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Kevin Keatts Presser after win over #10 UNC : BULLETED

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6 years ago

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NC State knocked off their rival, #10 ranked North Carolina Tar Heels, 95-91 in overtime. Kevin Keatts met with the media to discuss the victory. Above is the full press conference and below is a summary of what he had to say (in bulleted form)…

 

  • Give UNC credit. Unbelievable game.Played a great team with great tradition on their home court. Credit to our guys. Fought until the end. Whoever got stops at the end was going to win. Our guys dd.
  • Great effort from Markell Johnson. Outstanding. 20 points and 11 assists. Al Freeman shot it well going 7-7 from 3.
  • Great culture win. Great team win.
  • Markell is great player. Happy with 15 assists and no points. Love that, but need him, on this particular team, to score the ball also.
  • Keatts teams are better at the end because they are in better shape than everyone else. Carolina was in shape but team conditioning kicked in at the end of the game.
  • Guys are learning how to fight. Talked in the locker room about regardless of what happens we are getting off rest of the day, tomorrow and Monday. Give 40 minutes of best effort in this game. Didn’t know it would be an OT game.
  • Team is realizing if they play together and stay together they can be successful.
  • Not worried about individual teams in the league, more worried about being in the race. Stay the course, focus on next opponent.
  • Lineup is game to game. Figures out lineups in the flow of the game but also how guys play in practice. Abu will be fine, Lennard will be fine. Carolina just spreads you out. Putting Theo Pinson at the 4 is a tough matchup for post guys.
  • Usually team gets ice cream wherever they win, but going back to Raleigh to get it so they can celebrate with the fans and give business to the locals.
  • Media doesn’t believe it, but this team is better shooting than they’ve shown in some games. Getting guys in right spots is key. A good passing team is a good shooting team. Guys get open, get feet set and they shoot it well.
  • Proud of beating Duke and Carolina but also proud of the other 3 league wins.
  • Markell’s return helped everyone. Pressure is off Al Freeman and Beverly because they don’t have to handle it as much.
  • This is not the same team that lost by 50 some last year and this is not the same Carolina team. Every game is a different game in this league.
  • Important to give guys tremendous offensive confidence. Tell them to shoot it when they feel it. All that’s asked is that they defend. You don’t have to do everything right, but you have to play hard and team is starting to believe in that.
  • Playing well late in games is (IMO) conditioning. Some may say otherwise. But its the ability to stay focused and execute. Having back to back road wins is unbelievable.
  • Team is heading to bell tower.
  • Coming into the game, UNC is good in 3 areas. Transition, shooting and rebounding. Wanted to take 2 of the 3 of those away and thought that if we could we could win.
  • Markell is so dangerous when he’s aggressive on the pick and roll. Today he was aggressive.
  • Theo played great. Luke Maye played great. They have a great team.
  • Got back from Pitt at 2:30am. Thursday was jsut a film day. Yesterday practice was an hour and half. Team looked confident in practice.

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NC State Basketball

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar Commits to NC State

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1 day ago

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April 26, 2024

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Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar (6’4″) has verbally committed to NC State for her final year.

Weimar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago.

She is the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, and has been named Defensive Player of the Year the past two years. She has earned 1st Team Patriot League Honors the past two seasons.

This year, Weimar averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. As a Junior, she averaged 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 55.5% this year, and 59.7% last year.

With the exodus of River Baldwin, picking up a commitment from Weimar is massive.

With the addition of Weimar, NC State now has 2 scholarships available heading into the 2024-25 season.

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NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill Commits to NC State!

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2 days ago

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April 25, 2024

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Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!

Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.

This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.

For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.

247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.

Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.

Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.

With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.

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NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

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3 days ago

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April 24, 2024

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NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.

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Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.

Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.

Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.

The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross.  Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.

With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.

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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

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4 days ago

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April 23, 2024

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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!

 

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This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.

James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.

News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.

After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.

He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.

James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.

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