Kevin Keatts Talks to the Media Before Battle for Atlantis: Bulleted

NC State head basketball coach Kevin Keatts spoke with the media today before hopping on a plane to compete in the Battle for Atlantis, and if you want to watch it, you can do that here, but here’s what he had to say in bulleted form.

• Excited about how we’ve started. Very pleased with the way we are playing on the defensive end.
• Obviously we’re going to be a pressing team. Have 3 or 4 different pressures we play.
• Right now we are turning the other team over 22.5 times per game, and I’m very pleased with that.
• Over 4 games we were able to overcome some adversity and learn a lot about our team.
• Keatts says they get to play, in his opinion, the #1 team in the nation on Wednesday (Arizona).
• They are led by Trier, and he has had an unbelievable start to the season. Averaging around 30 a game.
• We go into every game trying to get 40 deflections, and we’ve done that in every game.
• Have to keep Arizona point guard Parker Jackson-Cartwright in front of us.
• Our guys are excited. They are up for it. You don’t always get to play one of the best teams in the country early in the season in non conference play.
• I want us to get to the point where we play longer stretches. Right now I think we play about 25 minutes where we have a lot of success. Every game I want to improve on it. Get to 30, then 35, then play a complete game.
• Malik Abu is back in practice playing with contact, but doesn’t know if he is going to play him this week or not. If we had to play today I’d say no, but that can change in a couple of days. As expected, hasn’t played in awhile, so he has some rust. 
• I think all of the guys on this team are in the best shape of their lives, but as I always say, we’ve got a long way to go before we can play like we want to. Getting Braxton out there helped the rotation, and getting Abu back will help spare some guys some minutes as well.
• The Battle for Atlantis is one of the best early season tournaments in my opinion. When I watch Arizona, I don’t see a lot of weaknesses. It’s a tall task.
• Deandre Ayton is different than most 7-footers. Can run the floor. Shoot the three. Agile. Can guard multiple positions. At times he plays like a Small Forward.
• In this program we aren’t playing for moral victories but to win the game.