Kevin Keatts: "We Have to Follow Scouting Reports"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the Wolfpack Sports Network radio crew following the Wolfpack's 74-62 road loss to California Wednesday evening.

NOTE: Click on the player above to listen to Keatts’ interview.

On the Golden Bears pulling away...

We have to be better down the stretch. You look at the stat sheet — and I'm a players coach, and so all the responsibility comes on me and falls on me — but we've got to do a better job of understanding scouting reports. We let [Jeremiah] Wilkinson get to his left hand every possession. Obviously, one thing that you have to do with Cal is you’ve got to do a great job of keeping them off the offensive glass. We did a great job in the first half. Second half, we give up 11 or 12 offensive rebounds. I don't even think [Mady Sissoko] had an offensive rebound at the half, and he ended the game with [13]. If we're going to win these games, we have to follow scouting reports. We’ve got to do a great job on the defensive end, and we didn't do it tonight. Give Cal credit on their floor. I thought they obviously played better than us, but now we’ve got to figure it out. We’ve got to do better than that. Once again, it falls on me because I'm the head coach, but we’ve got to do a good job. We spent a lot of time giving these guys the answers to the exam, and we're not following the game plan.

On Ismaël Diouf filling in at the five when Ben Middlebrooks experienced foul trouble...

This has become a common theme. We're trying to keep Ben on the floor, but it seems to happen every game, and we’ve got to obviously do a better job because he's fouling, and obviously now it changes us. That being said, I thought Ish was a bright spot in the game. He made the three. He drove the ball. I thought he played great defense on their bigs.

On Marcus Hill’s performance...

I thought Marcus was good. Marcus was aggressive. I told our team, “Listen, we had some great looks.” I thought [Dontrez Styles] had great looks inside. We didn't make those shots. I'm never bothered when guys get great looks, and unfortunately they didn't go in. Where we’ve got to get better is we’ve got to follow scouting reports. I thought we let [Cal] play to their strengths on the offensive end the entire night, and that's not a great formula for success.