Kevin Keatts: "I Love the Way We're Building"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 84-61 win over William & Mary Friday evening.
NOTE: Click on the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference. An abbreviated transcript is provided below.
Opening Statement
I’m very happy for our team, I want to talk about the five games we’ve had at home. I have seen tremendous growth in these guys every game. On any given night, it could be someone else; we talk about who’s the energy guy, who’s going to bring the energy that everyone builds off of. I thought Ben Middlebrooks came off [the bench] and did a great job, and Marcus Hill was good again tonight. We’re going through a learning process, and I thought we played great in the first half. We started the second half a little slow; that's where we have to continue to learn and to play the way we do, but boy did we finish the game the right way. It was good to see some guys play well. I love the way we’re building with this group, and I love their versatility. We’ve just got to continue to get better.
On the last six minutes of tonight's game...
We have a certain mentality. It is natural. We’re in a big league. It’s early in the season, and we have a bunch of new guys. Everybody's thinking, “Oh I'm going to go for 30 [points]”, so we learn valuable lessons on how to stay the course and play together. We had about six or seven minutes where I didn’t like who we were as a team. I wanted them to play through some adversity, even when they cut the lead a little bit, because I knew our guys would be able to respond. We’ve been doing a great job. This team coming in, [William & Mary], was averaging 84 points a game. Last time they played, they had 102. They are averaging 12 three-point makes a game, and because they stretch you out so much, it's hard in two days to teach guys not to get back cut. I thought we did a really good job with that. I like the team. I really do. This is a good win. William & Mary’s from the conference where I came from, and they are going to be good. [Brian Earl] is doing a really good job with them.
On the team’s three-point offense still trying to click with each other...
It was good for us to see the ball go in the hoop tonight. We’re still doing a great job. It’s one of those things that everybody’s like, “Oh, man, you ain’t really shooting a three well,” and I’m saying, “We’re getting 46 points in the paint; maybe we shouldn’t shoot the three well.” But I think it’s good. I think what’s happening is our depth. It’s hard to be able to make shots at the end of the game because we wear you out. You look at tonight: we forced 21 turnovers; Colgate and William & Mary do a great job of taking care of the ball, and we did a good job of turning them over.
On Dennis Parker’s progress and finding his rhythm on the court...
All of our guys have got to get healthy, and Dennis is one of those guys. I want Dennis to play more like a menace, but he has to get healthy. He turned both ankles. He can really help us when he gets healthy. I didn’t play Ish [Diouf] tonight because he’s just coming off of an injury two days ago — he couldn’t even shoot in practice — I’ve got to find a way to get him in the game. Trey Parker was out [for a while], but because we were playing against another team, I needed another point guard in. It’s going to be games where I try to tell these guys that it’s hard when you’ve got nine to 10 guys that can play; it might not be your night. Dennis is certainly going to be able to help us. He’s a guy who went through it last year. He’s had some really bad luck with his ankles, and we’ve just got to get him healthy, and obviously we needed him to play down the stretch.