Kevin Keatts: "We Lost A Really Hard-Fought Battle"

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media via Zoom following the Wolfpack's 73-68 loss against Louisville Saturday afternoon.

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

Opening Statement

I thought we lost a really hard-fought battle tonight. When you look at our team, we got down in the first half 14 points. I learned a lot about my guys; we fought all the way to the end and basically had a chance to win the game. I thought they made two incredible shots at the end. One by Noah Locke, who hit a deep three while the shot clock was running down, and then the same thing by Matt Cross, which obviously was the difference in the game. I thought our guys looked, early on until we got our wind back a little bit, a little fatigued from the four overtimes, but I thought, once we settled in and started playing, we did a good job. Guys played some incredible individual games. It was a hell of a game. Unfortunately, we had to come out at the short end of the stick. We’ll get better. We’ll move forward. And then obviously the biggest thing is that we need our guys to get a little rest.

How big of a game was it for Terquavion Smith?

I thought he was huge. It’s tough. This was his first start, and it was an ACC game. The unfortunate thing was we were without one of our veterans in Casey [Morsell], and I rewarded him with the start. I thought he was tremendous. Looking back at how he played against Oklahoma State and Nebraska, you wanted to see how he would respond. I thought he played great as a freshman.

You said you learned a lot about your team today. How good was it to see the team fight and come back from two straight big deficits?

I think it’s great that we’re fighting. In an ideal situation, I don’t want to be down every game 14 just to show everybody that we can come back. This team has no quit in it. At halftime, we talked about what we weren’t doing well. I thought they beat us to a couple 50-50 balls. Certainly, that expanded the lead before the half. I thought we played solid defense, but it was the intangibles, the loose balls they got, the extra shots that made the difference. I thought we cleaned it up other than one segment in the second half.

Based on what you’ve seen so far, have you been surprised by how well the team has done?

It would be very easy for me to say that I’m without the best ACC defensive players and without one of the best shot blockers in the country [Manny Bates], and without Casey Morsell. That’s two starters. That’s not what we’re about as a program; I don’t want to disrespect our other players. We’re working our butts off. Some of our guys are getting better. It just shows that we can compete with anybody in the country, even under our circumstances. We’ll continue to get better. My expectation in every game regardless is to try to win the game, and that’s what we tried to do tonight.

What worked well that led to the 10-0 run in the second half that allowed your team to get back into the game?

I just thought we came out of halftime with great energy. We got out in transition. We did it in different ways: we made shots, we got out in transition, we drove the basketball, we got to the free-throw line. We talked about at halftime not trying to get it all back at one time. We talked about chipping away at the lead. We would look at it at the 16-minute timeout and then, if we needed to, at the 12. I thought our guys came out focused. We were angry coming out of halftime. We knew that we didn’t play our best basketball. Obviously, I thought our guys came out with a sense of urgency in the second half and cut into the game. It was a good game at the end.