NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts Postgame Press Conference After NC State Fell at Wake Forest 71-67

Published

5 years ago

January 16, 2019

NC State continued their historic struggles at Joel Coliseum last night, losing to Wake Forest 71-67 on the road. Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts spoke with the media after the game in his postgame press conference. The video is ABOVE (via PackPride’s YouTube Channel) and a bulleted breakdown is BELOW.

Give Wake Forest a lot of credit. Played a very good game. Played inspired. Played like a team that obviously wanted to win the game.
We did a tremendous job, considering the hole we dug ourselves in before the half, and we cut it obviously and tied the game up, but we made some mistakes down the stretch where we didn’t do a good job of finishing.
I thought we took some ill advised shots and didn’t put ourselves in the best situation to win. But give those guys (Wake Forest) all the credit, I thought they played inspired basketball on the home floor.
We played on the back of our heels in the 1st half. We didn’t make shots. We’re obviously a young team in terms of playing together, and our defense tends to struggle a little bit when the ball is not going in the hole, and we clearly didn’t shoot the ball well before the half.
I’m not going to take away from Wake Forest’s performance because we didn’t have Markell Johnson. We put ourselves in the situation to have the opportunity to win the game, and we didn’t execute down the stretch.
Some individual guys at times took some shots once we got back in the game that hurt us. When we got back in the game, we shared the basketball. We had some guys make some shots. We fed off each other. Once we tied it up, I thought a couple of guys played hero basketball.
Our intent isn’t to get behind, but I know my team is going to fight. At the end of the day we can’t continue to dig holes and get behind. We have to do a better job as a staff getting ready to play when we come out of the locker room.
He’s an older guy (Torry Johnson) and we knew he could play. Similar to Eric Lockett, those guys can come in the game because they’ve been through it before and be able to play. He did a good job and made plays down the stretch. If I had to give an MVP, and that’s Danny’s choice, I thought he’d be their MVP.
I didn’t feel comfortable. Coaches decision (On not playing Blake Harris much (3 minutes) in the absence of Markell Johnson)
We’re used to that. We’ve seen that (1-2-2 Zone). Miami played it, and we played against it the entire game against Pitt. We just didn’t make shots. There’s no reason behind it. We had some open looks, they just didn’t go down for us.

(Video Credit: PackPride’s YouTube Channel)

NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

Published

14 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Matthew Bradham

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

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Tipton Edits (@tiptonedits)

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.

NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill is on a Visit to NC State

Published

1 day ago

April 22, 2024

Matthew Bradham

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) confirmed with me that he is currently on a visit at NC State.

Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons this season. 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 #78 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.

According to a source, the NC State Coaching Staff is extremely high on Hill, and they are recruiting him as a Point Guard.

NC State Basketball

What did an ACC Title & Final Four Mean to NC State Legend Dennis Smith Jr.?

Published

2 days ago

April 22, 2024

Matthew Bradham

What did an ACC Title & Final Four mean to NC State Legend Dennis Smith Jr.? The man who won the ACC Rookie of the Year Award in 2017 gave me a statement.

It means a lot. It means a lot to the university, the state of North Carolina and a lot more to my dad, grandma, and myself. They have been NC State fans since forever, so their excitement level was though the roof when they saw BOTH of our basketball teams shining like that. It was a great feeling!

2017 was Smith Jr.’s only year of College ball, averaging 18.1 points, 6.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 1.9 steals. He earned 2nd Team All-ACC honors, and obviously, he earned a spot on the ACC All-Freshman Team.

DSJ was drafted by the Dallas Mavericks with the 9th overall pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Smith Jr. just wrapped up his 7th season in the NBA. This was his 1st season with Brooklyn, playing in 56 games for the Nets. He averaged 6.6 points, 3.6 assists, 2.9 rebounds and 1.2 steals per game, averaging 18.9 minutes per contest.