KEATTS: "It's A Great Opportunity For A Signature Win"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media ahead of the Wolfpack’s matchup against Duke Wednesday evening.
NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.
“I think it’s a great opportunity for us because we’re playing against two teams who are ahead of us in the standings. It’s a great opportunity for us. As you get into February, sometimes you’re going to play guys who are below you or equal to you. It’s an opportunity to have a chance to be able to play both of these guys on our home floor, and it’s a great opportunity that I certainly hope our kids look forward to.”
“We talk about the importance of this Duke game because it’s our next game, but it’s also a great opportunity for us to get a signature win for our resume. When you look where we’re at right now, we’ve got a couple of good non-conference wins, we’ve got a very good win against UVa on the road, but the two games this week can certainly help our resume. We talk about that. We talk about staying in the moment. I don’t get into the next couple of games. All we've talked about is our next opponent which is obviously improve.”
“We’re going to lock into one game, and that’s all you can do. We’ve been able to do that so far with this group and just concentrate on the same path that we’ve been in the last couple of years. When you look at us two years ago at this stage, we were 8-6 and found a way to win 11 games, and last year, I think we were right at 7-7. Our focus is going to stay right on Duke, and it’s obviously a very good Duke team that we’ve got to play.”
“I hope so. I know I would if I’m a player. Tre Jones is a very good point guard. He’s one of the better point guards in the country and, certainly, in our league. He makes them go. He’s a very good player, so I hope our guys will step up for the challenge.”
“I’m happy with my team. If you would have told me going into this season, at this stage, we would win two out of the three road games during this stretch, I’d have been happy. We were a couple of possessions away from winning all three of our road games. Our guys are playing pretty good basketball at this time. You never try to get too high or too low, or you never take one loss too seriously or a win too seriously. When we dropped the Boston College game, we don’t have time to worry about that game. We’ve got to focus in on Duke who is, at this current time, leading our conference.”
“We’ve only played them twice. We played them here, and we played them over there, and we played well. We were able to make some shots. It was my first year here, and we were coming off losing at Clemson and Notre Dame, and it was our first ACC game here of mine. We just played well. We made some shots, we got out in transition, and we were able to get some easy baskets. I think the same thing. They’re good. When you look at last year’s team, they had a really good team, but it was full of superstars. They’ve still got really good players, guys who are obviously going to be able to play in the NBA in the near future. That being said, this particular team is a better overall team than the individual guys that they had last year, and that makes it tough because they’re starting to play well together.”
“It says more than what the national media thinks. I’ve said this all along; this is a heck of a conference, and I’m excited to be one of the coaches in the conference. It’s tough, but it’s a good thing for us because we need a great opportunity to have a chance to be able to advance our season.”
“He’s tough. The guy can score. He’s long, athletic, and a big-time problem. He blocks shots on the other end. He runs the floor. He’s capable of stepping outside and making threes. He is as good as anybody I’ve ever seen, especially going over that right shoulder. He can score the basketball, and it’s going to be a big challenge for us. We’ve got to defend him as a team. I don’t think we have one individual guy on our team that can guard him individually.”
“I think it’s ridiculous. I really do. We’ve got 15 teams. I would think that some people would actually go back and look at the old eye test. If you’re telling me that some of our teams, six through 15, can’t play in the NCAA, that’s crazy. Our games are competitive. I think we’re getting penalized because our games are competitive year-round this time. Take into consideration that we added two games to our schedule. Would our conference be a little more respected if we played two other outside opponents as opposed to playing 18 games like in the past? I think this conference is as good as anybody. I think you matched us up, conference against conference, we would do well. Unfortunately, I hope that changes. When you get into that room when it’s time to select, I think the guys will realize the ACC is a lot better than people are giving us credit for. We’re beating up on each other. Even our top tier teams are losing to guys that are in our conference, and if our conference is only worthy of three, that wouldn’t happen.”
“I was one of those coaches that said that too. I’ll change just a little bit. It makes a big difference in guys who are not three-point shooters. For the guys who were comfortable making shots at the line where it was at, I think the specialty guys can still shoot it even though some of them may struggle. For guys who are marginal three-point shooters, I think it has affected those guys in a lot of ways.”
“I’ve always felt like it would be something that should happen if they figure out how to do it. It can get a little chaotic. What does that mean? What does it look like? I don’t think we have a clear understanding of who can transfer and when you can transfer. We talk about it all the time. We’ve been talking about it for years. Are you going to add a GPA to it? Are you just going to let them go one time and be able to transfer? I’m one of those guys that says if everybody’s doing the same thing, I’m okay with it. If they decide to go that route, let them go; don’t put a GPA on it. Do the right thing, and if you want to be able to go play, transfer one time. But what happens is that if you do the one time, there’s always waivers for different situations, and one time may turn into two or three different times. It’s a tough thing, but I’ll support whatever our conference does, especially if everybody’s doing it across the board.”
“Given our injuries and manpower, I wish there was a rule that you could have them transfer at the semester and kind of swap them out. Thomas Allen had surgery, so he wouldn’t have been able to play. Trust me; if he could play, we would play him right now.”
“It’s tough. We’re one of the only few sports that you play two semesters. We’ve got a lot of different things. I just want the rules to go across the board. If you’re going to let some of the Olympic sports do it, then let us do it. I don’t want two different rules because I think it sends two different messages to everybody.”
“We preach it a lot, but I try not to put all of that pressure on guys because I’m not even sure these guys can handle it. We’re different. Everybody that I’m talking to, we’re all a little older. The things that we value and the things that we see, kids today don’t necessarily see it. We lose a game, for example, to Boston College, and it may take me 24 to 48 hours to get over it. Thirty minutes later, kids may be over it, and they’ve moved on. Sometimes, I think, with our guys, they don’t understand how big a game may be. We may preach it to them, but sometimes they don’t understand it. I know that doesn’t necessarily sound right, but that’s how kids think today. With us, we’re talking about Duke. It’s our next game, so we’re trying to get well because we just lost at Boston College, but also by the way, if you win this game, it’s a great opportunity for you to improve your resume."