LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Manny Bates, Braxton Beverly
NC State sophomore forward Manny Bates and senior guard Braxton Beverly met with the media via Zoom following the Wolfpack's 80-69 loss to Saint Louis Thursday evening.
NOTE: Click on each player’s respective thumbnail to watch each press conference.
Manny Bates
What did you see from Saint Louis’ Yuri Collins? How well do you know him?
“Yuri Collins and I are cousins on my dad’s side. His game is terrific. He’s a great facilitator. He’s a hard-hitting guard. He can get down the lane and finish when he needs to, but he’s good at getting his teammates open.”
How much confidence does it give you when the other guys are looking to feed you the ball?
“It doesn’t give an added boost of confidence. We’ve been working in practice on me being comfortable playing in the post and having the ball in my hand. For it to pay off in today’s game, it means a lot.”
Were you ever thinking about the stats you were accumulating?
“I’ve never really been a stat guy. I just do what I can to win, and if that means me having 20 points, 10 blocks, or 30 points, it doesn’t matter. I just want to win. That’s all that matters to me.”
What was it like not playing alongside your partner in crime in the post, D.J. Funderburk?
“It’s always tough, but I knew the situation. We’ve just got to fight with who we have, and that’ s what we did today. We fought. It’s tough. We’ve just got to get back, watch film, and get better in practice.”
What are some positives you can take from this experience?
“Again, we have a small group of guys, but we’re all fighters. Whether it’s nine of us or all 15 of us, we’re going to fight no matter what. On both ends of the court, offensive and defensive, we’re going to fight for 40 minutes.”
How does a performance like this help you bottle your aggression so you can give a boost to the team?
“Just my confidence from practice, just knowing that we have more people to help us out during our deep stretches. We’re just going to keep building, and when we come back at full strength, it’s going to be even better for us in the long run.”
As a shot blocker, how do you balance when to go for a shot and when to go for a rebound?
“My instinct is to go get every shot, but now, especially with today’s game when we were so shorthanded, I had to pick and choose which shots to go after. It’s definitely something I battle in practice with, but I feel like I’m getting better with every practice and every game.”
Is that something you feel like you try to do to limit your foul trouble?
“Definitely. We work on a lot of me just walling up, and if I do jump up, I’ve got to be straight up for the majority of the part."
Braxton Beverly
What can you take from this game in terms of positives?
“Really the two biggest things we can take from it is, if we put two halves together, we’re going to be a really good team, and there’s an upside that we have guys coming back. I’m not here to make excuses or anything, but we haven’t played a game in two weeks. They’ve been playing, they’re a veteran club, and they’re a really good team. They won a lot of games last year, and they have basically every single person back who made an impact on that winning team. We have a lot to be positive about moving forward. There’s a lot we can learn and help us build to become better.”
How challenging was it, especially with the style you want to play, to get up and down with the limited rotation?
“It was definitely a little more challenging. I think that was kind of obvious in the second half. We got tired, and the fatigue affected us mentally. Thankfully, we have guys coming back, and that’s going to be great for us. The first three games of the season shows how we want to play in and out: guys go hard then get a break, and the next guys go hard then get a break. It was a little tougher to do that tonight.”
What impressed you about Saint Louis’ Jordan Goodwin tonight?
“His rebound ability. I think I said this in the middle of the game: it’s like the ball’s attracted to him. I know he goes hard, but it seems like it falls in his hands. He’s a really good, really tough player. He goes extremely hard, and he’s going to take that team a long way if he keeps that up.”
Was there a mental side to coming back in the second half to score to keep the team in the game?
“I was disappointed in myself in the first half. I think it was just getting my legs back under me. I told my teammates at halftime that I owed them. I tried to make up for it and be more of the player that I am. Personally, it took that first half to get myself back going in a real game setting.”
How much different are things for you as far as being a scorer when you’re playing the point versus playing at shooting guard?
“I just try to take what the defense gives me, run our offense, and take my shots when they’re there. The biggest thing that was helping for me is Manny. Manny had a great game inside. He had a whole lot of attention focused on him, and he opened it up for us, especially in the second half, for us guards to get going, get open looks, and take it to the basket. I’m just taking what I get.”
Kevin Keatts talked about the team struggling with rebounding and 50-50 balls. What can you pinpoint that on?
“I think [the layoff] is definitely something. In the first practices, we only had six people. Then we slowly added two or three a few days later. It definitely takes getting back into an actual game setting to know how to get the ball, who to hit, who to box out, and whatnot. It’s also something that you can make up for by playing hard, and that’s going to come. You all know we’re going to play hard the whole 40 minutes. This is something we can build on. As we get our legs back under us and get our breath back, we’ll be fine.”
How do you describe what you saw from Bates and the impact he can have when he’s not in foul trouble?
“At halftime, he had six blocks. He had his offensive game going. He’s worked really hard in the offseason to be an offensive threat as well, and that shows. He was great. That’s what we need from him to go forward. He’s a veteran guy. He’s been here. He knows how it works. I’m proud of him. I’m happy for him."