Locker room report: Hayes, Seabron on win over Notre Dame
NC State men’s basketball won its fifth straight game Wednesday night with an 80-69 win at Notre Dame. Dereon Seabron (17 points, 13 rebounds) and Cam Hayes (20 points) both had career games.
Both freshmen guards spoke to the media after the win, here’s a full breakdown of everything they had to say:
Cam Hayes
What has it meant to you to have another freshman in Dereon Seabron sharing the starting backcourt?
It means a lot, since coach has a lot of trust in me and Dereon to start the game. We’re a young backcourt, but we’re not young anymore. We’re towards the end of the season, so we’re trying to play like upperclassmen. But it means a lot. Me and him try to build off one another and pick each other up while we are out there.
What does Dereon Seabron add from an athleticism standpoint?
Seabron is really tall. It’s kind of crazy. When I first got here I didn’t think he was that tall until I stood beside him. You can tell that he’s extremely tall. He uses it well. He’s got long arms. He’s really bouncy. He’s like extremely fast, I don’t know if y’all notice but when he gets the ball he flies down the court. I feel like he uses all his tools to his advantage.
How important was winning the 3-point line?
It was a big emphasis coming into the game. Coach Keatts stressed that a lot during practice and shootaround, just ‘they live and die by the 3.’ When they play good they shoot 42% from the field, and when they lose games they shoot like 30%. We try to limit them to a lot of contested shots and making sure they shoot around 30%. If they weren’t shooting 3s we felt like we could guard them one-on-one because they didn’t want to get to the paint. They just want to live and die by the 3.
Is it tough making sure you stay on the stick when they are looking to drive and kick?
I feel like it’s kind of tough because they knew on our weak side that we like to attack the roll man. The skip was wide open so it’s just try your hardest to get out there with a contested hand. That’s what coach emphasizes. When you close out with a contested hand, have a hand high up and run them off the line.
What has made the difference in terms of you guys taking care of the basketball in games and is there something in practice that was done differently or is it just a mentality thing?
I can say both, just kind of making sure we take care of the ball. When we were losing we were giving up around like 18 or 19 turnovers a game. When you give up that, that’s more possessions for the opposing team to score and they can have more shots. Whenever we limit our turnovers it gives an advantage to us, also. We just tried our hardest to not turn the ball over, keep it under like 10 a game. Since we’ve been doing that, we’ve been winning a lot.
Is there something that was adjusted in practice that worked?
Well, I’d say a lot of running from turnovers. If we turn the ball over we don’t want to run a lot, so that’s probably one of the biggest things that we want to do. In practice he’d put tallies up for turnovers, and sometimes you’d have one turnover and you might have to run two or three suicides. I feel like that played a big role in us limiting our turnovers.
What did Keatts switch up or change to get NC State on the roll that it is on now?
I feel like it was just him giving us confidence and him emphasizing that we are all on one team; stay the course, stay together through everything. A lot of people outside of our group were talking negative about us, but he put a lot of emphasis on us just being together and staying solid as one unit. It’s just being able to keep our confidence high when we were really low. We had a lot of lows and losing streaks, but once we got that one win I felt like we were good on that. Our confidence got higher and we’re just on a win streak and playing really good basketball.
Do you feel like the Duke loss was a turning point and how have things changed since that game?
I feel like when [Devon Daniels] went down it was kind of the turning point, trying to find our identity. It took us a couple games. Devon was a really big key for us. He was our leader, our vocal leader and everything. Once that happened we had a couple games in a little slump trying to find ourselves. After the Duke loss we just came in like ‘we don’t want to lose anymore. We’ve got to lock in.’ We still got our hopes of making a deep run in the ACC Tournament and trying to get in the NCAA Tournament and finishing the season strong. I feel like once that Duke game, we had a lot of turnovers and played bad, but we let it go. We just went to the next game and played really strong.
Is there a new normal in this team where you’re going into games now expecting to win?
It’s a lot of confidence for us now since we’re on a win streak. When we were losing in the beginning, in January, we were kind of getting down on each other and being kind of selfish a little bit. Once we got on a winning streak we all bought in and made sure we stayed the course and stayed focused to reach our ultimate goal. That was just coming out with a winning record and finishing the season strong.
How cool is it to be a North Carolina guy heading into the ACC Tournament with the team playing its best basketball?
It’s really cool actually, since the ACC Tournament is in Greensboro. When I was young I used to go and watch the games a lot. Just me being able to be on an ACC team and being able to play in the ACC Tournament, it’s going to mean a lot to me. It’s actually kind of crazy. I’m smiling really hard because it’s kind of like a dream come true for me. I’m just living my dream right now.
With the Virginia Tech game being canceled did you guys have extra motivation knowing this could be your last regular season game?
Yeah, a lot of us knew about it. Social media is really a big platform. We’re teenagers, so we’re definitely gonna be on our phones a lot and on social media. We just wanted to go out with a bang, regardless of whether it was tonight or Saturday. We just wanted to focus on tonight’s game. If we don’t have a game Saturday, I feel like we finished the season strong if it’s not a possibility that we have a game and this would be our last game. But I feel like we finished the season strong.
Dereon Seabron
Is there a new normal in this team where you’re going into games now expecting to win?
Coach Keatts, he’s been like really expressing to us just having that winning feeling. It just feels good to win. After the game in the locker room he likes to jump up and down and celebrate every win. So yeah, for us being on this winning streak I feel like it’s huge for us as far as confidence.
How important has Keatts’ leadership been to keep you guys on track and get you through the season?
It’s been very important because a lot of people when Devon went down, they just started doubting us. We just had to keep being strong, keep practicing hard and just keep getting better. We just had to be ready for the moment.
What is your thought process after you grab a rebound and are trying to get out in transition?
I know coach Keatts, he wants us to be a running team. We’re in the best condition of anybody in the country. I just feel like I can beat everybody down the court and make something happen, whether it’s getting to the layup or finding a shooter. Just anything positive.
Are you playing more aggressive than earlier in the year?
Yeah, definitely. The game is slowing down for me. I’m getting more minutes on the court, getting more comfortable.
When you see one of your fellow freshman guards having success early is that contagious?
It’s definitely contagious. Me, Cam and [Shakeel Moore], we just go out there and play our hardest. If we see someone else playing good, we just pick up off of their energy. We just keep bringing it.
How exciting is it to be playing your best basketball heading into the ACC Tournament?
It’s very exciting. The winning streak we are on, we have the confidence that we know that we can win games. Us on this winning streak has just made us more comfortable going into the ACC Tournament. We can win a couple games and get deep into the tournament.