WATCH: Keatts, Burns, Horne & Morsell Talk After Sweet 16 Win Over Marquette (transcript)

NC State’s Kevin Keatts, DJ Burns, DJ Horne and Casey Morsell met with the media after defeating Marquette 67-58 in the Sweet 16 last night. You can watch it below, or check out the transcript underneath.

Kevin Keatts

“We thought If we could defend the 3-Point line, that would give us our best opportunity to win. At halftime, we talked about playing it similar to a scrimmage. We had won the 1st half by 13 and wanted to play it 0-0. We did a good job. The difference in the game is when you can defend teams. David Joplin can really shoot the ball, and he was 0-of-7. They were 4-of-31 from the 3-Point line, which is an incredible weapon for those guys.”

“When we defended the 3-Point line, that made a huge difference. Offensively, we really shared the ball. We did some good things. We turned it over a little bit more than I wanted to, but when you get 14 Assists on 26 made Field Goals. That’s a good night. DJ Burns had a career-high in Assists with 7. They did a good job of taking him away, but he became a very efficient passer. I think Casey Morsell made a big shot. DJ Horne made big shots. We just relied on our experience and on our defense.”

“When you think about this run, he (Diarra) has been so impressive. When good players start getting great stats, you don’t even realize they have it until the end of the game. I never knew he had 15 rebounds. He’s been so valuable. Double-doubles and playing great defense. We ask so much of him. I’m proud of him. He has stayed true to his religion. He stayed true to our basketball team, and we’re talking about a young man who gives us everything every time he steps on the court.”

“I’m so glad they did that (overturned Burns 2nd foul). We are a pressing team, and we trap all the time, and he was in the cylinder. He was too close to him. It’s a new rule. We get called all the time because we trap, and basically, they called him in the cylinder, meaning he was too close. I’m just glad they went to the monitor. It’s the right call. Any call that went our way was the right call tonight. It was big. It was a huge call, but it was the right call.”

“Every team has to create their own path. Our 1983 team and our 1974 team have been tremendous. They’ve been big Brothers, Uncles, maybe some of them Granddads to a couple of our kids. It’s been great. We don’t have to talk about that history now because we celebrate it the entire time. It’s been talked about since I’ve been here, and it’s going to be talked about as long as we ever are going to remember.

“It’s not one of those things where we have to point to it and say, ‘Here’s what happened in 1983 or here’s what happened in 1974.’ We talk about the great David Thompson. Obviously, we had a statue unveiled for him this year. Those guys are always around. The conversations won’t be about, ‘Hey, by the way, this is what happened.’ It will be, ‘Hey, your Big Brothers and Uncles, this is what they’ve done before. You know, because we’ve celebrated it the entire time.'”

DJ Horne

“Building chemistry and relationships. I know the success that we found late in our season will carry over for the rest of my life.”

“The ACC is a great conference. I just believe that we come into the arena, put our pants on the same way they put their pants on. Like I said from the jump, ‘Why not us?'”

DJ Burns

“Proving everyone wrong. Going into every game, we’re the underdogs. We talk about embracing everyone doubting us, just proving everyone wrong and going into the locker room and celebrating.”

“The ACC is one of the best conferences, if not the best conference. We’re not the only team that took it with a level of disrespect, and that’s why we’re all fighting now. We get a lot of disrespect. People still don’t think we’re supposed to be here or that we’re going to go further. We’re going to keep trying to crash the party.”

Casey Morsell

“I agree. It 100% prepared you (ACC slate), even from a physicality standpoint. We were prepared for a lot of different things that teams throw at us, whether it be super fast or super slow. That’s been a major key for us to adapt to the different things that the game presents.”

“I’m fully aware (similarities to 1983 team). We pay homage to that team and that group all throughout the year. Those guys have been valuable to us by coming back, giving us feedback and giving us different things that we could do to get better. We definitely appreciate them, and we honor them just by going out and trying to win.”