Kevin Keatts: "We've Got a Lot to Build On"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 79-75 exhibition win over Lees-McRae Wednesday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening statement
That was our last dress rehearsal. I think we can learn a lot from our secret scrimmage. We can also learn on a lot from our last 20 minutes. I thought we did a really good job in our first 20 minutes. In the second half, I started big guys against their small guys, and we came out and turned the ball over three straight times. It's a lot that we can learn from this. As crazy as it sounds, I would much rather have this game than have a 40-point win because I don't get a chance to see guys be able to react. “Who's going to make free throws? Who's going to be good at the end?” I reminded our guys, and I'll remind you guys of this too: last year, [the] Mount Olive [exhibition] was 89-79, and we're ACC champs. I played 11 guys. I didn't call one timeout until the end. I just wanted the guys to play through some different stuff. I could have stopped a couple of runs, but I wanted our guys to figure it out, and then we would get better for it. Now, we've got their attention. A couple things, we’ve got to clean up. I thought we fouled too much, and it's weird because we had too many offensive fouls. We talked about Brandon [Huntley-Hatfield] and those guys; it's a little tougher when your playing against smaller guys. If it's a big-versus-big, typically they don't call those things, but they did. This is it now. We're going to take off tomorrow, and we're going to prepare Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. We're into a new season, and I'm excited about it. I think we got a lot to look forward to and a lot to build off on.
On the message in the locker room...
“You’ve got to play better than we did in the second half.” A lot of that is what I did and what they didn't do, or what they did and what I did, or all those types of things. I just said I wanted us to play a little bit better. We had some combinations out there that I've never seen in practice, but I was throwing guys in and out and all that other stuff. People will look at it different with me. I'm trying to get through this the game with nobody getting hurt and throw a bunch of guys out there to get a little chance to play in front of a smaller crowd.
On the takeaways with the front court players...
I just never thought they got involved. They were digging down, and our guys just never were aggressive. Ben [Middlebrooks] got aggressive, and then we missed a lot of shots around the rim that we left out there. I don't worry about those guys. I've seen those guys play at a high level. I know how good they're going to be. It's great, though. As a coach, you can go back. “You think you're pretty good? Let me show you this second half.” It's really good for us. It's a great learning experience. You guys know I love motivating. I'll get an opportunity to say, “Hey, this is what we’ve got to get better at. These are the things we’ve got to work on.”
On Michael O'Connell's as a leader...
This was his first time he practiced. I want to say, until yesterday, we hadn't had him in practice, but it makes it better. I came into this this game wanting to play him so he could be in shape. I knew I was going to play him for a lot of minutes because he hadn't had any game experience. He didn't play in the secret scrimmage. He hadn't practiced. I wanted him to get this win. He's a really good player. He's solid. His leadership is good. There's no panic in him. He knew what he was doing when it was towards the end of the game.
On what the exhibition says about his team...
I don't think this particular game says anything about us. If it was a regular game, we would've played it completely different. I mean, they were aggressive. Like I told you before: Mount Olive, you name them, whoever comes in here, little team, they're going to play hard. It gives us problems because we try to play bigger and everything else. I'm not going to take anything from the team. I'm going to get better in the areas we’ve got to get better. I just thought we missed too many free throws. I thought we turned the ball over. Those are things that we can control.
On integrating newcomers to the roster...
It's going to be like this every year. I mean, we got eight guys last year, eight guys this year, and we're going to have eight guys next year. It's always going to be tough. I look at it as you’ve got to figure it out and get better from day to day, practice to practice, and that's all it is.
On the resolve his team showed...
I thought they were great. I didn't want to call [timeout]. They were looking over at me, and I'm looking at them like, “I'm not calling a timeout. You’ve got to play through this stuff. I'm not going to call it. You’ve got to figure it out.” The only time I called a timeout the entire game was when we went up four, and I said, “Hey, you're up four; don't foul,” but it's a teaching experience like [for] Trey Parker. I had an opportunity in this game because I put him in at the end of the game, and instead of dribbling the ball out, he threw a cross-court pass. That's a game situation where I can teach him how to be really good in that situation. I thought Ben could have been better at the free-throw line. He missed two free throws. [Jayden Taylor] missed free throws. Now, we’ve got to figure out, “How do you step in and step up in those situations and make those free throws?” I came into the game, and I said, “I'm not calling one timeout. I want to figure out how this works. I want to let these guys play through some stuff.” That's what we did.
On Bryce Heard...
He's starting to feel comfortable. What makes Bryce be able to get on the floor — I don't know how much he's going to play as a freshman — but what helps him is he's got a really strong knowledge of the game. He knows how to play where most freshmen you're trying to figure out: defensively, how do you not be a liability and be able to score? Offensively, he's starting to get it a little bit. He understands spacing. He knows how to cut, and so that's going to help him. I think the other two guys, as they get to playing a little bit more, I think they'll feel comfortable. Paul McNeil is not shooting the ball well now because of the fact that he's working harder now than he's ever worked in his life. Once he starts getting in better shape, he'll start making those type of shots that he used to make in high school.
On Breon Pass' development...
Anytime you’ve got a guy who has been here for four years, understands what the program is about, and how hard we compete, you can't substitute that. I think Breon will be able to help us a little more this year than he's done in the past.
On raising two banners at the Lenovo Center on Monday...
I'm excited. I can sit up here and tell you guys that I'm not, but I would be lying to you. How often do you get to raise two banners? I don't care what sport you’re in. It's been a long time. When you look up in those rafters and see 1983 and 1974, man, what unbelievable championships they were. We didn't win the national championship, but you don't have anything that's current. Like, most of you guys in this room have never seen a championship until we got it this year. I'm happy for our fans. I'm happy for our students. I'm happy for our team. I'm happy for our city. I'm happy for ACC basketball because we were able to deliver something that hasn't happened in such a long time with a team that no one expected to happen. That's beautiful. We don't take it for granted. That's a beautiful thing. ACC champions, are you kidding me? Five games in five days? Yeah, I'm excited. I might act like I'm not, but I'm telling you: I'm pumped up about that. I'm excited because I'm going to sit there, be able to look up there, watch, and see knowing that I was a part of that as the coach here.
On Dennis Parker, Jr. and Mike James...
Dennis has had a string of bad luck. Before the scrimmage, he turned his ankle. He got back to practice, and he's playing well. Then, he turns his other ankle. I don't know if we’ve got to switch his shoes or whatever. Mike's going to be out for about three or four games, hopefully. He had to get his knee scoped. It’s nothing major. I don't know. I would expect him to be out maybe the next two or three weeks but could even creep up to four weeks. We're probably going to be without him for a while. We've been banged up a little bit. Michael's been banged up a little bit. We didn't have a couple guys on a couple days. Honestly, having 11 scholarship guys today, that was the most that we've had in probably the last two or three weeks. We’ve got to get healthy. This team hasn't had a chance to be on the court practicing together because we’ve had so many guys out. We’ve got to figure it out now. We’ve got to try to stay healthy so we can practice together so that it shows in the game.