NC State Basketball

Kevin Keatts Press Conference After GT Loss: BULLETED

Published

4 years ago

November 7, 2019

NC State’s Men’s Basketball team didn’t get off to the start they wanted in 2019-20, losing to Georgia Tech 82-81 in overtime on Tuesday night at home. You can watch head coach Kevin Keatts postgame press conference here, or you can check out a bulleted breakdown below.

Very disappointing to lose a game like that.
Our guys played extremely hard. Played their hearts out.
Basically had a 7-man rotation.
Able to play A.J. Taylor for a little bit.
It is unfortunate we lost the game, but that was a tough game as any games are, but especially to start your season with an ACC game.
Had bright spots in the game.
- Pat Andree was really good in the 1st half.
- Jericole Hellems did a great job in the 2nd half.
  - Playing hard
  - Drawing a couple of charges
  - 7-7 from FT line.
- C.J. Bryce made some great plays down the stretch.
If we could have one or two possessions back, it would probably be a different outcome. But unfortunately, you don’t them get back.
Give Georgia Tech credit, they finished the game and we didn’t.
We will move on and get better from this. Hopefully, we will get some more guys back and we can get healthy and be a better basketball team.

GT’s James Banks III…

We got a defensive stop and it bounced and ended up in his hands.
Unfortunately, we fouled him.
- I was hoping he would miss both free throws but he stepped up and made them.
He is a good player and has done a tremendous job. He played great tonight.
We were playing him against a Freshman in Manny Bates, who I thought did well in the 1st half.

Markell Johnson…

Markell Johnson came down on someone’s foot in practice maybe 4 days ago and has a pretty good sprain.
Want to be careful with him, so I don’t know what his status will be for Sunday.
We have a day or 2 off this week and will continue to get him treatment so we can try to figure out what is going on moving forward.

Dereon Seabron…

Dereon Seabron has had a high ankle sprain for 2 or 3 weeks.
- It is a nagging injury that we hope we can get better.
This year, Dereon Seabron will be an academic redshirt. He has been hurt, so we tried to appeal to the NCAA about it, but we lost the appeal so he will not be available to play.

Last Offensive Sequence…

It was just a bang-bang play.
I wish Devon Daniels would have had the chance to hold the ball because I thought he could have gotten to the free-throw line, but he saw Manny Bates streaking and passed the ball to him.
- Unfortunately it hit his hands and went through them.
It could’ve been a different outcome, but obviously it’s a situation that just happens so quickly and you can’t get it back.

Manny Bates…

I thought Manny Bates was good for his 1st time in an ACC game.
Obviously when you look at the stat sheet, he’s not going to be a big scorer for you, but I thought he did a good job defensively.
Now when you look at James Banks III’s stats, you could say that he didn’t have a great defensive night, but I thought he did.
- I thought he came off and he played help side defense when guys got beat.
You look at him and he had 5 blocks and 7 rebounds.
- We challenged him to rebound the ball a little bit more, but he is going to be good.
He is as talented as any young man that’s a freshman at his size in this league, and I think he’ll help us a lot.

Braxton Beverly’s 3 fouls in the 1st half…

Our bench got shorter.
Braxton Beverly had 3 fouls, but he also went down and we thought he wasn’t going to come back in the game.

Lineups…

We had five guys on the floor that we have only had together in practice maybe once or twice.
In a different situation than we thought we would be.
You will never hear me complain about injuries because I think they are part of the game.
We just had a short bench tonight.

Offense at the end of the game…

We got some looks.
Pressed a little bit at the end and that situation sometimes means that you might not have your point guard on the floor
- Different guys are trying to make plays that wouldn’t normally happen if you have a true distributor on the floor.

ACC opponent as season opener…

I love it for our league.
On opening night we had 3 ACC games, as well as Duke versus Kansas.
Good for college basketball as a whole, for everyone to open up with a Power Five opponent, but it is tough.
If I won the game, I would be a little more happy and want to continue to open the season with an ACC opponent.

NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

Published

13 hours ago

April 23, 2024

Matthew Bradham

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.

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.