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NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts: "I'm Really Excited About Our Guys"

October 13, 2020
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Led by the likes of returning players such as Devon Daniels, DJ Funderburk, Braxton Beverly, Manny Bates and Jericole Hellems, and with a talented freshman class coming in, NC State men’s basketball has a lot of potential coming into head coach Kevin Keatts’ fourth season. 

 

This should be Keatts’ deepest, most versatile roster yet. Keatts spoke with reporters via Zoom at NC State’s virtual media day Tuesday, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say: 


Opening Statement

Hello, everyone. I know it’s a little bit different, but I will say this; I am excited to see all of you guys. I know some of you guys don’t believe that, but I actually really miss some of you guys, having a chance to have a little face-to-face with you and being able to meet in the Dail Center. Obviously, we know these are different times. I think we all have had to adjust to it. 

That being said, let’s move more towards my team. I’m really excited about our guys. We ended up getting our guys in the second part of summer school. We’ve been working since then. I like our potential. I love our guys. I love the fact that we’ve got an older group on the back end, and then we’ve got some younger guys; five new guys and then [Dereon] Seabron, that makes six. We’re working extremely hard. I finally got a team that I really like, that we can play at least nine or 10 guys and then play guys at multiple positions. Hopefully you’ll get a chance to see us at full strength. Obviously, we know that there could be some challenges throughout the year. Some guys have really stepped up. 

You’re going to see different bulk on some guys. Manny [Bates] has put on some weight, some very good weight. Jericole [Hellems] has done the same thing. A guy like D.J. Funderburk we worked a lot at playing a little four and five, and so hopefully you’ll have a chance to see him play some perimeter stuff. Our two veteran guards have been really good for us. Braxton Beverly has been a tremendous leader, and Devon Daniels has stepped up and we are hoping that we can get the same Devon Daniels that we saw at the end of the year. 

So, I’m excited about it. We’re continuing to work with our schedule. I know a lot of you guys are going to want to know where we are with scheduling. Obviously when the NCAA moved the date back when we can start, it’s kind of thrown us off a little bit. We’ve had to reschedule and do some different stuff. I look forward to seeing all you guys in some capacity hopefully during the game. Hopefully we get to a point where we can have a bunch of fans and we can meet live, but if not, then I’ll be talking to you through Zoom throughout the entire year. 

What was the team able to do this offseason compared to a normal offseason? 

Where the offseason hurt us a little bit is that we normally would have eight weeks in the summer to work with the new guys. Our older guys, it doesn’t affect as much because those guys could use a little rest instead of going eight weeks. We had to alter stuff. I didn’t have a chance to work with, especially our guards Cam Hayes and Shakeel Moore, for the entire eight weeks. Now, when they moved the season back, we kind of got that back a little bit.

We’ve been doing individual workouts. We started off getting a lot of shots up. We worked our way up to some two-on-two, then three-on-three because obviously the contact tracing. Just last week we were able to start some five-on-five stuff. I like our team. I like the way we’re working. Our guys are working extremely hard. The great thing about freshmen is that they don’t know what they don’t know, so right now they are continuing to play hard. They’ve been bringing it everyday. 

I’m impressed at the fact that we’ve got gym rats, and I can see our culture kind of changing because of the 14 guys that we have on our roster, I know that 10 or 11 will get in there regardless of whether the coaches are going to be there. It’s been totally different, but we’ve kind of been able to catch up a little bit because we were behind in the summer. 

How closely did you watch what the NBA and NHL did with their bubbles and do you have concerns about playing an indoor sport? 

I do have concerns. The concern is that we are trying to figure out how we’ll pull it off. The biggest thing that’s affected, that could affect all of us, is contact tracing. We’re trying to figure out how it is going to work. At this time right now, we are testing once a week. Soon, within the next week or so, we’ll go to three times a week. There’s a possibility that we could end up at seven times a week. I’m not sure if that’s actually gonna happen. 

A lot of the times when someone is positive with COVID it hasn’t been because of what happened on the court. It’s because of the things they do off the court. So obviously being an indoor sport, we are concerned. I thought the NBA did a tremendous job. That being said, they were in a bubble. We’ve got to try to create a bubble within our own selves on campus, but it is totally different. 

What are you expecting from this freshman class? 

Well, I want to take this time to first brag about those guys in the classroom. They’ve been tremendous. When you look at those guys, I think I told Jeff Gravely the other day, I think they are all above a 3.0, maybe even towards a 3.5. So, they’ve come in and as a freshman group have been very focused on their academics, which you really want. I’ve always felt like any guy that can perform in the classroom will do great for you on the basketball court. 

Talent wise, I’m excited about it. It’s a big class, and then once again if you add Seabron to it, it makes it a bigger class. They’re guys that work extremely hard. 

I like what Cam Hayes has brought to the table. He’s a guy with a tremendous IQ as a basketball player. He’s going to be really good for us. Both him and Shakeel Moore have the ability to play together at times. Both of them are capable of playing the point and the shooting guard. I think you’re going to see a lot of that from both of those guys. Cam is a little bit farther along because he’s played more point than anybody. He’s doing a tremendous job. 

As we touch on Shakeel Moore, he’s a tremendous athlete. He’s probably our best on-the-ball defender in our program. He does a tremendous job affecting the game on the defensive end. He’s starting to get a little bit more confident in his shot. Cam has done a tremendous job in that area because he’s making shots behind the 3-point line. Also he’s a great one-two dribble pullup guy. What we’re trying to do is get him to be more effective really getting to the backboard. 

Then you get into the bigger guys; Nick Farrar, who is going to be really good. At his size, he’s going to play a little four and possibly some three. He’s a guy that’s had to get in great shape, as we talked about. One of the things for him is making sure that he can play to our style. Obviously getting into great shape, watching what he is eating and changing his entire body. He’s a guy, when you think about what he did in high school, who can really score the basketball. So, he’s going to be a really good basketball player for us. 

I also love our two young post guys: Jaylon Gibson and [Ebenezer] Dowuona. They are sponges. Those guys are active. Jaylon Gibson has a nose for the basketball. He offensive rebounds everything. He’s a guy that’s going to play a little four and five for us. When you think of Jaylon Gibson, think of a younger D.J. Funderburk. He’s got a chance to be really talented. He can handle the ball on the break, step out and shoot 3s. 

With [Dowuona], think of a younger Manny Bates. He can block shots. He’s a physical presence; a nice body, can score around the basket. He’s going to be really good. Those guys, I’m excited about them. 

And then not to forget Dereon Seabron because I always consider him a freshman. He’s a guy who is talented, can play one, two or three, and in a pinch we can play him as a small guard as a four if we go with a four-guard lineup. He’s really good at getting to the paint, maybe our best paint-touch guy that we have. We continue to work on him with his outside shot, making sure he gets a lot of confidence in that area. 

I love the class. I love the class for a lot of reasons. Those guys have come in with an unbelievable approach. They’re really good friends off the court. They all compete everyday. They have a chance to be really good in an NC State uniform. 

Can you take us through the ACC coaches’ proposal for an all-inclusive NCAA Tournament this year? 

I think our coaches around the country, I wouldn’t say got beat up on it, but I think a lot of people weighed in on it and kind of disagreed with it without anybody really understanding what was behind it. So, I want you to think about this now. The NCAA came out and said that we, in order to be qualified for the tournament, said you’ve got to play 13 games. Well, we don’t have a bubble. If you take any section of our schedule, let’s say December, and for whatever reason our teams have to shut down for 14 to 21 days. 

The advantage that football had is that they had a couple weeks built in to substitute some games if they lost games. If you lose a game in the ACC and your players have to sit out for 14 to 21 days, when my schedule is released I want you to pick out any 14 to 21 days and there’s a possibility that you may lose four, five, maybe even six games. 

What we tried to do was take the gamesmanship away from it. Also, let’s reward everybody. It’s an unusual year. We are doing unusual things in COVID, in 2020. So instead of throwing it out there that said ‘you have to do this and this and this,’ how about we let everybody in the tournament. I think there was a way that it could have been done. We’ve played in the NIT. A lot of teams play in the CBI. There’s the CIT. So, why not add an extra week to it and maybe even plan the home games with the higher seed at home, and try to figure out everything else to get down to a 68-team tournament. That kind of was the thought behind it. 

Think about this now; if you get down to the end of the year and, for example, we’re playing great basketball and we know that we’re going to make the tournament and play against a team that has no chance to make the tournament, what kind of basketball does that look like at the end? And then, do you go into an ACC Tournament, do we have a tournament first of all, do you go into a tournament and somehow somebody gets infected or has a positive COVID test, does that affect how you play in the NCAA Tournament, which is coming right after the ACC Tournament?

So, it was a lot of thought. It was a lot of conversation. I thought it was a tremendous idea. I thought it was a great idea because it was a one-time situation where everybody has the chance to get in. We needed in this world with sports, we need some good things to happen. I thought it would be a great feel-good story for everyone. 

Where does the team stand at point guard and how does Thomas Allen fit into that? 

I’m in a good place. I feel like I’m a football coach because everybody is wondering who the starting quarterback is gonna be. In my situation, I’ve got several guys that I feel comfortable can play the point. A couple of freshmen, or actually three when you add Seabron. I’m going to keep adding him to that freshman group. But, Braxton Beverly has played a lot of point for us in his career. When you look at Thomas Allen, Thomas Allen is a combo guard who can really score the basketball, but he’s had some moments at Nebraska where he’s played the point. 

I feel very confident with whoever we roll out to play that position. That guy won’t be on an island. I typically, because when you look at Markell Johnson and also Braxton Beverly, we typically put two guys on the court that can handle the basketball at the same time. We’ll share those duties. I like our guys. Early on, you’ll see a lot of guys playing the position. Cam Hayes is going to have the opportunity. Shakeel is going to have the opportunity. Dereon Seabron, and then obviously the two veteran guys who can really shoot the ball in Thomas Allen and Braxton Beverly. I would love to keep them off the point, but if I need to they are capable of playing it. 

How’s Braxton Beverly’s health, is his back OK now? 

You know Braxton’s my age now. He and I played high school together. I tease him about that all the time. His health is fine. He’s in practice. Wolfpack nation will be glad to hear that he’s shooting the ball well and he’s been in practice. But, that being said, because he’s my age, I have to take some days off where I can’t go hard and I can’t exercise as much. So we’re being very careful with him. 

Does he still have the beard? 

No beard. We got rid of the beard. If it’s a beard today, he added it on, or that’s the growth from the weekend. He’s got a little beard, but when I think of beard, I’m thinking of the beard you’re thinking about, I don’t want to get to that point again.

What’s the next step in Manny Bates’ development?

It was mind-boggling to me that Manny Bates didn’t make an all defensive team. I would have voted him as defensive player of the year. How many times have you seen a guy lead the ACC in shot blocks and not make a team? But he’s coming along offensively. He’s starting to get a lot more confidence around the basket. His development has been really, really huge for us this summer. You think about his shoulder and what he went through, and he was a little timid. He and I talked about this. Offensively, being careful with the way he’s hit and positioning himself so he doesn’t get hit hard. He’s starting to play through contact, he’s starting to not worry about his shoulder as much. He’s starting to become an offensive threat where we can throw the ball to him in the post. 

Does his technique as a shot blocker remind you of anyone you’ve seen or coached?

When we recruited him, I told my assistant coaches, ‘He’s going to lead the ACC in shot blocks.’ They were like, ‘No way.’ And he did it his first year playing. He’s got great timing. One of the things that I talked about is, I love the fact that he’s blocked all of those shots, that’s a good thing. The problem I’m having is, is it a good thing because that means our guards are getting beat off the dribble a lot? I want him to lead the league in shot blocks, but I also want him to play more minutes. So I don’t need those guys to get beat off the dribble where he’s having to block shots all the time. 

You talked about guys playing multiple positions, is this your best roster where you can have guys who can play that positionless basketball?

It’s our most versatile roster that we’ve had, and I wish it was a perfect 2020, because now we feel confident that on every given night, you’ll finally get a chance to see our system fully implemented. Obviously, we know that we’re going to have some challenges, just because everybody else will. But that being said, I love our roster. I love our versatility. I love the fact that guys can play multiple positions. I like our veteran guys. Our veteran guys have been tested through ACC play, and then our younger guys, the tough thing about this is that we don’t have a scrimmage or exhibition this year. We have to go right into playing. That’s the toughest thing, so I don’t have time to give our young guys a little chance to play in an exhibition game in front of a few fans or a scrimmage, they’re going to get thrown right in the fire. So we’ve got to create that in practice situations. 

Who would you say is the most versatile guy on the roster? 

I would say probably the most versatile guy would be Dereon Seabron because of his height. He can play one, two, three and if we go small ball he can play four. But he’s a guy that’s probably best suited for that. The next one would probably be [Jericole Hellems] because if we put him on the wing, he can play kind of a two-three and then into a four situation, and then he can also play five if we had to go small inside. 

Can Nick Farrar play five if you needed to go that small? 

I’m not sure yet. I’m still learning that. Jericole, because he knows where to be, it’s tough for a freshman to play five when you’re undersized, because more of it’s more about positioning. Ask me that in about a month and I’ll be able to answer that better.

You like to talk about preseason expectations for this team. Some early rankings have put NC State around the 10 or 11 spot in the ACC, do you feel like that’s a really low bar for this team?

First of all, thank you for wearing that teal today. It takes me back to my UNC-Wilmington days. You just teed me up to congratulate Devontae Cacock for winning a ring with the Lakers. He’s a kid that we recruited that didn’t have any high major offers, and now obviously he’s an NBA champion, which is great. 

I don’t get caught into rankings. I don’t know where they’re going to rank us; I don’t even know how you rank anybody. It’s going to be a different year because there’s a chance that you’re going to play some games without some of your better players. I like my roster; I don’t know if it’s my most experienced roster overall, but I do have four or five guys who are experienced, and then I’ve got some young guys. So it’s a different type of roster. That being said, we’ll listen, we’ll pay attention to where people rank us and we’ll figure it out at the end. I’ve always been excited about the fact that at the end of the year, we can have a chance to look and see where people say we would finish, and where we finish. So I’m excited about that, and my guys will be too, once I remind them about that.

How much different was it walking into your first camp without Markell Johnson? 

It’s different, but we experienced that last year. He wasn’t with us in the summer time because he was going through the pre-draft trying to figure out where he was at. That being said, Markell Johnson had a very good career for us. Where I think we’ll miss him more than anything is that it’s hard to deny the couple years that he had where he led the ACC in assists. But I’m not asking any of these guys to be Markell Johnson or C.J. Bryce. I want them to do it in a different way. They have to do it their way and the way we need them to do it. That being said, those two guys were good players for us. We’re grateful that they both played and stayed, were seniors and had good senior years for us. That being said, it gives other guys opportunities to step in.

Did Thomas Allen use his transfer year well for you guys, and what can we expect out of him?

A lot of people have forgotten about him. When you look at his last three years, he went to Brewster Academy, same place that T.J. Warren went. He probably has the leading scoring average there. He put up a lot of numbers. And then he went out to Nebraska and really averaged, in the last couple years, somewhere around 7-10 points a game, not quite as high as 10. What makes him unique is his ability to score the basketball. A lot of people look at him as a shooter.

I like at him as a guy that can score at all different levels. I’m excited about him. I hope people don’t talk about him. He can make shots. He’s a guy who can get hot in a quick moment, similar to Vinnie Johnson. I don’t want all you guys saying ‘Coach just said that Thomas Allen was Vinnie Johnson,’ but that’s the way he scores the basketball. And I like it. He’ll play different roles for us. You’re going to see him play some one, you’re going to see him play some two. I like that because he’s older, he also brings some leadership to the table. 

What are you hoping for and expecting for out of Devon Daniels and DJ Funderburk?

I want our fifth-year guys to be fifth-year guys. I want them to play like older guys. But I don’t want them to think that they’ve got to take the entire team on their shoulders. That’s one of the things we’ve talked about with these guys. Just play within yourself, show some leadership, bring the young guys along, help those guys get better and also work on getting better in different areas. With DJ, we want him to get better shooting the ball behind the 3-point line and more ball security. He only had eight assists on the year last year. So we’re going to play him at the four spot, he’s got to improve those types of spots. 

Braxton Beverly, we talked about earlier, he’s a guy that he has to stay healthy as much as we can, but he’s got to be able to play some point guard if we need to because we do have some good guys. 

Devon Daniels, I don’t want him to think that he has to do so much. I want him to be the Devon Daniels that played last year. At the end of the year, he was a really, really good basketball player. 

What kind of improvements do you want to see out of Jericole Hellems? 

Jericole Hellems, he’s like our tight end. That kid’s gotten pretty much every year. He’s the way you want a guy to progress. He went from a freshman year, got better as a sophomore, and then we’re hoping he has a breakthrough year as a senior. He was playing as good of basketball as anyone in the ACC before he took that nasty fall at Wake Forest. He’s good. You’ll see some opportunities for him to play the small forward this year. You’ll see him play some power forward this year. But he’s added on some bulk; he’s really done a great job working on his ball handling, because if he’s going to be a perimeter guy, I told him one of the things you’ve got to get better at is making decisions and handling the basketball, and he’s actually put in some work with that area. 

 

 
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