Keatts: "It Was A Great Start"
NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media after the 102-77 win over VMI.
Opening Statement:
“Well guys, I certainly enjoyed the game and I hope you did. I learned a lot tonight. I will start with this, that under 8 minutes if the other team misses 2 free throws in a row, we get chicken. I was like why are they cheering for that (when NC State fouled)? So now I know, so hopefully - I know we fouled enough - but hopefully that won’t happen again but excited about the game. You know I’m proud of these guys, I thought they played with tremendous energy. We talked about the Mars Hill game, I think we’ve got a lot better since that game. When you look at, I was really impressed with our balanced scoring. You know pretty much everybody that got in the game affected the game in a positive way. I thought we really shared the basketball, when you look at the 18 assists on 37 made field goals. We did exactly what I wanted to do on the defensive end. I thought we played aggressive. We mixed our pressure up a little bit, we were able to force 21 turnovers. I thought it was a good game for a lot of guys. I thought it was a great start.”
(on having a guy like Lennard Freeman get back on the floor after missing last season)
“I was proud of Lennard. He had a career high 15 points. It’s great because I thought he played aggressive on both ends of the floor, but you know he was able to get some baskets. He’s always been a very good rebounder but now he’s starting to feel a little more comfortable around the basket. I’m excited for him because obviously he didn’t get a chance to play last year.”
(on what specifics he was looking to see from the guys tonight)
“I just wanted us to come out and play hard. I told these guys that certainly we’re not going to do everything right, we’re going to make some mistakes, but I wanted them to play hard on both ends of the floor and I think they did. I’m really proud of these guys as we shared the basketball. I think we got out in transition. I thought we got off to a really good start, obviously ending the half with 56 points I thought that was good for us.
(on if he thinks the players have embraced his style of play)
“I think they like it. You know you would have to ask them that, but I think they like it. Listen, for everybody it’s a fun style. Obviously you guys are media, you’re covering and I think you like to see us get up and down, taking threes and getting some dunks. How about Shaun Kirk’s dunk? That was pretty good, right? But it’s a fun style. I think the players like it. You know one thing I told them was I said, ‘Look in this style, in this system, you don’t ever have to play selfish basketball.’ When you look at it, we were able to get 73 shots up. I told them, when you look at the opponents, most of the time we get more shots than them so VMI had 50 shot attempts and we were able to get 73.
(on what he liked most tonight and what he likes least)
“I liked the way we played. I liked the energy that we played with and the passion that we played with. I do think towards the end of the game we relaxed a little bit, and I thought we put them on the line too much. I think the referees were listening to the chicken chants also. I thought we had to clean up a couple of things at the end. You know we played with our hands a little, but they were fouls, we fouled.”
(on Omer Yurtseven’s game)
“I think if you ask him - if you look at his numbers he had 13 and 7 - and we would take 13 and 7 every night from him, but he missed some shots that he normally would make around the basket. Certainty every guy in that locker room is excited about the win because as a team we won, but I know he would of loved to play better.”
(on if Omer Yurtseven could play his way into the starting lineup)
“The way I look at it is that we have nine guys that are dressing and I’ll be honest with you guys, every game there may be different starters. I don’t get caught up in who starts a game. For me, I look at it that everybody is going to play on this team because we only have nine bodies that we can put in the game. You’ll see games that he starts, he didn’t do anything not to start the game, I just felt like I wanted to start Lennard tonight.”
(on Tucker Thompson not being on the bench tonight)
“Well that’s a great question, and Tucker was in the library, he’s studying. Tucker is going to be an engineer. Tucker is probably not going to be with us any longer. He is struggling with his class load and obviously playing college basketball. What an outstanding young man. He came to me, we sat down, had a great conversation about it. He shared all the problems he was having playing college basketball and then trying to obviously be an engineer. It is tough, so you know I hope if he reconsiders and if he calls me back in the next month or two, I’ll take him back because he was a tremendous kid and obviously a great student and a great person. But he’s probably not going to be with us anymore.”
(on Braxton Beverly and his thoughts on everything going on surrounding him)
“Well my hope, as you guys know, I hope every game right before tip-off, I get a call that says Braxton can play in the game. I would like that to happen. I’ve been talking to him, just keeping him positive. I’m very hopeful that the NCAA will see that the young man didn’t do anything wrong. He decided to go to summer school because he was advised to go there. We’re very hopeful on our end. I can see it happening, I hope it happens because the young man deserves to play.”
(on how Markell Johnson has grown in the last couple of months)
“blame the reason he didn’t get a double-double on me. We had the game under control and one of my coaches came to me and said Markell is having a great game and he’s one assist from having a double-double. You know the basketball gods don’t like that so I didn’t want to put him back in the game and something happen with him and he gets injured. But he’s playing well and he’s really embraced the role. He’s starting to understand. One thing about a good point guard is he’s starting to learn where the players and where his teammates are on the floor and I think he’s doing a good job.”