Keatts presser after win over Boston College (BULLETED)

Kevin Keatts met with the media after his teams 82-66 win over Boston College. Above is the full press conference and below is the summary of what he had to say.

• First 5 minutes wanted to get up and leave. It was weird. Didn’t make shots early, but wasn’ t so bad because they only had 6 points.
• By end of half, team had 44 points thanks to Beverly and Hunt who combined for 8 threes.
• Proud of the guys. Main goal was to defending the 3pt line. Did that. They shot only 4-25. Robinson and Bowman are elite guards, one of the best backcourts in the nation and guys stepped up to the challenge.
• Great contribution from everyone. Good to see Abu go out there and do some different stuff.
• Happy and excited about this team. Glad they got to 9 wins on their home floor.
• Hunt is shooting the ball well. Was told he is 10 for his last 13. Also was told it’s his birthday. Would have played him more minutes if I knew.
• Not sure what happened to Markell’s hand i the 2nd half. Had it wrapped up. Trainer dealt with him. I only am concerned if they say he can’t play.
• Had 19 assists on 29 made FGs. Shared the ball well. They took the ‘roll-guy’ away by leaking corner defender down. Guards found the corner guy for open shots.
• Found a way to win when team wasn’t particularly sharp today.
• Scored 82 points but didn’t play a flawless game by any means. Little rusty for some reason.
• No explanation for the first 5 minutes and starting 0-8. Need to go back and look at it. Remember thinking Lennard was going to give us a lift, but missed a wide-open layup. Just didn’t play well out of the gate.
• Maturing as a team. Don’t think guys would have responded well and come back from that bad start earlier this season.
• Going to rest tomorrow and maybe do a film session Thursday.Easy to say “I’m banged up. I’m hurt” but who isn’t. Told the guys everyone in the country who is playing meaningful basketball has bruises. Got to play through that.
• Lavar Batts Jr is healthy. Coaches decision to not play him. He did nothing wrong, just needed shooters in tonight.
• Throughout Sam Hunt’s career, he’s always been a good shooter. Has over 1000 points for his career. He’s a good corner shooter from 3. It’s rare. Hunt has been huge these last couple games.
•  Disappointed when he heard about Louisville’s championship being negated.
• Team is unchartered waters. And now going deeper and deeper. Not going to talk about ‘bubbles’. Don’t know what the brackets are saying but just looking to win next game. Very excited. Proud of the team. Can’t think of a game where they did not give tremendous effort. Haven’t always done everything right, but have always played hard.
• Not my decision if we get into the NCAA tournament or not, but team has done a lot of good things to be considered.