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NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts: "We Have A Good Group Of Guys"

November 9, 2021
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NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media to discuss his team heading into the season opener against Bucknell.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the interview.


Opening Statement...
My team, along with my coaching staff, we’re very excited to open up tomorrow. It’s been a long time coming, and last year was such a challenge with the unfortunate situation of Devon Daniels and going through the pandemic.

We’re really excited to get back in PNC, have some fans there, and play in front of a crowd.  I’m excited about the guys returning. We have a good group of guys I’m excited about who were a part of winning five straight at the end, and we’ve got a mixture of young guys and transfers to add in.

We’re excited about our opportunity.

I don't know how much you’ve seen from Greg Gantt with his injury, but potentially what type of a role can he have for you this year?
We’ve had limited action with him.  He’s been able to get into some practices and go through individual workouts.

What we’ve seen and from recruiting him out of high school and his time at Providence [is] strong and athletic... can guard multiple positions. He can score inside and out.  He brings a toughness to your team.  He can rebound the basketball and push the ball in transition.  He's capable of playing both forward spots at the four and three.

Once he's able to get on the court full time, he'll certainly add another dimension to our program.

Can he potentially play the five sometimes in your system?
I wouldn’t consider him playing the five very much with the guys we have on our roster.  Emergency situation, there could be a situation where we have him in, but going into it he'll play more of a power forward/small forward.

How much does the end of the season help the confidence of your returners?
It was really good for some guys. Our young guys, I talk about freshmen, but i don't really include Seabron in the freshmen combination, but when I look at it, he was a freshman.

The two guys who benefited a lot were Cam Hayes and Dereon Seabron; more Seabron, he got a chance with Braxton's back and Thomas Allen being out and the injury to Devon Daniels, he was inserted into the lineup and gave us a tremendous, different option.   He's a driver, he's long, he’s athletic, he rebounded the basketball. He had a couple of really good games that stood out for our program and helped us win those five in a row.

Cam Hayes had a chance to grow up. He was thrown into the fire early in the season. We were able to bring him off the bench early on to see how college basketball works, and he benefited from it.

The two other guys, with Manny Bates being more of an offensive guy and being able to throw him the ball... being a focal point for our offense was great for him.

You can't leave out Jericole Hellems... he was probably, arguably our most valuable player during that stretch.  He did a lot of great things... he was our tight end for our basketball team.

Those four guys gained valuable experience and the experience they gained has helped our program so far.

Jericole Hellems… how much have you seen him grow?
He's grown.

All of these kids, as they advance in age, they get mature and understand what coach is looking for.  He's become that type of guy.

His biggest contribution to our program is he competes and plays hard everyday.  He gets on the floor, he’s early, he gets extra shots, he leaves the gym late.

From a basketball standpoint, in the games he's flourished because he's been able to handle the ball more... more of a role where he can put the ball on the deck. When he first came here he was a pick-pop guy.  In this situation now he's played a lot of small forward.  He's been more of a complete player... now he's able to do more things than that.

You mixed up lineups in the exhibition. How much do you learn from that, or do you learn more in practice?
I think you learn it from both.

I went into the game saying I wanted to play 10 guys and have the chance to play our two walk-ons.   By doing that, w were able to see some guys who worked well together and some who didn't.

We were able to work on some things where they can get better as a group. I saw some good things from a lot of people.  Some guys who played great in the scrimmage didn't have great games, some guys had both. Some guys had one, some guys had the other.

What we did is we watched tape and tried to figure out how to get people going... putting everybody in the right situation. As a coach, I feel like going into tomorrow's game I have at least 10 guys I’m comfortable with can all play major minutes at some point this season.

More on Manny Bates...
I don't know how many minutes he'll play, that's a flow thing from game-to-game... but it was good to get those other two guys some experience. Both had a chance to play in the scrimmage and exhibition, and I didn't need Manny to play in both of those.

Those guys were able to play in both, and I think it will help them.

Watching the tape from the exhibition, what were your thoughts?
We did some really good things. One of the things I wanted to do was get out in transition and score, and we did that. I wanted to be able to shoot the ball well in the exhibition, and we made 12 three-pointers, which was good against a team that pretty much played zone the entire time.

I put them at a disadvantage because I knew we’d see zone. I didn't go over it a lot because I wanted those guys to adjust during the game.

What we have to work on... we got a little extended halfcourt and a couple of times we got beat off the dribble which can happen against smaller teams.  The loose balls and 50-50 long rebounds I want our guards to get in there and do a better job of rebounding around the free throw line area.

Hopeful they got jitters out?
We had six dudes that had never played in front of a thousand people or more.  It's tough.

I'd hate to be a student-athlete or basketball player over the last couple of years... I wanted our guys to get used to playing in front of fans, and hopefully they got that out the way.

It's still their first official college basketball game, so it's natural to have nerves.

You said it would be hard to keep Terquavion Smith out of the lineup. Do you have a set five for tomorrow?
It's funny, you can be starting today, and if you don't lock in during shootaround you can no longer be starting.

I don't have anything for you. Going into this game, I have in my mind six, maybe seven guys who can possibly start, and I don't know who will get the nod. Terquavion is one of them. As a freshman, he’s demonstrated in practices and the game that he can handle that role, but I probably won't know until an hour before the game.

You may not care about this at all, but are you surprised that Jericole and Manny didn't receive any preseason recognition given what they did last year for you?
I do care about it, and the reason I do is because they have worked extremely hard for our program and are really good players.

I can't answer why. I don’t know why they didn't, but they are special to us. Hopefully in the end result, maybe they aren’t in the preseason, but when the rankings come out at the end, they both get some of the flowers they deserve.

It's hard. When you look at what both have done, one probably more on the offensive end and the other probably more on the defensive end... I would have voted for them. I think they are deserving to be on one of the ACC teams.

None of it matters; we have to play it out on the floor.  Both of them are competitors. I'm sure it bothers them a little bit. Hopefully they’ll play with that fire.

 

 
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