Keatts: "It Was A Great Program Win For Us"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media after his team's 78-71 win over No. 7 Auburn.

Opening Statement...
“This was probably the most pressure I have ever had going into a game. When they hand out 1,000 shirts that say “Kevin Keatts is a Winner” you better win that game or those shirts aren’t going to be good.

Give a lot of credit to Auburn. Bruce Pearl has put together an unbelievable team. After watching tape on those guys, I have said I believe they have Elite Eight or Final Four talent. They are tremendous, tough to guard, and very similar to us in the way that they pressure you.

It is unbelievable to look at. Both teams had 13 assists. We had 22 turnovers, which was uncharacteristic of us; we forced them into 25 turnovers and had seven steals. I thought our guys came out to play, I thought we competed, and I thought we fought for 40 minutes, which is what I’ve been asking them to do. It was a great program win for us and we want to continue to build on this.”

On Markell Johnson...
“I want Markell Johnson to stay aggressive. I think he has the ability to be one of the best guards in the nation when he stays aggressive. For me, that is on both ends of the floor. I don’t like for him to take breaks. I like for him to stay engaged and get after it.

I jumped all over him one time when he went under a screen and they made a shot. From that point on, he became very offensive-minded. I like where he is right now; he is competing hard for us. He is growing up before our eyes. It is hard to believe that he has been here for three years, but he is playing a great role for us.

The four guys that I really challenge are the four guys that have played for me before. I’m talking about Markell Johnson, Braxton Beverly, Torin Dorn, and CJ Bryce. Bryce played for me when I was at UNCW. Because we have so many new pieces, I need those guys to be leaders and I think they are maturing in that area.”

On the win...
“We played well tonight. I love my team. I have said that all along. I think that we have a very good team. When you look at the guys that we have played, especially the four Power 5 teams, we could easily be undefeated against those guys.

Give our guys credit. I like our scheduling. We played two Power 5 teams on a neutral court. We went into one of the most hostile environments in the country in Wisconsin, and we had our chances to win. I thought Wolfpack Nation was great tonight.”

On Devon Daniels...
“I thought he was great. You can correct me if I’m wrong, but in the second half I thought Markell Johnson and Devon Daniels were playing HORSE for a while. I think they scored all the points to start the second half, and he was really good.

I give him credit. He could’ve pouted because he was coming off the bench. I felt like Braxton Beverly has been playing really great basketball since the Penn State game. I wanted to put him in the lineup, but we told Devon to stay ready. He stayed ready and he played well off the bench.”

On the defensive performance...
“That’s the place where we’re maturing. When you think about today’s kids, they define how they’re playing by whether the ball goes in the hole or not. We’ve talked about if you’re not scoring, that’s not the end of the world, but make sure the other team isn’t scoring. I think we’re maturing in that area, and a lot of time it takes the air out of you. When we were up 16-6, I think Auburn struggled defensively because the ball wasn’t going in.”

On pulling out a close win...
“I’m excited. We didn’t accidentally become 10-1. Our guys have worked extremely hard to get there. Hopefully, we’re going to continue to get better and stay hungry and stay humble. I’m excited.

I’ve said this before: if the Wisconsin game was a learning opportunity for us, I’ll take that loss any time if we’re going to continue to get better from it. “

On the team maturing/entering national conversations...
“Are you sure we are going to get national exposure? I think we will be fine. We are going to stay in the moment. I am going to take their phones away so they can’t use Twitter or Instagram, or for any of you guys that still use Facebook, I’m going to take that away too.

If it happens, it happens. I said this before the game: I really don’t care about rankings. If I am in the top 25, that’s okay. If I’m not, I’m okay. I just look at the rankings when it comes time to pick the teams for the NCAA Tournament, and I want to myself and my team to have the opportunity to win the conference regular season and the ACC Tournament.”