PC: Kevin Keatts, Wolfpack Players Discuss Clemson Loss

NC State's Kevin Keatts, Jericole Hellems, Dereon Seabron, and Jaylon Gibson met with the media after the season-ending loss to Clemson in the ACC Tournament.

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

Opening Statement...
KEVIN KEATTS: First of all, I would like to congratulate Clemson. I know when you get in these situations, for you to be able to advance, it's always a big thing. I thought they started playing really good basketball at the right time. When you look at these guys going into this game, they won four in a row. Obviously, this game gives them their fifth win.

I've said this plenty of times. I'm so proud of every kid in our locker room, and the reason being is because the way the season has gone, we had every opportunity to put our head down and cry and lay down and not play, even though we were on demand. I can tell you, I can honestly feel as a coach that our guys played and competed as hard as they can every opportunity they've had.

I always like to talk about my seniors before you guys ask me questions. The only one that's up here is Jericole Hellems, and I love him. He came to NC State before we proved anything. He came to play with me, he and Manny Bates in the same year, when it may not have been the most popular thing to do. And four years later, he's become a really good basketball player. He will go down in the record books as a 1,000-point scorer. I'm disappointed because I thought he should have made one of the All-Conference teams, if not honorable mention, but he makes my team, and I think that's the most important thing that I can say about him.

Thank you. Love you. Appreciate you coming.

As far as our guys in the locker room, the thing that we talked about is don't miss out on your lesson. A lot of times people think there's lessons because you win the game. Well, there are a lot of lessons that we can learn through this year. So we're all going to individually learn our lessons. We're going to figure it out, and we all will become better because of it.

I will be the first to admit it's been a tough year, but if I'm going to go through a tough year, I want to go with the guys that I went through because every single day, every practice, every game I felt like they gave me everything they had. So appreciate everything. Questions?

Jericole, your final game here at NC State. Just your thoughts on your career. Obviously not the way you want to close it out, but just your thoughts overall.
JERICOLE HELLEMS: Well, I just want to thank everybody that supported me throughout the four years I've been here. It's been fun. I've had ups and downs like anybody else. The most important thing was just building relationships with certain people throughout my four years. So I'm so thankful for that, and I'm thankful for God putting me in the position that I am in.

Coach talked about lessons you can take from this season, and I know it will take time to reflect. As of right now, what do you take away from this season, and what did you learn that you can say now?
DEREON SEABRON: When the conference games come, every game is going to be a possession game, so we've got to focus in on all the little things like boxing out, getting loose balls, not turning the ball over so we can value the possession of the ball because we know these games are coming down to one or two possessions.

Kevin, did Clemson do anything in particular against Terquavion, or did he do anything in particular?
KEVIN KEATTS: As bad as it sounds, he had two bad games. He just didn't make shots. It doesn't take away from a man who made 96 three-pointers. Your question, did Clemson do anything different? I don't think so. He just didn't make shots.

Coach, what you can say -- you talk about lessons learned. For Manny Bates to have to watch this season, you could see at halftime, kind of through him, you got that feeling how much he wanted to be out there all year. Just to speak to that a little bit.
KEVIN KEATTS: It's weird because sometimes we think about ourselves so much, but we don't think about the guys who don't get a chance or the opportunity to come out and play. So when you look at, it was two games this year that I look back at Manny, and the pain on his face was unbearable. One of them was when we played at Duke, and Mark Williams had eight blocks, and it was so frustrating because that was him. Then the other one was, I think, against Armando Bacot, and he had six blocks, and he was so frustrated.

He's another young man that has been through a lot. But when I say a lot, he's been an NC State guy, and he's been through a lot of trials and tribulations, and it's been very frustrating for him. I pray and hope that he gets back to 100 percent healthy because he's a really good basketball player. He was becoming a great offensive player. I think everybody knows about how good he can be defensively.

The way he finished the year last year and then the work he put in to increase his outside shot, even at the three, shows what type of person he is. But I will say this about him. I've never had a kid that was injured that didn't ever miss anything. He was at every meeting. He was at every film session. He traveled with us everywhere we went. And that says a lot about Manny.

Dereon, I know the season just ended, but what are your thoughts on your future at this point for next year in particular?
DEREON SEABRON: Right now I'm not really focused on that right now, but when the time come, I'm going to sit down with Coach and my family, and we'll see what's the best decision.

Piggybacking on the Manny question, you had a lot of pressure put on you and a lot of responsibility. How did you guys handle that, and what did you learn from this experience?
JAYLON GIBSON: I learned a lot. With this game, you've got to grow quick. It's not going to show no mercy. You've got to grow quick. Get some toughness about yourself and just pick up things. Like you said, without Manny, I had to pick up things like that.

Coach, 4 for 23 from distance in tonight's game. Did you like the looks that you guys were getting, or was it just one of those nights from deep?
KEVIN KEATTS: Yeah, I have no problem with our shots. We just didn't make them. As I told you before, the thing about Clemson, I don't know if anybody will give them credit, they may be the hottest team coming into the ACC, winning four games before they got here in a row and obviously today. But I thought we got good looks. They just didn't go down.

Coach, talk about the lessons learned, not missing out on a lesson. What is your biggest lesson from this season?
KEVIN KEATTS: I don't know. It will come to me. I don't think you learn lessons right at the moment. I think it will be a little time for us as we figure it all out. But there are lessons to be learned. After every season, I try to get away for a few days and kind of reflect on as a coach what can I do better? It has nothing to do with our players. What can I and my staff do better?

I enter every year hoping to become better than the previous year because I've looked in the mirror and figured out some things that I could work on and get better to help our team, and I'll do the same thing this year. I'm sure the lessons will come to me.

This is for the coach. For Coach and any of the players, what are the feelings now? Are you guys relieved that this is over? I mean, is there frustration because of the way this thing finished? I mean, what's going through your mind right now?
KEVIN KEATTS: I'll answer it first, and then I'll let these guys if they want to. I'm not relieved, and I don't think they are. I should allow film, a camera crew in my locker room. There were guys crying. There were guys with disappointment. Ernest Ross is crying, and he didn't play.

We didn't come to Brooklyn hoping to get this thing over. We came to Brooklyn with the opportunity to win, and obviously the opportunity was to try to beat Clemson to advance. So from where I can see, our guys had no laydown, no quit, and they wanted the opportunity to win.

JERICOLE HELLEMS: For me, I would just say any hooper that steps on the floor doesn't like losing. Me as a competitor, I saw myself and my teammates going the distance and believing one another. So of course it's disappointing, but like Coach said, you've got to find a way to learn something and prove yourself.