Kevin Keatts: "We Just Got Back To Defending"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts discussed the upcoming matchup against Pittsburgh, Saturday’s win over Georgia Tech, Jayden Taylor, and much more with the media on the ACC’s weekly Zoom Call.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.

Is your defensive ball pressure about pushing pace as well as forcing turnovers... you saw it against Georgia Tech.
Yeah, because we had our lineup that we started was smaller and they had so much size, we felt like we needed to pressure the ball and try to make a difference a little bit.  Ndongo was such a matchup for us because he's a guy who can score when you dump the ball off to him.

We wanted to try to and win the battle before they got into halfcourt and pressure the ball and make it tough on wing catches. That was one of the reasons that we ramped it up a little bit. When you insert another guard, it gives you another guy who can pressure the ball and be able to deny the basketball and get into our presses.

Thoughts on Casey Morsell’s ability to attack and get to the free throw line more this year...
I think one of his deals is, it's a blessing in a little bit, he wasn't making shots a few games ago and because his shot wasn't going in, we said, "Hey, let's figure out how to score other ways." Whether it's getting an offensive rebound... he started taking the ball to the rim and getting to the free-throw line.  I think he's found some type of positive out of it because he didn't shoot the ball [well] a few games ago.

It's kind of helped our team because he's been very efficient when he can get into the paint and get to the free-throw line, but he's probably been our best paint-touch guy over the last two weeks.

Has that become an emphasis for the team... driving the ball more?
Yeah, it was. I thought if you look back at the Georgia Tech game, I thought in that first half, we really settled for a bunch of outside shots. At halftime, we talked about driving the basketball and getting somebody else opportunities on drive and kicks and once we did that we saw a different game and it turned around for us offensively.

Thoughts on the emergence of Jayden Taylor on the offensive end over the last couple of games...
I'm super proud of him because we've asked him to be the defensive stopper on the basketball on the team. He's had some moments where it's probably a little frustrating for him offensively because his shot wasn't going, and to your point, I don't think he's got a lot of recognition for the last couple of games where we've really played well, but he's played well.

He's moved the ball, he's drove the ball. He's done a good job of getting out in the passing lanes, and over this two-game stretch, I thought he's been as important as anybody with his play, especially on both hands on the floor. Just to see the ball go in for him, and we've been working on him becoming a more efficient passer.

I think his best pass of the year was when he was laying down on his butt, so maybe we need a play where he falls down and makes a great play again like that. 

In your first game against Virginia you shot better than 60 percent inside the arc and in the second game not so much? Was that more you or UVA’s defense is better?
I think in that game it was a combination of both.  

I’d say to you as most teams are, Virginia’s defense has always been good but they are really, really good at home. They’ve grown as a team and got better, and defense typically travels with you and it’s happened for them on the road.

In the first game we really moved the ball a lot and in the second game it got stuck a little bit and that’s the wrong team for it because they are really good at defending late in the shot clock.

They’ve got better and are really elite at home defensively but have also taken some steps on the road defensively.

Can you give us a quick scouting report of Pittsburgh?
Yeah, it seems like man, everybody we play is shooting the basketball. Maybe it's because everybody really is.

They're elite when they're making threes. They're really good, and Hinson is playing on another level because of his ability to play inside-out, he can post you and he can drive it a little bit. He kind of makes them go, and he makes as many tough threes as I've seen of anybody in our league.

They're a team that... right around nine to 10 threes made per game, which really makes them tough. They've got great size.

Those two guards who we're calling freshmen but because now we're in February I'm calling them sophomores, they've been really good, very aggressive at driving the basketball.

I think [Coach Capel has] done a good job. This team can defend you, they can sit down and guard you, and they really rebound the basketball. They're kind of playing really good basketball together. 

Last week you called the losing streak a learning experience. How have you seen it pay off after going through the adversity?
What we try to do is try to stay in the moment. You always as coaches you try to look at what happened.  Well, here's what happened.  We didn't play particularly well at Syracuse, and you play Virginia where you don't play well in the first half, but it goes overtime and the game can kind of go either way.

We just locked in and stayed the course, and it was good for us to get back home. We traveled so much and some home cooking and sleeping in your own bed.

We just got back to defending. That was one of the things I didn't think during that stretch that we really defended the ball like we needed to.  That was a constant thing with us is being able to defend. We played a good Miami team, and defensively we held them to a low percentage from three which is probably their lowest on the entire year and that's because our guys just locked in on the defensive end.

Sometimes when you go with the small-ball lineup you want the other team to adjust to what you’re doing.  Have you always taken that approach?
No, I kind of disagree with you. In those two games, we were going to start that lineup no matter what the other two teams did. After we had dropped a few games, we wanted something different. Of course, when you look at scouting, you're going to look and see, "Hey, who's the other team what do they have?"

What we've done is tried to figure out who can give us the most on both ends of the floor. The practices kind of determine which way we go. With Casey Morsell playing that small-guard four, it helped us the last couple of games but that could completely change. Blake’s a tough matchup, and it's a really good team.  Jeff's team has a lot of size so it could be different.

But we kind of haven't adjusted. I've went with who has been playing well for us and what could give us the best opportunity to win.