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NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts: "We're Handling Success The Right Way"

February 24, 2021
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NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media via Zoom following the Wolfpack's 68-61 win over No. 15 Virginia Wednesday evening.

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


 

Opening Statement

“We’ve talked over the last two or three weeks about playing a complete game, and I thought that we did that for the majority of what we did. I thought our guys did a tremendous job. When you look at the first half, I thought we played 17 minutes of great basketball. They had one segment where we lost a couple guys and they made some baskets. To say how proud I am of these guys, it’s really unbelievable with the fight that we’ve shown over the last few weeks. We’ve had so much adversity in this program this year with obviously the biggest one being COVID which everyone has, losing your senior leader [Devon Daniels], and being without another experienced guard in Thomas Allen. Just to see these guys grow up from practice to practice and from game to game, I thought they played tremendous. Look at D.J. [Funderburk] and the way he played. I thought Cam Hayes was tremendous down the stretch. He made free throws, going 7-for-8 from the free-throw line. Shakeel Moore did a tremendous job. Dereon Seabron did a tremendous job. Our guys are getting better. I’m happy for these guys because we’re handling success the right way. When you look at us, and I don’t know how many teams can say this, this is our fourth road win in a row, and that’s pretty impressive. I’m happy for it. I thought Virginia played well down the stretch. They made us work for it at the end, and we’re blessed to get out of here with a great win."

Things looked a little grim after the Duke game. How have you righted the ship and gotten the guys to do what they’ve done over the last three games?

“We’ve bought in, and I’ve said this all along: for some of that, you’ve got to give credit to Duke. Duke’s playing really good basketball also, and Matthew Hurt’s playing well. Our guys locked in after that game, and we knew we were better than the way we played. I’ve done something different that I haven’t done in a long time late in the season. I’ve kind of played four-minute segments in games just so our young guys could be able to grow up a little bit and make some mistakes so we can correct those mistakes. I think the biggest thing for us is that we got a complete buy-in from everyone. I don’t know if you guys got a chance to see the bench during the entire game, but the energy level on the bench is unbelievable, and everybody is truly happy for one another. We’re building a great team. That doesn’t happen when you’ve got so many young guys, and our guys are buying in."

When you play a solid defensive team like UVa, how big was it to knock down those three three-point attempts and get off to a good start offensively?

“Tony [Bennett] does a great job with his team there. It’s one of the best, if not the best, defensive teams in the country, and it’s always important to be able to make shots. I thought our guys came out with great energy. One of our keys to the game is getting off to a great start, making sure that we got some good looks and executing the plays that we ran. I thought our guys did a tremendous job of doing that and following through. It’s tough to score against those guys, and we found some areas we could score in. I thought our bigs were tremendous. I thought we changed the way that they had to play a little bit because of our size, so they ended up playing a couple of big guys."

What worked for you tonight in the paint?

“That’s the strength of our team right now, and that’s whether we’re throwing the ball in to D.J. or Manny Bates or our guys are driving it. Getting in the paint, I thought D.J. and Manny were really good inside, but I thought Shakeel got to the rim a little bit, and Jericole [Hellems] had a couple of stick-backs inside. We’re playing to our strengths. That’s the way we practice now, and it was good. We’re looking for our bigs, and they understand and accept their bigger role now."

How big is it that Manny Bates is developing the ability to pass out of the double team? What does that do for the rest of the offense?

“I will say this: if he has three assists, he probably has more than D.J. has in two years, so he’s doing a good job. His skill level is getting better. The next step is I’m going to get him shooting threes like [Jay] Huff. He’s put in a lot of work, and now he thinks he’s Magic Johnson. He’s not anywhere near that, but he’s passing the ball well."

Was there anything that you wanted to adjust defensively from the first matchup?

“When you look at the first matchup in round one, [Trey] Murphy crushed us. Murphy had 18 points, and he made threes. He back-cut us. When you look at Jay Huff, even though in the first matchup he made one three-pointer, he really stretched us out a lot, and we were in scramble mode. [Sam] Hauser is obviously one of the best shooters in the country. Their strength from the three-point line is their three, four, and five, and we wanted to do a good job of taking them out of the way that they shoot the ball. I thought we did a good job. When you look at the end of the game, Hauser was 5-for-11, but a lot of those were late. If you can hold those guys to 7-for-25 from three, then that can be a night for you. They usually make about nine threes a game and shoot a better percentage."

What was the thought process on putting Seabron on Kihei Clark?

“We were switching the ball screen with Huff, and my choices were Cam Hayes, Braxton Beverly, or Shakeel Moore on him. We wanted to switch that one-to-five screen that they love to run. I wanted to have a bigger guy on him."

What type of characteristics and traits does a team need to have to make a recovery like you guys have done over the last few weeks?

“I think it comes down to buy-in. I think it comes down to a sense of toughness. It’s a mindset. If you believe that you’re not good, then you’re not good. All of these guys are really good basketball players. I’ve asked them to grow up a little quicker than they’ve needed to. We’ve completely bought in. When you look at it, the ball moves from side to side. Everybody’s playing their role. Everybody is genuinely happy for one another, and typically you don’t get that in a team. In order for us to be a really good basketball team, we don’t have that one guy that can score 30 points every night. Every night, it could be someone else leading us in scoring, rebounds, assists, but not blocks since Manny’s going to have that. Our guys have completely bought into what we’re trying to go through."

How do the coaches handle those situations?

“It’s made me have a lot more patience and a few gray hairs. I’m not coaching these guys like they’re freshmen. I’m coaching them like they’re upperclassmen. I’m coaching them to teach them how to do a good job in areas. I’m praising them when they do well. I’m getting on them when they don’t. The reason being is that I need them not to be freshmen. They’re starting to play like that. They’re accepting coaching. The coaching staff is doing a tremendous job with those guys, watching film with them, getting extra work in. It’s been a learning experience for all of us."

What does Hayes’ and Moore’s free-throw shooting down the final stretch say about their poise?

“It says a lot that those guys are growing up. When you look at situations late in the game when you need guys to make free throws, you typically don’t want to put a freshman on the line. I felt very comfortable. When you go back to the Pittsburgh game, Cam Hayes stepped in and made two big free throws. Sometimes, the greatest thing about freshman guys is that they don’t know what they don’t know, and so they don’t nervous because they could just step up and never be in that situation. It was good to see our guards step up and make free throws because the weird thing about it is our best free-throw shooters this year have been our post guys."

How have the rest of the freshmen grown this season?

“They’ve all gotten better. We talk about [Hayes and Moore] a lot. Dereon Seabron has played well for us. He’s actually getting better in a lot of areas for us. He gives us the ability to have a bigger guard or a bigger wing that can play on the defensive end, and he’s great in transition. The young guys that we have on our bench that you don’t get a chance to watch and see play are getting better everyday in practice: Nick Farrar, Jaylon Gibson, and Ebe Dowuona. I love the freshmen. It’s just hard to six of them in a season when you have to play upperclassmen to try to win."

This is Hayes’ third straight game in double-digit scoring. From a confidence standpoint, do you think he needed a game like the Pitt game to begin the stretch that he’s been on since then?

“I do. If you guys remember earlier in the year, Cam Hayes was playing some of the better basketball on our team during the short non-conference season. Because we had to pause because of COVID, I think the pause affected our freshmen more than anyone. He’s getting confidence every game. It’s hard in this league to give the keys to the car to a freshman, but he’s earned it. He’s stepping up, and he’s playing big for us. He’s doing a good job of finding people. He’s doing a good job of scoring the ball when we need him to. He’s also doing a good job of taking care of the basketball, and that means a lot."

 
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