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WATCH: Postgame Press Conference After NC State’s 1st Round NCAAT Win (transcript)

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1 month ago

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NC State defeated Texas Tech 80-67 last night in the 1st round of the 2024 NCAA Tournament. You can watch the postgame press conference below.

Keatts: Well, what a great game, and obviously we played against a really good, well-coached Texas Tech team, and they pushed us to the limit. Though we had an incredible size advantage, when you look at DJ Burns, and you look at the way Ben played and then Mo, I thought those guys really delivered for us inside, and did a lot of good things. We got stronger in the 2nd half. We started defending. In the 1st half, it was more of an offensive game and we decided to sit down and defend and did some good things. We completely did the game throughout our post. Went inside out and it really worked for us.

He’s (Washington) such a unique target offensively. So we sacrificed a little bit of giving up a few threes, because we wanted to go under all the ball screens so he didn’t have the ability to rim run. I thought he got loose on us a couple of times, but he’s such a big target and those guards do a really good job of getting it in the paint and throwing it up to him late. So we knew the way he scores we had to change our ball screen coverage a little bit to take away his rim runs.
I just think we were following game plans. When you got transfers, I know people think it’s supposed to happen right away. We lost 34 points from our guards, and it took us a little time just to get clicking on both ends of the floor and understanding scouting reports. Like that’s the one thing from the ACC tournament and here we’ve really understood. We thought we had an advantage throwing the ball inside, and it worked out. We got 49 points. I think it’s 49 from our post play, and that was because we were very aggressive and guys were understanding.
Well, I thought we did a good job on Pop (Isaacs). Pop’s been good. He was 1 for 10 for three. I think they had taken 14 at the half, and I told the team they would at least take 30 and they did. But that’s so much of a big part of their offense, and we wanted to be there on the catch and take them away, and I thought our guys did a good job guarding the three-point line.
Well, he (Burns) was a local star for a whole year and now everybody in the national media is starting to understand that. I mean, he’s just fun. He scores and he gets beat up all the time. And he’s almost gotta play through contact. But it is so fun to watch him. And you know, I consider him a closer for us. We put him in the game and he closes the game. And it’s so tough because every coach that we play against, he’s gotta a major decision: Are you going to trap him or are you going to let him play 1-on-1? And we’ve seen it different ways. And tonight they let him play 1-on-1, and he kind of started off slow, but got going at the end.
He’s grown (Diarra). And I’ll say this. Our league, he’s battle tested. We got a great league, and going through the ACC, playing 20 games in the ACC, and obviously the tournament has really helped Mo grow. And he’s become the Forward that we expected, can pick-and-pop. Can handle a little bit, can be a really good defender, can score around the basket. And I think just playing against the great players in our league has really helped him grow to this point where he’s at right now.

Middlebrooks: I gotta give a lot of credit to the guards. You got DJ Horne drawing attention to himself, drawing traps and things like that, makes it easy for pick-and-rolls. Michael O’Connell, the vision he has, being able to find me on some of those things for easy layups. I mean, they really just make it easy, so I gotta give a lot of that to them.

They (coaches) definitely seemed to give us a great game plan. Really, a key point of that was just to be ourselves, play our type of game and we knew if we did that we’d have a good outcome.

We knew he (Washington) had been out for a good number of games. We were trying to kind of see what we could do, how much of a percent he was back. But honestly, really, we just had to focus on trying to get through our game plan. It really wasn’t too much of a focus on what they were doing, more what we needed to do to succeed.

I mean we’ve heard a lot about fatigue through our ACC tournament run. And even now, no matter how many times people keep saying it, it seems like we keep getting stronger with every game we play, so we’re going try and keep that going.

BURNS: To be honest, our coaches gave us all we needed. They gave us all the tools. The way they handled the scout they did really well and we did a great of job of being able to execute the things that set up for us.

It’s an awesome feeling, whether they’re cheering or not, my mindset is going to be find a good shot, get my teammates involved in a way that can win games. It’s nice to know they trust in me and believe in everything we’re trying to do here, and it just happened to be me tonight.

That gives me life (seeing Middlebrooks play well), man. When you see someone at the same position as you who is giving you that, it makes you better. I can’t go out there, not play my best and he’s going out there giving it his all. That would be letting him and my team down.

I don’t think that (stamina) was the focus too much. You definitely don’t want to sit and be lazy after winning a game, the games the way we did last week. But I think the coaches did a good job of keeping us moving, focusing on what’s next and we’ll celebrate after the season is over.

I think it’s awesome (fans cheering when he gets the ball). It’s a great feeling, when people are behind you. But you try not to get too high, or too low. I think it’s awesome, but that’s not what makes us win. So I want to still stay focused, even though I do enjoy it a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Matthew is Publisher and Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He is also the Lead Pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s Men’s Basketball 2024 Transfer Class Ranks in the Top-10 Nationally

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15 hours ago

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May 2, 2024

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NC State’s Men’s Basketball team has picked up 4 players from the Transfer Portal this offseason, and the class ranks 10th nationally according to ON3, and 15th nationally according to 247Sports.

ON3

247Sports

NC State’s 2024 4-Man Transfer Class

Center Brandon Huntley-Hatfield (Louisville)

Guard/Forward Dontez Styles (Georgetown)

Guard Mike James (Louisville)

Guard Marcus Hill (Bowling Green)

NC State still has a chance to move up in the rankings. East Carolina Power Forward Ezra Ausar just wrapped up an Official Visit to NC State, and things are looking good for the Wolfpack. ON3 ranks Ausar as the #67 overall player in the Portal, and the #15 Power Forward.

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NC State Basketball

WATCH: Andy Katz’s Offseason Convo with NC State’s Kevin Keatts

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20 hours ago

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May 2, 2024

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Andy Katz is beginning to make his rounds for his Offseason Convo series, and he took the time to meet with NC State Head Coach Kevin Keatts.

In their conversation, Keatts talked about what this run has meant to Raleigh and the Wolfpack fans, how it has helped sell the program the way it deserves to be in recruiting, and even how it helped and hurt in the world of the Transfer Portal.

Check out the conversation below:

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NC State Basketball

Guard Mike O’Connell Announces He Will Play His Final Year of Eligibility at NC State

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1 day ago

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May 1, 2024

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Guard Michael O’Connell announced today that he will be playing his final year of eligibility at NC State next season.

 

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A post shared by Michael O’Connell (@michaeloc_12)

Today was the final day graduate players could enter the Portal.

This past season, O’Connell averaged 5.7 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.2 assists for the Wolfpack, starting 22 of the 41 games he played in.

O’Connell took over as NC State’s starting Point Guard on January 30th in a win against Miami.

He only scored in double figures in 9 of his 41 games this season, but 6 of those came in postseason play (5 in the ACC Tournament). O’Connell took things to another level in the ACC Tournament, playing aggressive on the offensive end, looking for his shot, and attacking the rim.

NC State played it’s best basketball of the season when O’Connell was running the show. He ranked 3rd in the ACC in Assist/Turnover Ratio (2.5).

Heading into next season, with a lineup filled with new faces, having the calming presence of a veteran leader like O’Connell is reassuring.

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NC State Basketball

ECU Transfer Forward Ezra Ausar to NC State is Trending Up

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2 days ago

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May 1, 2024

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ECU Transfer Power Forward Ezra Ausar (6’9″/240) was on an Official Visit to NC State yesterday, and according to analysts at ON3 and 247Sports, things are trending in the right direction for the Wolfpack.

Jamie Shaw of ON3 submitted a prediction for Ausar to eventually commit to NC State yesterday morning.

Cory Smith of 247Sports submitted a crystal ball projection for Ausar to run with the Wolfpack this morning.

Ausar just wrapped up his Sophomore season in Greenville, averaging 11.4 points and 4.7 rebounds, shooting 51.4% from the field. As a Freshman, he was named to the AAC All-Freshman Team, averaging 9.8 points and 5.3 rebounds.

Ausar is a consensus 4-Star prospect in the Transfer Portal, and ON3 ranks him as the #60 overall player in the Portal and the #10 Power Forward.

Originally from Atlanta, Ausar played his Senior Season of High School at Liberty Heights Athletic Institute in Charlotte, North Carolina. ON3 ranked Ausar as a 4-Star prospect coming out of high school, the #94 overall player nationally, and the #2 player in the state of North Carolina.

Ausar has visited Seton Hall, Georgia Tech, met over Zoom with Georgetown, and had an in-home visit with Utah. John Calipari and his staff at Arkansas have been in touch with Ausar, as well as Oklahoma, Ole Miss, Virginia Tech, Arizona State, West Virginia, Iowa State and St. John’s. (Link)

At this point, it’s good news that Ausar has no visits scheduled after the visit to NC State.

Ausar has 2 years of eligibility remaining, and NC State currently has 1 scholarship remaining.

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