Keatts: "Our Guys Stepped Up"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media after the Wolfpack's 82-66 win over Boston College.

Opening Statement:
Like most of you guys, the first five minutes of the game, I was going to get up and leave because we had not scored. It’s weird. For whatever reason, we did not make shots early. I was okay with it because they only had six points.

But by the end of the half, we ended up with 44 points. When you look at the first half, the two guys that were great were obviously Braxton Beverly and Sam Hunt. They did a tremendous job shooting the basketball. I think between the two of those guys, we made eight threes.

I’m proud of these guys. Our main focus coming into this game was to defend the three-point line. Those guys lead the ACC in made threes in a game, and I thought we did a tremendous job holding them 4-for-25. When you look at Robinson and you look at Bowman, those guys are elite guards, the best backcourt team in the country and in the ACC, and I thought, for the most part, our guys stepped up to the challenge.

We had some great contributions from a lot of people. It was good to see Abdul-Malik Abu get in there and do some different stuff. I told the team after the game that when you're not playing well, just root for your teammates, and I thought we did that. I’m excited this group has gotten to nine ACC wins, and it means a lot, especially on the home court.

On Sam Hunt’s play...
I rested him for a bunch of games so he could run down the stretch. No, I’m kidding. I took the NBA approach with him. I just didn’t let him play for four or five games. No. I think he is shooting the ball well.

Someone told me he is 10-for-13 in I don't know how many games, but it’s Sam’s birthday. I didn't know it. If I did, I would have found more minutes for him to play, but he’s been good. He’s been making shots for us. That shot he made in the corner by the bench was special.

On what happened to Markell Johnson’s hand during the second half...
I have no idea. I don’t know if it was a fashion statement or not. I let the trainer deal with that. The only time I can tell you is if he can’t play. I’ll know that, but I don’t know that. If he comes up here, you ask him. Or I’ll ask him and tell you later on, but I don’t know.

On the team’s offensive explosion of 13 field goals in a row...
I thought we made the right reads. When you look at us, 19 assists on 29-made field goals. We did a good job. They took our roll guy away with the corner man, and I thought our guards came off and found the corner shooters. We were able to step up and make shots. I thought we played well. We found a way to win when I didn’t think we were particularly sharp today. Even though, when you look at us, we scored 82 points, but we didn’t play a flawless game in all. We were a little rusty for whatever reason.

On what triggered the switch to go from 0-for-8 to 17-for-19...
I think we had to score eventually, or we were going to be in trouble. What happens is that I don’t know we were 0-for8. I’ve got to go back and look at it.

I do remember a couple of things. I remember Leonard Freeman coming in and thinking, ‘I’m going to get a lift.’ He missed a layup. We missed free throws earlier. We just didn’t play well. There’s no explanation for it, the first five minutes of the game. And then, like I said, we found a way to get 44 points to be in the half. If you look at the halftime score, we started out 6-0 and went into half 44-28.

So I think we’re maturing as a team because obviously, earlier on in the year, I don’t think we could have come back from that when we didn’t play well.

On what this break until next Sunday’s game looks like...
We’re going to rest tomorrow, and then I don’t know how much I am going to do on Thursday. I do know tomorrow we are 100 percent off. We may come back in on Thursday and do some film work, may get in the gym a little bit. But we’re locked in. I told our guys that it’s easy to say right now, ‘I’m banged up. I’m a little bit hurt,’ but who isn’t? Everybody in the country that’s still playing meaningful basketball has got some bruises, and certainly we’ve got to be able to play through some of that. Now, if you’re hurt, you’re hurt. I want our guys to be mentally strong at this point in the year.

On whether Lavar Batts is healthy...
Lavar is healthy. It was more of just a coach’s decision. I needed some more shooters on the floor to make some shots to be able to open it up the way they were playing us. So he hasn’t done anything wrong. 

On whether the corner is Sam Hunt’s comfort zone when shooting the three...
You know what? He’s always been, if you go back and look at the young man’s career, he’s always been a very good three-point shooter.

Sam Hunt’s been a very good basketball player in his career. He has over 1,000 points. So he’s always been able to make shots, but its tough. Tt’s rare that you can get a guy that can make corner threes. A lot of guys can make if from the top of the key. A lot of guys can make it from the wing, but the three-point shoot is tough from the corner. He’s been huge for us the last few games.

On the Louisville championships he was a part of and the banners being taken down...
Well I found out today, obviously. We were getting ready for a shoot-around, and with social media, I found out today, and all I’m going to say on it is that I’m just disappointed.

On the importance of the win as March approaches for the team...
I told you guys that this group of guys are in uncharted waters when we got to six wins, so now it’s getting deeper and deeper. Every win builds confidence, and I know you’re talking about ‘bubbles’ and all of that, but I don’t even talk about that.

I don’t even know about all of the brackets that say where you’re at. I just try to win the next game. I’m excited. I don’t take it for granted. Our guys have played very good basketball. To have nine wins in this conference, it means a lot. I’m proud of these guys. I can’t think of a game where these guys didn’t give tremendous effort and played hard. In all of our games, I can’t tell you we’ve done everything right, but I can tell you we’ve played extremely hard.

On 20 wins being enough to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens in the ACC tournament...
That’s not my decision. I believe we’ve done a lot of good things to be considered as an NCAA team.