Kevin Keatts: "This Was A Very Good Road Win For Us"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts answered questions from the Wolfpack's radio crew following the Wolfpack's 87-82 win over Miami.

With about 10 minutes ago, the Wolfpack were down ten points... felt like it may be slipping away.  What were you thinking on the bench?
Well, just like I told the guys at halftime, if we would just concentrate on our defense, I felt we were going to win the game.

There never was a panic because I thought we could score enough points to win. I just thought we gave up too many easy transition baskets. We gave up too many easy threes.

When you look at, I think it was a seven-minute stretch where they didn’t score. That’s because our guys decided we were going to defend.

The last five minutes of the first half, it looked like your team, for one of the few times this year, got a little fragmented offensively, but then you come out the second half and get the ball moving a little better. Was that a big part of it?
We completely did not follow the scouting report in the first half.  We actually did it opposite. 

If we said drive to the hole and kick it, we didn’t, so we had a bunch of turnovers because we didn't share the basketball. If we said defend the three-point line, we didn’t.

So I got to figure out next game how to switch it up and tell them something different and maybe they'll play the other way.

In the second half we talked about following the scouting report and doing all the right things.

I'm proud of these guys. You can tell it's ACC time. The level of play was high for both teams.  This was a very good road win for us.

What was your message to Markell Johnson at halftime?
We needed leadership.

I wanted Markell to mature from our first true road game and finish the game.  I thought he did

Down the stretch, he made one play where he whipped the ball all across with one hand and turned it over, but he got to the free throw line, he made his free throws, he controlled tempo, we were pushing the ball on makes and misses. 

He made some very timely baskets for us.

Did you find out a lot about your team, fighting through adversity and winning on the road?
Absolutely.

I found out a lot about my team when I had some guys who were not scoring the ball... it affected them in all parts of the court, defensively and offensively.

We finally talked about stop worrying about who scores and play defense.  Then at the end of the night, NC State would win the game.

Do you feel like your conditioning and depth affected the game the last five minutes?
I thought it was great.

It’s hard to say another team’s not in shape because you don't know it, but I thought we did a great job of finishing the game.

Jim's got a great team. He's got shooters.  He's a little short-handed, so we wanted to use our depth a little bit more.

All of a sudden at the seven-minute mark, that's when they went cold. Are you saying over there on the bench that this is the moment they were maybe getting a little tired?
You could say tired, but I thought our guys challenged all shots. 

I told him to make every shot tough. Even when teams get tired, we still had a couple breakdowns where Chris was able to get to the rim and finish.

We told them at even when the conditioning kicked in we still had to make shots tough becasue even the tired guy can make a layup.

It’s warm in Miami, but ice cream will taste good tonight.  What’s the flavor tonight?
I don’t give flavors. Whatever the kids want they can have what they want.

Matter of fact, I’m thinking of making it a two-scoop night.