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NC State Basketball

KEATTS: "We Stopped Doing The Little Things"

March 2, 2020
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NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media following the Wolfpack's 88-69 road loss to No. 12 Duke Monday evening.

NOTE: Click the video in the player above to watch Keatts’ press conference.


“Guys, give Duke a lot of credit. I thought they did a tremendous job on round two. I say ‘round two’ because it was obviously a little different than two weeks ago when we played them in Raleigh. I thought the first half was really good. We did a great job of establishing ourselves, especially on the defensive end, in the first half. In the second half, when we stopped making shots was when we stopped doing the little things I thought they’d won. They had all the winning plays in the second half. When you look at us, it’s going to be hard for us to beat anybody in the conference, especially with a team like Duke on their home floor, when you give up 16 offensive rebounds and 25 points in transition. When we didn’t score, we didn’t get back, and we did a poor job of blocking out, and that’s something that we have to get better at. In our games that we win, we do a great job in that area. I thought in the first time we played them, we out-rebounded them, 51-43, and they completely out-rebounded us tonight. We’ll move on. I congratulate those guys. I thought they had a great bounce-back game and did a good job.”

“I thought the zone was effective in a way. It made us play through our post guys in the middle because they extended out a little bit. The shot that they gave up was more of a middle shot, and I’m okay with the way Jericole [Hellems] played there. I thought we beat them on a lot of ball screens in the first half because of the fact that Markell Johnson is good on ball screens and getting to the hole. That being said, we had our opportunities. We had some great looks, and for whatever reason, we just didn’t knock them down tonight.”

“I don’t feel like we missed an opportunity, but I thought we should have had the last shot of the half. There was a two-second differential between the shot clock and the game clock, and we took a boneheaded shot with nine seconds on the clock which led to an easy basket on the other end, so I thought the momentum shifted toward the half. I know Duke started off missing 12 of its first 13. That being said, we weren’t on fire ourselves. We didn’t make a lot of shots. It was a great first half, and it was a great start of a second half for the first seven or eight minutes. We stopped doing the little things. We stopped defending. We stopped doing the things that got us the lead early in the game.”

“I just think [C.J. Bryce] took an elbow. I think he’ll be fine. I haven’t talked to the trainers. I think he was okay after the game. I think, as he drove, his hand flicked out and hit him.”

“We’ve had three of them, so I’m always concerned about anytime a guy gets hit up here. I’m hopeful he’s okay. I don’t have anything to say that he’s not.”

“I thought we gave up so many offensive rebounds. Give Vernon Carey a lot of credit. He’s good. He didn’t kill us on the offensive glass, but I told our guys he was obviously the best player on the floor. He did a tremendous job. In round one, we did a good job of getting back at Cassius Stanley and Wendell [Carter], and neither one of those guys really got out in transition. We did the same thing in the first half. These guys are explosive in transition, especially in this building. I thought they were able to get out and get the crowd involved, and that certainly worked against us. We’ve got to do a better job moving forward because obviously that’s not a great formula for success. When we don’t block out and we don’t value the possession or make winning plays down the stretch, we come out on the short end of the stick, and we did tonight.”

“I think it got better, not to take away from their zone, because of our frustration of not making a few baskets. When you look around college basketball, it’s so funny how teams play defensively or in transition when they’re scoring versus when they’re not. We missed some shots, and they got some run-outs. We had a lack of communication, and it led to some easy baskets. I think Stanley had two of the best dunks he’s probably had all year though I shouldn’t say ‘all year’; he makes dunks all the time.”

“We’re getting better. Pat [Andree] is not 100 percent, and that’s why I don’t play him as much. Look, it’s the end of the year. We’ve played 29, 30 games so far. I told our guys, ‘Everybody’s banged up at this time of year.’ The teams that can figure out how to get a little rest and guys figure out how to get better and play through some fatigue and being a little banged up are fine. I think we’ve got eight guys that are ready. Hopefully, we can take this week for Pat to be a little bit more ready to play. We can really use him because of his ability to make shots outside. Poor Braxton Beverly doesn’t even sit down on the bench. He stands up the entire game because his back has been bothering him. That being said, I can name the other 14 games, and everybody’s got some problems with injuries and guys who are a little banged up.”

“None of them are easy to flush if you’re a competitor. We had a great opportunity to come in here and beat a good team on their home floor. I don’t flush any loss. My kids may be over it in about three or four hours. I’m going to watch the game again. I’m going to do it to myself again. We’ve got to get better. The winning plays were what we didn’t make. I don’t want to say what we didn’t do opposed to what Duke did. They did a tremendous job getting to the glass, getting out in transition, and scoring, and give those guys all the credit. They bounced back. I’m sure, after losing a couple of games and the way we played in Raleigh, they came back more heart-ready and more focused. They wanted the game, and they got it."

 
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