Kevin Keatts: "We Fought For 40 Minutes"

Kevin Keatts added another milestone to his NC State coaching career Tuesday night. The Wolfpack’s bench boss and his team knocked off No. 17 UNC 79-76 at PNC Arena for Keatts’ first home win over the Tar Heels and the Pack’s first home win over its rival since 2013. 

Keatts spoke to the media following the upset victory, here’s a full breakdown of everything he had to say: 

Opening statement

First of all, I’m proud of my team. I thought we fought for 40 minutes. One of the things we talked about in the locker room, and obviously we didn’t close the half the right way, but basketball’s a game of runs. I thought we got up really big in the first half and then didn’t close it in the second. They made a little comeback in the second half, but we bended a little bit, we never broke. Our guys were really locked in. We played a tremendous game. I’m excited about the way we played. 

When we scheduled the Saint Louis game, we don’t win this Carolina game if we don’t play the Saint Louis game. It’s a very identical game, because we were up similar, I think it was seven-eight points against Saint Louis at half time, but we just didn’t have enough bodies and we didn’t finish the game. I thought we did a great job finishing the game. I’m excited for our guys. I’m excited for one reason, that we’re 1-0 in the conference going into Christmas break. We played a very good Carolina team. They’re very talented. They’re tough to guard. They’ve got great size, they get out in transition. But I thought it was a really good game by us.

How important was the performance of Manny Bates tonight?

Manny was great. When you look at his stat line, I think it was 14 points, seven rebounds and five blocks. He knew it. We knew he was going to have to play against four guys who were 6-10 or better. But he did a tremendous job. I thought he held his own. He did a great job rebounding the ball. He protected the paint for us when we got beat off the dribble. And then obviously he did a great job being around the basket and finishing. 

I thought Jaylon Gibson came in and did a great job. When you look at his stat line, he didn’t have much, but we were able to throw a bigger body in there as far as his height. And then Jericole Hellems, everybody’s going to kill him because he didn’t play well and he was 0 for 8. But he battled, and he did a great job. Garrison Brooks has hurt us pretty much any time we played, and I thought he did a good job of guarding him most of the night.

What can you say about Shakeel Moore’s play? 

He’s fearless, tough. Didn't know he was playing UNC. The only reason he knew he was playing UNC is because you all told him after the game. He loves to play, between him and Cam Hayes, we got two really talented guards. Obviously those guys are really good but he made shots, what an incredible dunk he had, a great defender, and it was good for him to play well for us.

How contagious is his toughness? 

Probably the last guy that I even coached when I was an assistant there was guys like Peyton Siva, who were just tough, just bulldogs. Shak’s tough. He’ll fight you. He will claw at you, he is super athletic, super competitive. One of the things we have talked about in recruiting is we want to get guys who are super tough or super skilled, and stay away from the in between. As we saw him, this kid is not a top 100 guy, he is a really good basketball player, him and both Cam were talking about the days of playing AAU together and obviously they were excited about their opportunity to play, and he showed up.

Did he have that look in his eye knowing about who he was going up against?

I don’t know about that look in his eye, I know I am just glad he’s on my team. 

Do you worry about your team being safe over Christmas break? 

I worry about them before Christmas break. The virus is spiking everywhere, you know I made the decision to allow these guys to go home. Christmas to me is about family. Unfortunately for me I wont get a chance to go home and see my parents in Lynchburg, Virginia because I don’t want to obviously in case I have something and pass it along to those guys but I thought it was important for them to get the opportunity to go home. We’ve talked about trying to do the right thing and try not to be in crowds. It’s going to be tough because everybody is going to try to be congratulating them on their big win before christmas. But to answer your question I am always worried I will continue to worry, it's just a tough deal we are dealing with.

What effect did an empty building have on the game? 

I don’t know that, and I don’t know if we ever would know that. It's just one of those things that we’ve talked about. I think the way we play helps us a bit different than some other teams because we press and it forces you to use energy, and you become your own energy at times. I don’t know, I hope our fans and I know they are, they’re at home they are enjoying the victory but we got great fans, I wish they were here to see it, but on the same note it doesn’t take away from the win, I’m excited about it.

What do you think it’s like for guys from North Carolina to win this game?

I think the biggest thing is when you get a win against Carolina, a lot of times people think we shouldn’t have that win, so they make so much about the guys that we have on our team from Carolina. We are excited that we beat Carolina, but that's not the narrative, the narrative is that we are excited that we could start off our conference 1-0. This is the toughest conference in college basketball. We didn't get a chance to play Louisville. But when you look at Carolina, some of those guys are from different places so it's not that type of rivalry where they got a bunch of Carolina guys and we got a bunch of Carolina guys, our guys are just excited to win. And I don’t have to tell you guys, that's a great program, Roy does a great job over there, we won the game and we’ll move on, we’re 1-0 and we are excited about it.

How important was Devon Daniels’ play down the stretch?

He’s matured. You guys have reported on Devon Daniels for the last couple years. It’s been in the past where he can shoot you into games or shoot you of it. I know what type of player I have in him so I wanted to trust in my older guys. He made plays. You should have seen him in the first half when he was sitting on the bench through every time out, he’s cheering these guys on, encouraging them. You should have seen him in the second half when he came back in and continued the play that he had in the first half. I’m excited about his maturity. That’s one of the things I’m going to take away from this game, that Devon Daniels, I think, took a big step forward as far as a leader today.

Is it bittersweet to get your first win in PNC Arena in front of no fans?

Any win in this conference is golden. It doesn’t matter if it’s UNC or bittersweet. It doesn’t take away from it. There won’t be an asterisk by it. It was a good game. It’s a good win. We’re excited about winning any game in this conference if we had to play outside.

DJ Funderburk and Ebenezer Dowuona were here but didn’t play. Did the medical staff have any extra concerns with holding them out?

Nothing extra, it just takes time. This is a lengthy process. They have to quarantine for 10 days. If they have symptoms a couple days before the 10 days is over, it can be extended. Once you come out, it’s not automatic that you’re able to get the echo and all those different tests that you have to have. That may take a couple days. Then you have to read the test, and once the Dr. clears them, it may be four or five days before they return. So we’re going to have to get used to that. Hopefully nobody else gets the virus and we can be virus free, but we’re going to have to play with who we have. We were lucky to get Cam today, I thought he did a good job. I thought Seabron did a good job today. Without those guys, I don’t think we win the game. 

What was the reasoning for Shakeel Moore not playing in the final stretch?

I wanted the veterans. Those guys had earned the right to finish the game. They were veteran guys. We’ve all talked, not me, I’ve said great things, but we’ve all had so many negative things to say about Braxton Beverly over the years, but he’s a calming effect. He keeps everybody calm. He’s a tough kid. I wanted him with the ball in his hand at the end of the game. I went with the guys who I felt like could finish the game. 

What was your team’s mentality during the runs Carolina had?

We did a tremendous job handling everything that was presented to us and the way they had their runs. The only difference was, if you want me to be nitpicky about it, we missed too many free throws down the stretch. But I couldn’t have had better free-throw shooters at the free-throw line. But I thought our guys kept composure and our huddle was composed. Those guys finished, they talked about ‘It’s OK, they made a run. Let’s get a stop now. Let’s communicate. Let’s score on the other end.’ We did a great job with it.