and this is ours.

I told someone today, if we won one, lost one, won one, and lost one, it would look a little different, but when you lose two or three in a row, it smells different... it doesn't even feel good at all.

It's kind of where we are at.  We're still at 5-4, and hopefully we get a chance... we will be at home the next two or three games and try to get back on track. I don't think I can point at one thing. I just think that we've had a couple of tough road trips and the one game, if we could get back would probably be Virginia Tech at home.

Thoughts on recent scoring issues...
If you look at Syracuse, I didn't think anybody played well. I didn't think anyone on our team really played well at all. At UVA I hought we started the game well enough... the first six points and then we gave up offensive rebounds... and then in the second half, we were really good and that allowed us to get into our presses.

But I don't think it's anything that I can point to. I think we had one of those games at Syracuse where you hate as a coach because none of our shots fell. We didn't have anybody that you could say, “Let's feed the hot hand until somebody else gets going,” and it just didn't happen that way.

‌Looking at where the offense is, what can you do this late in the season to start turning things around?
Yeah, it's weird because if you pull up our stats, we've had great second halves, 43 points and 48 points. I just think we have to somehow get off to better starts.

You know this, it's a make-or-miss game, and if you're not making shots, you struggle. It doubles for us because if you're not making shots, it doesn't allow us to set up the type of defense that we like to play.  So we haven't been able to create as much opportunities offensively off of our defense.

I just think it’s one of those things where we have to stay the course. Hopefully being at home, getting a little home cooking will certainly help us a little bit, but I think we've had great second halves, but we've had some slow first halves where we started the game well and we've had probably a five or six minutes where we struggled a little bit.

At that point, we've got to be in a little bit more of in an attack mode where we're driving the ball to the basket instead of settling for outside shots.‌

Last year against Miami you attacked under the basket with DJ Burns feeding Ernest Ross and Greg Gantt. Do you have the guys this year to do those types of things?
I think it's going to come down to how they defend [DJ Burns].

Last year, they decided to trap him, and he was really efficient. We got guys to the “dunker spot” where they made shots and everything else, and DJ really found a way to get the ball to those guys. I think a lot of it will come down to we have to adjust to the way they will defend him throughout the game.

But to answer your question... we've got guys. I think Mo can do that. I think certainly Ben can do that. I think we can be put in a situation where if that happens again we can score the ball.

It looks like you’re still trying to figure out your rotation with a bunch of new pieces. Is that kind of the new norm now in college basketball... just when you add more pieces it can take a little longer to figure out who to roll with.
I can see where it can seem that way. 

What happened in the Syracuse game was because nobody was playing well. We were searching, and we were trying to find somebody to gave us some type of energy off the bench that can do that.

I think we really have you know, six or seven dudes that are really constantly playing for us, and then being able to get that eighth, ninth guy that can really come help whether it's on the offensive or defensive end.

But the second part of your question is very interesting because it is different. I said this with this group right here, because you have so many new pieces, this is the first time that this particular group has went through some adversity. It's different than when you’ve got so many returners. You know what you're getting because some guys have been through some adversity together.

Well, this is the first time this particular group with eight new people have been through some adversity, so there are some growing pains as we go along with that.‌

Your thoughts on LJ Thomas vs. Syracuse...
Yeah, I thought he was good. I thought he came in and gave us energy. Like I said, I didn't think anybody played well, but if there was one bright spot, I thought LJ came in and gave us a lift towards the end.

That's something we've got to continue to look at. When you go to the bench, you want to get somebody who comes in and gives you energy off the bench and I thought against Syracuse LJ did that.

You mentioned facing adversity... how have you seen them handle this last week?
Yeah, I think it's been a learning experience.

Like I said, these guys, this is the first time thinking about this now, so far we've been lucky, you know, we hadn't lost... the only combinational losses that we had was, I think leaving Vegas with BYU and then going to Ole Miss.

Other than that, we've been able to stack games and everything else.

I think it's a learning process. I think it's one of those things where we're learning to come together because obviously every team is going to go through some stretch where you're going to need some leadership.

When you've got so many new people, we're trying to figure out who can lead. I think they're trying to figure that out right now, and we're trying to help them as a team also.