NC State
Kevin Keatts, NC State talk second round win against Syracuse
NC State head basketball coach Kevin Keatts discusses the team's victory over Syracuse in the second round of the ACC Tournament.
Um give, give Syracuse a lot of credit. I mean, Red's done a, a tremendous job, you know, at Syracuse taking over, obviously taking over for a Hall of Famer. And, you know, to be quite honest with you, they, they won two really good games against us and, and we talked about it. Uh I give our guys a lot of credit. I thought we locked in and understood the scouting report. Um I thought we did a better job of knowing how to guard certain people. Juda Men has killed us every time we played him and we wanted to do a good job of making him backing off keeping him out of the lane. And I thought we did a really good job with that. We knew going in the game that we would have an advantage um in the post. Um Obviously with DJ Mo and, and Ben, and, uh we wanted to throw those guys, throw the ball to, to those guys and obviously play inside out, um proud of our guys. Um, another win. Uh You know, when you get to this point, you know, we understand that if you win, you go home and obviously for us, it's a good win for us and we stack to win and obviously now we got to prepare for a really good Duke team. So question any questions? Ok, sir. Here in the Green. Yes, sir. Well, yeah, Matt Truck and I, you from Herb FM Sports Radio. So just talk about your halftime adjustments because you outscored Syracuse 48 to 33 in the second half. Yeah, we, you know, we didn't, you know, we talked about, you know, getting back in transition. You know, I looked at the statute, I knew it was wrong because they only had them for two points in transition and I thought they got out, see somebody else behind me believes the same thing and I didn't think we got back. I thought they drove the ball down our throats a little bit. Uh We did a better job getting back, but we did a better job understanding, you know, scout report and who could score and who couldn't score. And I think it was completely our defense. Um, you know, we're the type of team when our defense is really good. Our offense turns to be elite and I thought it got good because of that uh gentleman here in the fourth row. Uh Jesse Cook, Citrus TV, Mohammad DJ, you guys are both taller than Syracuse's tallest guy on the floor. Malik Brown, your coach just said you won in the post. How did you use your sides to get that battle and win it. Uh, I just wanted to focus on, you know, I knew that he was their primary big and, um, he didn't want to get in foul trouble, so we just wanted to go at him as much as possible. Ok. Uh, gentlemen in third row here, Rob mclean with inside pack sports, Kevin, the two glaring stats to me are the rebounding and the points off of turnovers with those emphasis going into the game. And how did your team do so well when you created the turnovers, what was it about that that they were able to score? Yeah, you know, coming into this tournament, um we had to like, it's the team that makes the least amount of mistakes as a team that typically can advance and that was, those were two areas that, you know, the last four games of the regular season. We didn't do well. Another area is, you know, we lost the turnover battle those four games and that, that's just not NC state basketball. And so when you look at it tonight, we did a great job rebounding, you know, 17, um, offensive rebounds mo had eight at halftime and I challenged him to get 16, so he only got 14. So we gotta talk about that. Um But, but we wanted to get out and turn them over and I think, I think we did, you know, we, they, they, we forced them into, um, 19 turnovers and we got 30 points off of their turnovers. I thought that was really good for us. And so our team has made some adjustments, uh, and the things that we didn't do well, finishing the regular season and it's paying off for us in the postseason right now. Ok, gentlemen here, Marcus Washington, the MTC media that you talked about, that you did some things differently. You did get the turnovers. What specifically did you do the MS tonight that you didn't do in the first two games? Yeah, we, we were, and that blame that on me. I idiot coach, um, you know, we were, we are a pressure team, probably my ego more than anything. Uh, we, we were getting after him and trying to pick him up and, and obviously, you know, pick him up full court 94 ft. You can't pick a guy up like that. And so we decided, we decided to, you know, drop back to the top of the key and let him operate and shrink the floor and, and we were gonna live on any of those threes that he made. Uh, he's, he's one of the best touch guys in the country, obviously at his size. He's the only guy his size that gets to the free throw line. And so, you know, we, we talked about staying down on Puff fakes. We talked about, you know, not pressuring him, don't flush him to the hole and I think it worked for us. Ok, gentlemen, here, Frank Maloney 910, the fan who's talking, I'm curious, coach, your team seems to have found some remarkable chemistry late in the season and all of a sudden your players are believing it's clear as day. Yeah. Well, can you attribute to that and how will that play into the next game against the Blue Devils? We, we just, we're fighting, uh, we know we're fighting. I got guys in that locker room that really believed and, you know, we, we're, we're talking, you know, at night time and every day about, you know, what it takes to win and the, uh, the will to win. And I think our guys understand that part of it. You know, I it doesn't get any easier. Um, you know, every team in this league can beat you. Uh, you know, we got, you know, obviously we've played, played 22 games in a row and they're coming in fresh and, you know, we got to try to figure out how to find some energy from somewhere and we will, I think our energy right now is our motivation. Gentlemen in fifth row here, Sean Higgins. WF my news to coach your teams playing with their backs against the wall. They're playing really, really well. They started hot, they stayed together all game to give seven players here with at least one assist. Talk about that teamwork aspect. Yeah, you know, I, I'm getting, I'm getting leadership from guys like uh DJ burns. Um I'm getting leadership from guys like Mike o'connor, I'm getting leadership from guys like DJ Horn and we're asking those older guys to step up and, and it's weird because you know what, uh most of these guys except for DJ are transfers and so it takes them almost a year to feel like they got a voice in the locker room and I think they all have the mentality now that we don't want to go home and obviously, you know, uh, stay together, stick together, fight together. Ok, gentlemen, here, Brett Freelander, Saturday, road.com. This is for the players if you could. Um, coach talked about some of the adjustments that you guys made the mean of the postseason. But how much of the last two games has just been the reset button that you, it's a new season and you just kind of can get that attitude back, uh, honestly, from our point of view, um, we didn't really lo lose it, you know, uh, we were just waiting until we play a complete game and I feel like, um, tonight was one of those nights where we handle business. You want, you want me to answer or Mo Mo, uh, tell him to question again. Mo zoned out for a minute. I can tell you. Now, I've been in that box. Now, if you don't call his name, he's gonna zone out for a minute. How, how much do you need it again? I got you. Tell him, hey, and he's paying the team. He's thinking about so much thinking about the ice spring we're gonna get. That's right. How much of the last two nights has been resetting, uh, now that it's a new season here in the postseason, you can just flush what happened before. Um, my part of view, we play with desperation so we have to win every night to play the next game. So that's why we, we play so well. Uh Adam goin with the orange fizz DJ. It felt like a pretty physical game watching, but you only committed one foul. How did you stay out of foul trouble? And what did you think of the physicality? Uh, just stop swiping. Um It's pretty simple knowing that I'm not much of a shot buggy right now. So, um, what do you mean right now right now? You'll see what I mean. He, he's got five blocks in his career and he shuts right now. Yeah, so, oh, you know, just not swiping that dumb stuff just making smarter plays on defense. Yeah, Mo loves that. He can't stop laughing at that part of it. You guys, thank you gentleman here. Uh John Tittel from hoops HD for coach when you played Duke last time you punched him in the mouth and got up to a nine nothing lead. Um, it obviously didn't go well from there. But is there anything that you learned from that game or that starts that you think can carry over tomorrow? I learned they are really good basketball team. And, you know, II, I had a college coach that taught me a long time ago, that early leads don't last. And, um, I knew that they would make a run. Uh, they did a good job. It's a really good basketball team. They're talented. Um, you know, every ranking that they have, that's what it is. Um, you know, obviously, um, you know, we're excited about the opportunity, but, you know, the reason for the, for the comeback is because it's a good back. Ladies and gentlemen here and we'll have one more after that, Rob mclean with inside pack sports question for Kevin and DJ. Kevin Darra, his growth this season, his game tonight. Could you speak to that? And DJ, I'd like you to address how it is playing with Mohammed. You know, he has grown in so many areas. Um, you know, um, rebounding the ball is tremendous. I mean, he's one of our best rebounders and he, he really goes after it when he has great games. Um, he shoots really well behind the three point line. You know, he's been trying to convince me for the entire year that he should be a small forward and I'm considering it, I just haven't made the choice yet, but no, he, he competes every day. Uh I think, I think what's made Mo and his biggest growth is his maturity. Uh He and I talked about that, you know, uh he would come into practice early in the year and he would act like a 65 year old man. He was grumpy. And um so when he comes in, the first thing I say, how you doing, Mo? And I can tell what mood he's in and if he's not in a good mood, not in a good mood, I'll keep saying how you doing Mo to finally get a smile. I think it's mine, his adjustment. Um You know, playing with other guys, his size has really helped him a lot. OK, gentlemen, last question, got the DJ answer that he wanted a two part question, I think. OK, for me, um playing with Mo just, it just opens up a lot for you. He has the ability to shoot a three and you know, every time a shots up they gotta find him and that usually opens up some opportunities for me. And um he just plays hard, man. He don't really care about all the extra stuff going on. He doesn't care to argue with people and be a part of the show. He's just here to get business done and that's why I love playing with him. Fantastic. Last question. Yeah. Kip Coon's press box view, Kevin, you really haven't touched on the lift that DJ Horn gave you and it seemed like when he came in at the start of the second half that he was in the middle of that big 18 2 run that really changed the momentum. He was a secret weapon, you know. Um, typically you don't have your leading score as a secret weapon, you know. Um, we doing shoot around this morning, you know, I watched him and I kind of stayed away from him. I just wanted to see what he would do. And then I think about 430 I got a text from my trainer that said DJ is gonna try to go and I just simply said, ok, um, then I get here and I say, well, DJ is ready to go. He said, well, we gotta look and see how he does in warm ups. I was like you already told me you can go. Uh, but what a tremendous lift. Um He, you know, he played well. Uh, we needed him to play well. Uh, obviously he's played well for us the entire year, but that was an uplift that we had to have and, and I thought he provided the force. All right. Fantastic. Thank you guys so much.