KEATTS: "Our Guys Stepped Up On The Defensive End"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack’s 53-51 road win over Virginia Monday evening.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
“I’m certainly proud of my team. This is the second game in a row that I thought our guys stepped up and won the game on the defensive end. We knew coming in that this is a tough place to play, and then Virginia is such a tough program to play against because they’re so great on the defensive end. I told the guys before the game, ‘If we’re going to win the game, it’s going to be because we have to defend them’ because I knew the score would be low. I thought our guys did a tremendous job. This is as tough a game as we were going to play, especially after playing on Saturday with a short turnaround to prepare for Virginia with their offense and defense. When you add in the fact that we were out Manny Bates and Pat Andree, it made it a little tougher. I thought some guys stepped up and made some great plays. Some plays that stood out to me: I thought Markell Johnson found some people and made some great decisions. He played the entire game without having a turnover against a good Virginia defense. C.J. Bryce is really good, and I thought that he was tremendous at the end. What a great play he made. Our guys followed the scouting report, and we got away with a great win up in here against Virginia.”
“When he fouled out, I started looking at my assistant coaches to see if I could get them in the game, and I knew neither of those guys had eligibility. It was tough, but give Danny Dixon a lot of credit. He’s a kid that hasn’t played a lot of basketball. He was hurt for a while, and then obviously he’s been able to play the last couple of games. I thought he stepped in and played well. It was tough because we go from the seven guys we were playing now down to six. When he fouled out of the game and we decided to go with Danny, I thought Danny did a great job.”
“It was tough. I’m sitting over here as a coach, and it’s a lonely feeling. You’re wishing and praying that the free throws would go in, and they didn’t. I just told them to stay solid. We had to do a great job and make sure everybody locked in. We started switching one through five just so we wouldn’t give any easy shots. When we were up three, I decided to foul because all of the momentum was going toward those guys, and I didn’t want them to come down and make a three. I thought that if they made a three in this building with the crowd involved, I thought it would be tough to win in overtime.”
“It’s tough because we’ve played Virginia plenty of times, and you don’t realize how long you don’t go for scoring. They’re good. They do a great job. Tony [Bennett] has built a great program here. I don’t know the stat on it, but he hasn’t lost many games here at home. They can defend you, and at that point, I didn’t know how long we hadn’t scored, but what we talked about is, ‘Look, if we can’t score, then you’ve got to make sure they don’t score. Don’t let them get away from you.’”
“All I could see was the replay. I saw D.J. [Funderburk] had gotten shoved and hit in the back. I didn’t see the whole play. It wouldn’t be fair for me to comment any more past that until I take a look at the play. They called it a double foul.”
“I do sometimes, and sometimes I don’t. It hurts a little bit when the game’s on ESPN, and guys don’t want to travel because it’s easier. Most of the people I know are at home right now, wishing they were here at the game so they could be jumping up and down with us and going to get ice cream, but I’m sure when I get to my phone, I’ll have at least 100 text messages or more.”
“We can only control what we can control. It’s a great road win for us. I’m proud of our guys. I’ve decided this year not to look at the NET. The other thing I’ll say about the ACC is about all the talking heads are talking about how the ACC is down. I don’t agree with that; I think the ACC is just balanced. I think we’re still one of the top conferences in the country. We just don’t have the superstars. This league might not have the guys that I played against in the last couple of years. Virginia had three, Carolina had three, Duke had three, and all of those guys could be future Hall of Famers. Those guys come along once in a while, not all the time. I think our league is fine. I think we have a great league.”
“I thought it was good. I don’t get caught up in ‘because I’m from Virginia.’ Any win in this league is great, especially a road win. I have tremendous respect for what Tony’s done here and the program. Because I am from Virginia, I do respect the fact of what he’s done and what he’s built here. He’s taken this to a national championship program. We’re excited because it’s a road win, not just because it’s in Virginia.”
“I don’t know how long he’ll be out. When I saw him get hit, I thought he would have something like whiplash. He is in the concussion protocol. Whether he’ll be ready by Saturday or not, I don’t know. Each individual player heals at different times, so I don’t know what’s going to happen with him. I texted with him this morning, asking him how he was feeling, and he said he was doing okay. He was actually in the training room. That’s all I know. As for Pat’s ankle, Pat has sprained that ankle maybe 20 times in his career, so hopefully he’ll be fine also.”
“He’s good. I want him to take this as a compliment: in the scouting report, we called him ‘Jack Salt.’ He brings some of the same things to the table as Jack Salt. He’s big, he’s strong, and he blitzes out on ball screens. He’s a good player, and we certainly knew about him coming. I thought that was a great complement for him."