KEATTS: "Our Guys Did An Excellent Job Defending"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 83-63 win over The Citadel Sunday evening.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
Opening Statement
“Guys I would love to start off - I didn’t get a chance to see him or talk to him - but it was good to have Coach (Les) Robinson back in the building. He has done so much for this program and this team. It certainly was good to have him here. I’ll tell you what I told my team, and I hope you guys take a second to - somehow through Christmas we have made it about the nice gifts that we get, and I’m sure that we all love to receive gifts, and I love to put a smile on someone's face as with giving gifts - and I told our guys and I hope you guys do some of the same things over the Christmas holiday: take some time to go see someone who has made a difference in your life. It could be your auntie, your father, your mother or it could be the lady down the street who saw you grow up. That’s important to me because somehow we lose focus on how we got here and who we are. So I hope you guys would take the same message - hug your wife and kiss your kids. I told our guys all their friends would be at home, but spend a little time putting a smile on someone else’s face because you never know what they are going through.
“I thought our guys did some really good things. This is always the toughest game to play right before you go home for Christmas because you just don’t know where their minds are at. I thought our guys did an excellent job, especially in the first half defending. We knew that they were a team that came in here, and if they made threes it would be a tough night for us. I wasn't particularly happy that they made 14 threes, but they had to take 14 to get 45 shots. I was happy to get everybody in the game. A lot of these guys - especially Chase Graham and Max Farthing work especially hard, and the opportunity to get them the chance to play before Christmas meant a lot to me, and it was good to have Danny Dixon back.”
On Braxton Beverly’s condition and Markell Johnson after the Auburn loss:
“I think Braxton Beverly has a bruise. I don’t have anything other than that. I hope he will be fine when we play Appalachian State on the 29th. Markell Johnson did take it personally, and he took the loss home, and that was good to see. With today’s kids, they move on a lot quicker than we do. It was good to see him take that loss hard, and I thought it was good to see him respond today, especially under these circumstances. I want our guys to feel a little bad about it when our guys drop a game. We always talk about getting well, and if you lose a game you’re sick and you need to get well. I thought we did a good job of getting well today.”
On Markell Johnson going in the game close to a triple-double:
“I just subbed Markell Johnson in, then C.J. Bryce and then Devon Daniels, but I am happy for him. I think they said that is the fourth one in the history of NC State. That’s pretty good. I am proud of him for that. Someone might have whispered something to him but I did not put him in because of that.”
On Jericole Hellems since his injury at Wake Forest:
“I thought he was good. His condition is not what it needs to be. He still isn’t the guy who was playing well before the injury obviously. He needs some rest, but he also needs some reps. He has always been a guy that plays because he’s a rhythm guy, so I think he’s still a little bit out of sync. It was good to see him make 13 - I didn’t think he had 13.”
On Christmas break for the players:
“The guys will get a chance to go home - a few of them tonight - and the majority of them will leave in the morning. We will have practice the evening of the 26th. So they all get about three days off.”
On subbing four for five:
“It was so crazy because I wanted to find a way - and it’s tough because I had to figure out a way - to get Danny Dixon in the game. This is the smallest team we’re probably going to play, but I had to get Danny into the game. It helped that D.J. Funderburk is dying to play the four. I was able to sub Danny and D.J. in and it made a lot of sense, so I was happy. Danny has worked hard. His foot injury has hampered him from playing a little bit, but he deserves to play. We were going against a team that really doesn’t have a lot of post guys, so I had to find a way to get him into the game as a reward and it worked out. I was able to play Jericole Hellems at the three and D.J. at the four.
On C.J. Bryce not starting:
“I don’t have a reason for it. I just did it. At the end of the day, what I’m trying to get these guys to understand is that I have eight guys, and I want them all to consider themselves as starters and I rotate them in. It’s so crazy with these guys because everyone is going to play, and my message to them is, ‘Do you want to start the game or finish the game?’ Most kids will say they want to start the game, so I rotate them in. In this particular game I wanted to get Devon Daniels in.”