Kevin Keatts: "We're Excited About Playing Those Guys"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media to discuss his team heading into the ACC opener against Louisville.

NOTE: Click the video above to watch the press conference.

Opening Statement...
Man, what a great game. It’s a great game because there were so many highs and lows in the game, and then when you think about who we finished the game with, you’ve got to be impressed by our young guys. I look out there and there was Breon Pass, Ebe Duwona, who’s really a freshman but is a sophomore, and then Terquavion [Smith]. We just had so many young dudes out there, and to just finish the game. And then [Dereon] Seabron being a sophomore, I thought he did a great job finishing the game. And then Thomas Allen, who didn’t play a lot, obviously played well.

That being said, we’re excited, our next opportunity just happens to be a conference game, and we have a really, really talented Louisville team that’s coming in. They’re tough, they play hard, they’re a defensive-minded team. They play nine or 10 guys who can really score. I think the most minutes that anybody plays is about 27, and that’s probably Noah Locke, who is their leading scorer. They’ve got depth, they can score in a lot of ways. They’re playing a lot faster than they’ve played in the past, and it’s a really good basketball team. In their early season, they’ve got some great wins when you talk about what they did over in the Bahamas, beating Mississippi State and Maryland. So it’ll be a really tough matchup for us, but we’re excited about playing those guys.

On what the last couple days have been like after the 4OT win over Nebraska...
It’s crazy, as coaches sometimes we have plans and then those plans get blown up. I didn’t have intentions of going into four overtimes [but] we did have intentions of playing hard and winning the game. We were scheduled to practice yesterday at 2:30, and what we did was we actually got them over and we watched a lot of film. We didn’t actually take the court. So, we spent about an hour going over the good, bad and ugly from our game against Nebraska, and then we turned our attention to watching some stuff on Louisville and going over personnel. So it was more of an instructional day off the court.

On if he expects Louisville to play differently knowing NC State might be tired...
I think they’re gonna play their strengths. As coaches, sometimes we overthink everything. They’re probably looking at it, they traveled and came back home. I’m not even sure what they were able to do yesterday. I’m sure they’re just gonna come out and play Louisville basketball and we’re gonna play NC State basketball.

On how much it helps the young guys having the Nebraska/Louisville games at home...
I think that it helps. If you think of a couple guys, that was their second Power 5 game. We played Oklahoma State earlier. But it does help to be at home to play a couple of these games early. I thought our fans and our students, they were a big part of our success and helping us win that game. We had a little boost, especially when things got going. But it does help, having a chance to play at home as opposed to on the road to start the season.

On not resting on their laurels after a big win...
We talked about, yesterday, turning the page. We talked about how you only have a short time between the time that we play a game and the next game to celebrate. And our celebration was probably from 11 til probably 12 o’clock, one o’clock the next day. Now we have to get past that, we have to move on and prepare for a really good Louisville team in the ACC opener.

On Casey Morsell’s status...
We did an MRI and luckily there was no break. He has an ankle sprain. He will be a game-time decision. We’ll be able to look at him today and before the game tomorrow to be able to decide whether he’s going to be able to play or not. 

On Ebenezer Dowuona’s ability to defend the rim without fouling against Nebraska...
I thought this was one of his better games. That’s good to say because in our short season, you want him to improve every game. I thought he affected the game in a lot of positive ways. I think I joked about this, I think he watched some of Manny Bates’ tape with the way he’s been able to block shots. He’s getting better. He’s still going to have some ups and downs because he’s so young. But at the end of the day, he’s doing a good job for us, and we’re proud of his growth and development. And we hope that it continues throughout the season. 

On some memories that stand out from recruiting Dereon Seabron?
Dereon was at a prep school, Massanutten Military, and I spent 12 years at Hargrave Military Academy. You know that you’re getting a guy that’s had to go through some type of routine and some type of schedule and obviously has some discipline. I think that was one of the biggest things.

But he’s always been a quiet kid. It’s funny, the times we recruited him is the same as it is now. You never see him get too high. You never see him get too low. I think that’s what has helped him become a really good basketball player. He may give you a half flex, but he isn’t going to jump in your face about it. I get on him about doing certain things, and he’s looking at me but he’s very respectful. He nods his head at you.

He’s come out of his shell more so than when we recruited him. On the recruiting visit, it was one of the weirdest visits because the kid never really said anything. So you had no idea whether he liked you or not. That being said, he and I have developed a great relationship. He felt like this was a great place for him. But he would be one of the best poker players if you ever put him in a game. 

On where Seabron’s breakout this year ranks throughout the years in biggest jump in overall play from one season to the next?
It’s hard. The way he is playing is unbelievable. You’re not going to find anybody, unless they came off a major injury, that will have stats like he does from one year to the other. That being said,  he was a big part of last year’s run when we won those five games at the end in a row.

He’s played in a lot of games. He gave you guys glimpses of who he could be. When you look back at the Wake Forest game at Wake Forest and then Notre Dame at Notre Dame, I think those were his two breakout games. I don’t think anybody could have imagined that his numbers would be where they are right now. I thought he could be, coming into this year, a guy that could be at 12 or 13 points and possibly make the jump to 6 or 7 [rebounds]. We needed him to be that guy, but he has played really, really well early.

A lot of that goes to what he’s done in the weight room. His confidence, he believes. Last year he was getting some of those same shots, but he wasn’t finishing. He was creating shots at the rim and shot some scoop shots underneath the rim, and now you see that he’s playing through contact and getting to the free-throw line just as much as anybody in the country. 

On if it’s good to have the young guys that “don’t know what they don’t know” to just move forward...
Our young guys, man, they were tremendous because they rose to the occasion. They made a lot of mistakes. Let’s not ignore that. But at the end of the day, they came out and played and they didn’t know that they weren’t supposed to be in that game at the end of the game. Even though they made mistakes, think about that Breon [Pass] had a great finish. He had a great rebound, great shot to win the game in one of those overtimes. And Terquavion [Smith] - who quite frankly couldn’t make a shot, couldn’t buy a shot, missed a couple of free throws - he stepped up and made a huge 3-pointer on that right wing.

Those guys are fearless. They had no idea what type of game they were playing in. They were just out there hooping. That’s what they say, ‘we were just hooping, coach.’ Give them credit,

I thought they stepped in. Even [Dowuona], he got better as the game went along. You could tell his confidence started getting better. He blocked one or two shots, and then at the end of the night he realized he had eight blocked shots. We challenged him to rebound the basketball. I think he had seven of them. But he also played really good on the defensive end, stuff that you don’t get a chance to see on the stat sheet.