Kevin Keatts, Markell Johnson & Torin Dorn’s Presser After NC State Beat Hofstra in NIT

NC State defeated Hofstra 84-78 in the 1st round of the 2019 NIT last night, and head coach Kevin Keatts, along with Redshirt Senior Torin Dorn & Junior Point Guard Markell Johnson met with the media for the postgame press conference. The video is ABOVE (Via TheWolfpacker), and a bulleted breakdown is BELOW.

KEATTS

• Have to congratulate Hofstra on a great season.
  • Joe Mihalich has done a tremendous job with their program.
  • Told guys this is probably going to be as tough as any game they are going to play.
  • Knew whoever the champion coming out of that league was (CAA) was going to be very good.
  • Obviously pushed us to the limit.
  • It’s a great program.
• Thought our guys did a great job of responding.
• We put so much emphasis on making the Big Dance, and when you don’t make it, it is a tough thing, especially for 19 to 21-year old guys.
  • But these guys came out and responded.
  • They gave an honest day of hard work yesterday in practice and it paid off.
  • These two guys, Markell Johnson and Torin Dorn, being veterans, obviously carried us, and you can say the same about C.J. Bryce.
  • Excited to move on.
  • Our focus has completely changed, we are playing for a championship and that’s what we want.
• Had 19 offensive rebounds.
  • Went into the game saying that in order to be successful, had to have at least 12 offensive rebounds.
  • They played an untraditional zone…when the ball gets in the middle, it turns into a little bit of man-to-man, but I thought we did a good job of rebounding against it.
• Still trying to figure out if the length of the lane makes a difference (experimental NIT rules).
  • Thought that at this level, because the lane was wider, there would be more three-second calls.
    • Markell seems to think that because the lane is so wide that it stretches you out so much that you can’t play help-side defense.
• Been playing against Justin Wright-Foreman for 3 years. He is tremendous.
  • He is a tough guard because he can step back and shoot, he is shifty enough to get to the rim.
  • What makes him really good is he doesn’t miss his free throws, so he gets to the basket and gets fouled and then makes his free throws.
  • When you think about the CAA, there is always 1 or 2 really good guys that come out of that league and he is one of them that has a chance to play for money one day.
• At the end of the game, when we get 2 or 3 possessions, I will call some plays. Tonight Markell was feeling it and I wanted him to play.
  • I thought he made some great plays down the stretch.
  • When you have a veteran point guard, sometimes as the coach the smartest thing you can do is let him make plays, and I thought he did that tonight.
• I haven’t thought about that, but this is probably the first time I have been favored too (On winning 1st Post Conference Tournament Game).
• Our fan base is tremendous.
  • The excitement in this building today, our fan base is incredible. Without them, I don’t know if we would have gotten the win.
  • This is a special building…it’s an electric building, and to get a postseason win in this building means so much.
• I’ve got to talk to Coach Yow about scheduling more game in Reynolds.
• Winning the game means more to me because we are advancing.
  • When it comes to March, it is more about our players than the coaching staff. I have won enough games in my career, so it is about making sure these guys feel good and get to advance. It is not about me, it is about us.