LOCKER ROOM REPORT: Keatts, Moore, Bates on loss to Duke
Plenty went wrong in NC State’s 69-53 loss to Duke Saturday, but turnovers (18) were by far the biggest culprit.
Kevin Keatts, Shakeel Moore and Manny Bates spoke to the media following the loss, here’s a full breakdown of everything they had to say:
Kevin Keatts
Opening statement
As I told the team after the game, it’s going to be hard to win any ACC game, or any conference game down the stretch, if our ball security is not very good. To be honest with you, we stink right now in that area. I’m only going back to the last couple games. Against Syracuse, we had 20 turnovers. Against Duke tonight, we had 18. We don’t put ourselves in a great situation to win, no matter how hard we play and no matter who has the hot hand. When you look at the first half, we gave it away 13 times, and we dug ourselves such a big hole. And then you’re climbing back out of that hole the entire game. It’s not just, I wish I could point to one guy who’s doing it, it’s everybody.
When you take the stat sheet and go down the stat sheet, it’s not a good thing for us. It’s not a good formula. It’s weird, because I’ve never been on this end of it where we’ve turned it over so much. We’re usually the team that’s turning people over. We have to solve it. It’s on me. I’m the coach, I’ll get it straight. We’re just not very good in that area. When you’re not good in that area, obviously it doesn’t work well for you to win games. I think we gave away 22 points off turnovers. Those are opportunities that you don’t have a chance to defend against the other team. I think we gave away 16 fast-break points. Some of that is a combination of turning the ball over. And it’s everybody.
For a couple days, we didn’t Cam Hayes or Braxton Beverly. Those two guys, who have been pretty solid for us. We found out they had a stomach virus that’s kind of going around, so we were able to sit those guys out for a couple days. If you guys didn’t know this, [Ebenezer Dowuona] wasn’t at the game today, because he’s actually one who’s going through it right now. So we have to get better in that area. We’re not going to shy away from it. I’m sure I don’t have to tell you guys, you’ve seen it enough. You’ve been around enough basketball that right now, that’s not an area that we’re doing well in. We’ve got to get better.
Do you have an update on Braxton Beverly?
I don’t have anything. I’ll get it later on. The promising thing was he was sitting in the locker room after the game, as opposed to in the training room. But he’s going through it. He’s in the pain. The problem with him is he’s not going to let you know he’s in pain. So it’s going to have to come from our sports medicine staff to try to figure it out.
What went wrong defensively?
I thought [Matthew Hurt] was tremendous. We did have a couple breakdowns where he made shots. But also give him credit. I don’t want to take away from his performance. Because even when we switched out, we switched out to take away from the pick and pop and he would shoot over a shorter guy. We switched out with Manny a couple times and made shots. He had an incredible day. He’s a good basketball player. He made shots. When they added Mark Williams to the lineup, it allows Matthew Hurt to be able to play on the perimeter and not so much inside. And he’s probably one of if not the toughest matchup in our league, because he can spread you out at 6-9, 6-10 and make shots. So I don’t want to take away from his performance saying we didn’t do a great job, because I thought he played tremendous.
Did you think motivation was a problem today?
I didn’t. I think our guys were motivated to play. I thought our guys were excited about the opportunity to play. We stink right now in turning the ball over. I don’t care how motivated you are and how much energy you come out with, we never gave ourselves a chance to win this game when you go into halftime. I knew we turned it over, when I saw the halftime stat sheet, I almost lost my mind, because I’m saying, ‘13 turnovers, that’s more than you want to give away for the entire game. I’ll say this, luckily we did a better job in the second half, only turning it over five times. I think their motivation is there. Our guys are fighting. Our guys are bothered by the fact that we don’t have great ball security. I do think that’s something we can fix, but we need to fix it in a hurry, because it’s not a great formula to win ACC games.
Did you anticipate having problems with the pick and pop?
We knew through scouting that they would come in and through scouting, because he’s playing more that four in pick and pop. I thought early on we made a couple mistakes and we didn’t switch off as they dragged the screen or they dragged the screen as they dribbled and threw it back to him. But once we start switching, it’s tough. You’re switching it’s a 4-1 screen, and so they won’t be able to pick and pop on you. But you’ve got a 5-11, 6-foot guy, who can shoot over most big guys. I thought early on, we lost him and he made some great plays. The first was out of transition, we didn’t locate. The second one was on a ball screen where they dragged the ball screen and threw it back to him. At that point, we started switching the screen, because I didn’t think they could hurt us inside by the time they moved the basketball around. And he made shots. Give him credit, he was as good as advertised today.
Do you think playing young players will give you some value in this experience?
I hope so. I do think there is. Here’s what’s encouraging to me is, when you look around our league and you start looking at the sophomores that played last year and really struggled, they were good basketball players but they struggled. And they’re playing great. [Armando Bacot], [Manny Bates] is playing great. Isaiah Wong is another one who’s playing really well. So you’re hoping that this experience that a guy like Shakeel Moore and Cam Hayes and also Dereon Seabron, those guys will get experience and it’ll be different.
Those guys will be really good basketball players for us, and they’re doing the best they can, but right now as young guys, I have to get them to lock in where we don’t turn the ball over. And the turnovers are not being blamed on our freshmen. It’s all of us. It starts with me as a head coach and it trickles down to the players. We’ve won 20 games the last three years because we could turn people over. Now it’s going back towards us. We have to get better in that area. Our ball security has to get better.
Shakeel Moore
How do you try to stay level after a big loss like this?
Just getting back to the gym, focus on what we gotta clean up. We had some errors in the game that we gotta pick up on and come back together. I just feel like when we come back on Monday, next practice day, we gotta lock in and control what we can control.
What can you guys do to improve with the turnovers?
That right there, that’s our problem. We’ve just got to tighten up and protect the ball. This is the biggest reason why. That’s 18 times we don’t have a chance to score on the offensive end. So we’ve just got to have more ball security and quit turning the ball over. We need those possessions. Possessions count in this league.
Manny Bates
What did coach say to you guys in the locker room afterwards?
We have a lot to work on and like I said we just had too many turnovers, he made it clear that this is an issue and we’re gonna have to work on it when we get back to practice.
How are you feeling right now?
I’m frustrated at any loss but especially one of this magnitude, I’m definitely frustrated a lot.
What went wrong defensively?
Just too many breakdowns and then just not communicating as well as we normally should be. Just communication and too many breakdowns on defense.
How much does not having a leader like Devon affected things on the defensive end?
[Losing Devon] can definitely hurt us but everyday we’re trying to find ways to bring that energy, bring that kind of leadership in practice and on the court during games, so we’re trying to work through it everyday and get better at it.
Do you see any similarities as to why it was tough to handle the ball (against Syracuse and Duke)?
In times like this it’s hard to pinpoint what exactly is our issue with taking care of the ball. So when we come back and watch film, we’ll see the difference. But for me personally I don’t see any difference between the Syracuse game and this game, we just have to get better.