Kevin Keatts Postgame Press Conference After William & Mary Victory: BULLETED

NC State Men’s Basketball head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media tonight after the Wolfpack’s 85-64 victory over William & Mary 85-64. You can watch it here, or check out a BULLETED breakdown below.

• We did some really good things.
  • What I’m really proud of is 18 assists on 31 made field goals.
    • Terquavion Smith and Jarkel Joiner are really playing unselfish basketball.
      • When you look at the 2 of those guys, they had 13 assists, and I think this was a career high for Terquavion.
      • He sacrificed a little bit in scoring, but what’s happening in front of us is that we’re starting to see a little bit more of a complete player.
  • Our energy was good once we got going.
  • Our bench was incredible.
    • Some guys came in and did a really good job.
  • It was a good win, and we move on.
• The way I look at it right now, I’ve got 6 starters.
  • For this game, I wanted to go with DJ Burns over Dusan Mahorcic, and both of those guys are going to end up playing half the game anyway.
  • It’s just a matter of who starts and who I sub first.
  • I’m getting away from all the superstitious stuff.
• It’s the reality of it [not being in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge]. Someone’s not going to be in it. We’re just not in it, and it didn’t bother me at all.
  • I’m rooting for our conference to do well, and I can’t wait to get out of here and check the scores.
  • I know we started off 2-0.
  • I don’t know who won today, but I will watch some of the games.
  • It’s not about that. When you’re playing against another conference, all your excitement is just for our other teams to do well.
• [How they would have done if they were in it this year] Well, I will say this…since I’ve been here, we’ve been fortunate enough to be 3-1 in the Challenge, but we won’t know.
  • We’re not in it. I’m rooting for every ACC team in the next 2 or 3 days.
• We’re doing some good things. Do I think we still have a long way to go in certain areas? Absolutely.
  • It’s early. It’s a little bit early for a conference game, but the reality of it is that we have to play on Friday.
  • We’ve grown in the last 2 or 3 weeks. We’ve gotten better.
  • The Bahamas helped us, playing 3 really good teams back-to-back.
  • I like some of the things we’re doing.
  • We’re going to take the next couple of days to try to get better and get ready for Pitt.
• He’s [Casey Morsell] been working.
  • I think it’s the 2nd time this year that he’s made 6 three-pointers, and you love to see a kid who puts in the work and works on those shots every day for it to go in.
  • That’s added a really big dimension to our offense.
  • I don’t think he ever thought he was a defensive guy.
    • That’s probably why he’s here.
    • He’s a great kid who works hard. He’s turning into a great 2-way player.
• I knew I was getting an energy guy [Dusan Mahorcic].
  • He’s all about what NC State’s about. He’s a hard-head guy.
  • He brings it every day. He’s the type of guy you cheer for.
  • He’s going to get on the floor, he’s going to block a shot, and he’s going to jump up and down.
  • He’s tailor-made for what our program’s about.
• If I were you, I wouldn’t challenge him on that [that Mahorcic describes his game as tough]. I don’t know if you’re ready for that.

Box Score

ACCDN Highlight Reel & Condensed Game