Kevin Keatts: "They're Excited About Playing Another Opponent"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media ahead of the big matchup against Purdue in San Diego.

NOTE: Click the video above tow atch the interview.

About that aspect of your defense, and is that something that's kind of translatable here as you play against, you know, higher level competition? 
Yeah, we have. And it's crazy because, you know, when you play mid-major teams, they really typically have more three-point shooters than the high-major teams. Not particularly the case at Purdue because, at all times, they're going to have four guys that can really shoot the basketball. But we have been good in that area, and we focused on that. And the reason why we focused on it early is because the teams that we were playing really, really were good three-point shooting teams. And so I think we've gotten better in that area.

You have some players that have returned from last year who obviously have their motivation against Purdue. What has it been like to kind of hear some of the stories from some of your newcomers who maybe watched the game on television or were getting recruited by you during that time while the portal was going on? 
The unfortunate thing about it is new guys probably never even watched the Final Four game. They probably were, at that time when we were playing, they probably were getting calls from some college trying to get them to come there. We just haven't talked about it with the, you know, the other guys. We made a reference to the returners that, you know, obviously some of the film work that we watch or edits, we're able to show them in those edits, but this is, you know, this is completely different. I mean, you talk about last year's team. We had two really good post players and I have a lot of respect for the guys that we have now and the guys that Purdue has. But, at the end of the day, you have two guys that you're probably not going to see in college basketball again, DJ Burns and then Zach Edey. And so I think they're, both teams probably a little bit faster. Both teams do a lot of different things, a lot of similarities in the culture, but as far as the game is concerned, it's a completely different game. You can pretty much throw the tape away from last year because, you know, Purdue's not playing with Zach Edey and we're not throwing the ball into DJ Burns. 

Kevin, I think you guys lead the country in fast break points. I know that's something you really stress. What do you think when you watch the games back? What do you think's playing a major role in your ability to run this year? I know you do it every year, but obviously at a great rate this year. 
Yeah, I think we put an emphasis on getting the ball off of misses and getting high releases and our guys are running the floor. I think a lot of times when you're a fast break team, you look at your transition offense and it's all bundled up. And I think we've got great spacing. I think back to, I think it was William & Mary when Michael, he was able to outlet the pass and hit Brandon and Brandon's to the corner to JT for three. I think because we're scoring the ball in transition because we got great spacing and we're making an effort, you know, in the past years, we've been a really good transition team, but our spacing hasn't always been great and we spend a lot of time with that. 

And I just had one quick follow up on Dontrez Styles. I know he's been playing a big role for you this year. Three point volume isn't really up. Is that something that you'd like to see kind of tick up a little bit, just his number of threes? 
No, I just think he's doing a good job James of playing to his strengths and the one thing I really like about Dontrez is that he doesn't force the issue. If it's a mid range shot, he'll take it. You know, he got loose later in the William and Mary and took those two threes, but I'm comfortable where he's at. I think he's shooting, you know, around 37, 38 percent right now. Not on a lot of shots, but he's very efficient in what he's doing. 

In the build up to these games in San Diego, have you gotten the sense that your kids are excited about the step up in competition? 
I think they're just excited for the next game, Rob. Kids today are different. Like I know you, we all, we make so much on, you know, the step up in competition. I think our guys know that it's our sixth game and they're excited about playing another opponent. They don't kind of look at it the way we do. You know, we said, hey, these guys lock in and what I try to do with them is prepare for the next team. And yes, it's a very good Purdue team and it's a great step up from some of the teams that we play. But I think our guys just looking at it, here's another opportunity and we get a chance to play a game.

You guys are undefeated and yet not ranked in the top 25. I know you don't focus on that, but is that, are you guys still fighting for that respect? And even though you went to the final four last year? 
If you think about it, we don't get ranked. We haven't been ranked. But the fortunate thing about it is, you know, at the end of the year, we were number 10 in the country and really probably should have been a little bit higher than that when you go to the final four. I mean, if I ever define this program about how we are ranked when we would be really low, we just concentrate, you know, I have a lot of respect for folks who rank and I have a lot of respect for every team that's in the top 25, but that's our motivation here. Our motivation is to try to have a great year, try to repeat as an ACC champion and make another run. And if meaning not being ranked is a good thing for us, then we'll take it. 

I know you said before these games in non-conference play are so big for your long-term resume. Do you feel like with them being in November, they're maybe too big in a sense because they kind of are overvalued relative to your conference? 
Well, James, it's tough because, you know, I think you look around college basketball, everyone has stepped up their November schedule. And it's a reason for that, because when it comes to selection Sunday, unfortunately, it's so much weight on November and December, opposed to the, you know, the 20 games that we play in, you know, late December, January and February, March. And so for us, you know, we just, we had to figure it out. We gotta figure it out. And not just us, our league, our league, you know, we haven't in the last couple of years, we're one of three teams that's been to the tournament. And it's only been, you know, five total. And so I think you have to be able to put yourself in situations where you're playing some of the better teams from the other league in order to have to even be considered late in March. And that's a tough pill to swallow, because of the fact that, you know, you're going to play 20 great games and 10 of them on the road and great venues in the ACC. 

Going even back to your first year when you played Arizona, you played Kansas, you played Purdue, Oklahoma State, some very good teams early in the season. What do you kind of take away when you look back on, you know, those types of big matchups that happened in the non-conference? What do you kind of take away from the big moments like that? 
I think the great games, you know, just, you know, the games that you have mentioned, you know, JC, I've been in great MTEs and we're obviously, we're in a great MTE this year. These guys have put together an incredible feel. And I think, you know, hats off to them to be able to play some of these games. But, you know, you want to, when you're playing in a multi-team event, you want to play against some of the better teams in the other conferences. And, you know, hats off to this field that's been put together and they've done a tremendous job with that part of it. You know, the biggest thing is you get a chance to go back to, Todd asked the question earlier, you don't know going in, you find out a lot coming out and where you need to be and how you need to grow. The unfortunate thing is you don't have much time between the first game and the second game. And so you had to look at it as a total of two games. What do you learn? How do you get better from those? 

How important it would be to hopefully be able to have Michael O'Connell available for a complete game sooner rather than later. 
Well, I want Michael O'Connell to be available for a complete season, buddy. You know, he's really good. He's solid. He gets us going. Love everything about him. Great personality, the kid. When you think about a student athlete, you talk about Michael O'Connell, great student, really sharp player, knows how to play, doesn't care about anything other than, making his teammates better. And yeah, I want him, you know, obviously, you know, I know you're referencing the Purdue game last year and unfortunate for us, but we hope that he can stay healthy the entire year because we'll need him.

Coach. I know that you came in late last night and it was dark, but as the host city, we'd just kind of like to get a little reaction from you for the city of San Diego.
Yeah, look, I was fortunate enough last year to come out here to San Diego and it's a beautiful place. And when we had the opportunity to play in this tournament, I said, we'll go back. My players have not seen anything but getting into the hotel lobby and getting into the room. And so we'll get a chance to take in a little bit of San Diego today, but an unbelievably, great city. And I love my time here and I look forward to my players having a chance to experience that.