KEATTS: "We Didn't Play Great"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 81-70 loss to Clemson Saturday afternoon.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
“Give Clemson a lot of credit. I thought they did a great job, especially in the first half. We went into the game knowing that 45 percent of their offense comes from behind the three-point line. We got extended and did a poor job defending the three-point line, especially in the first half giving up eight three-pointers. We didn’t play great. I thought our guys, defensively, didn’t communicate enough. We didn’t have enough ball pressure, and certainly, [when] that happens, you get a loss on the road. Lesson learned for us: we’ve got to get better in certain areas, and we will, and we’ll grow from this.”
“I did. I just thought we lost some assignments. I didn’t think we overcommunicated. We talked about making sure that we guard the three-point line over the last two or three days. We got extended. We had no ball pressure. They were throwing the right passes. They were shooting rhythm threes. I thought we were ready to play. I just didn’t think that we played the way we should have in the first half. That being said, toward the end of the half, we did a great job. Though we didn’t play well, we closed the gap at halftime and even came out the first two or three minutes of the second half and made some plays. The thing that was really troublesome was when we cut the lead and we had our opportunity right around the 12-minute mark, and I thought we turned the ball over and took some bad shots at that time.”
“I just think I’ve got to continue to watch film with [Markell Johnson]. I have to have him to be a quarterback on the floor when things are not going well or, when things are going well, we need a basket. The basket may not have to come from him. I think, at times, Markell thinks that we have to have him to make the basket. I just need him to play like a senior and run the show. That being said, it’s a lot of pressure on him right now. He’s our only pure point guard on the roster. He’s playing a lot of minutes. He will be fine, but we’ve got to get him better. I’m more concerned about his free-throw shooting than anything.”
“We haven’t talked about it a lot. I’m having [Johnson] shoot free throws after practice when he’s a little fatigued so it’s more game-like. He’s just missing them.”
“What happens is you work so hard to get it right down to one, and then now you go for knockout punches. We knew we were playing a team on their home floor who hasn’t had an ACC win, and I knew coming out that they were going to play extremely well and play hard. That being said, they played so great, and we cut the lead and had them panic a little bit, but it worked against us because we ended up turning the ball over and taking some questionable shots during that time.”
“We ran a lot of offense and got the lead down to one, and then once we got that lead down, we took some questionable shots that certainly could take us out of the game, and it did.”
“[C.J. Bryce] wasn’t going to play today. We evaluated him, and we didn’t feel like he was ready to play today. It hurts our team not only because he’s our leading scorer and leading rebounder, but we lose another guard. When you look at our roster, I’m starting all three guards that we have on our roster to be able to play. Now, it forces us to play guys like D.J. [Funderburk] more at four, and he’s still got to learn the defensive schemes there, and Jericole Hellems has to play a lot at three. It hurts our depth.”
“I told them we have to be better. I asked for better leadership from guys like Markell and Braxton Beverly. I asked those two guys to be leaders on the court. When we’re down, I want them to be leaders. When we cut the lead, I want them to be leaders. I told them we have to lock in a little bit better because we’re switching a lot of screens, and I’ve got different guys switching screens now. Right now, those guys are not communicating well enough to be able to do that, so we’ve got to get better in those areas.”
“It’s one game. This is a marathon. We know that we’ve got 17 more of these, and that’s what I talked about. I don’t react to anything. Anybody in this league can beat you at any point, especially at home. We ran against a hot Clemson team that shot the ball well, and they did some good things. We’ll bounce back, we’ll work on the things we need to, and we’ll get ready for Notre Dame.”
“It’s not just us. It’s the entire ACC. I’ll look at the scores later on today, and every coach that loses the game will have to figure out what he’s going to do for the next 17 games. This league is unforgiving. If you put your head down, one loss will lead to two or three. We have to move on. This is my third season here, and we’ve started the season in all types of different ways. My first year, we were 0-2, and we found a way to go 11-7, so we only lost five games after that. Last year, we started off with a win at Miami, and then we went back and forth for a while. Right now, we’re 1-2, but it’s a long season, so we’ve got a lot of things to work on. We just want to get better so we’re ready to win some games.”