Kevin Keatts’ Weekly Press Conference Before Matchup Against UNC: TRANSCRIPT

NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media today for his weekly press conference before the Wolfpack’s matchup against rival UNC in Chapel Hill on Wednesday night. Below is the transcript.

What do you think is maybe the biggest factor in beating Carolina on Wednesday?

Well, we’re trying to figure that out now.

If we can talk about just the first game, I thought we gave away too many transition baskets, as Carolina is really good in transition. Then I thought their offensive rebounds really hurt us.

I just thought they got so many easy baskets, and then obviously they made some plays down the stretch.

I thought Elliot Cadeau did a really good job setting the table for them as a playmaker. Just your thoughts on his game and how important it is trying to keep him in front and out of the paint in this matchup?

He was really good. I know we’re going to talk about him in the paint, but I think he had five threes in that game, and I thought his teammates did a great job of finding him. I thought Ven-Allen Lubin and both (Jalen) Washington did a great job rolling to the rim. Then he made some corner shots on us and played really well.

I thought he was really good in transition. I thought he played a really complete game against us where he scored in so many ways. Number one, we got to do a good job of getting back in transition.

You know, he’s almost sometimes like a one man show, but he was really good, and if we can figure out how to slow him down, round two will be better for us.

You guys jumped Boston College pretty early. I know Jayden Taylor did really well. Was that a point of emphasis going into that game? And how rewarding was that to see?

It was very refreshing. We had outside of I would think I would say Louisville, maybe at Wake Forest…I didn’t think our defense was good in those two places, home and away, but we got back to defending. It looked a little normal. JT is playing a really good defense on the ball.

Did a great job early on for us, and Michael (O’Connell) back to having 6 assists, and everybody kind of scoring and playing the way they did. But I think we did a good job.

We talked going into the game, we had to establish ourself on the defensive end, and we really did.

I thought our guys were really locked in and did a great job. Our defense has really helped us and kept us in a lot of games.

We just had to get back to defending.

Speaking of the defensive side of the basketball, Dennis Parker Jr., I asked you about him on Saturday, but he got 20 plus minutes in this past game. Last time that you played against UNC, you got 18 minutes in that game and had three blocks. Just your thoughts on what he does on the defensive end to really help this team, especially with his size that he gives you.

Dennis has been a guy who’s always played really hard. We got him to play. He was playing with great energy.

There’s not a lot of separation between the three and number eight guy, and we’re looking for spark plugs right now. If you look at the game on Saturday, I thought Dennis was a spark plug.

I thought Dennis got back to affecting the game in so many different ways. Getting out in transition, active on the defensive end, rebounding the basketball.

This team needs someone to bring great energy, and I thought he did that part of it. Looking back at the Carolina game, I thought also in round one, I thought he played with great energy and passion.

We’ve seen it all over college basketball. The lack of consistency from one year to the next. Is that going to be a feature that we see given the transfer portal, given the way these rosters change, that it’s going to be tough to build the same thing from year to year?

If you just look at our league, probably outside of Louisville, which some of that probably has to do with NIL, you look at our league, the teams that are consistent right now…you speak of Clemson…just getting two really good players back that know what they’re doing. Obviously, Duke’s because Cooper makes them really good.

But it’s hard to build programs, to build culture the way you want to when there is going to be so much turnover, and I think the biggest adjustment is going to have to come from us coaches. We have to figure out how to bring a new group in every year and then push your culture on them a lot earlier than you ever expect. I think it’s really hurt our league, probably a little bit more than everybody else because we typically have a lot of pros or guys who may not be happy and end up going into the transfer portal.

But it will not be an easy thing from year to year just because there’s going to be turnover. You might bring in eight to 10 guys every year from this point on.

Do you expect to have Mike James at all the rest of the year?

I would say we’re getting towards the point where it’s probably not going to happen. We did have conversations last week, and we talked about that.

But, it’s down to a point. It doesn’t make sense talking to Mike. I think he wants to play, but as I speak to the doctor and the trainer, he’s not 100%. What you fear is coming down the stretch with six regular season games, do you throw him out there and then he ends up tearing his Achilles or something else. I would say really, really unlikely at this point.

I haven’t completely ruled it out, but I would say really unlikely at this point.

Typically it seems like you guys have been able to cut it down to an eight or nine-man rotation most years. This year it feels like you’re playing more guys. What do you think the reason is for that?

I think there is not a lot of separation between three and ten. We don’t have a superstar, and we need everybody to play well. So right now we’re continuing to play who is playing well at the time.

Last year we got down to about seven or eight guys that we knew were going to play. At this point, with this group, we have to figure out, ‘all right, who’s playing well going into this game and who’s ready to go.’ That’s probably why we’re playing so many guys.

Y’all have struggled to close games this season, but you were able to hold on Saturday, to pull off that win. How much confidence did it give the team to know that we actually can close these out?

Yeah, it was good.

It was refreshing. We’ve been on the losing end of a bunch of those games. The three games that stand out to me, we were able to beat Florida State here in overtime, and same thing you can say about Notre Dame. This one’s a little bit different because we had a little bit more of a cushion. I thought our guys were locked in for two halves.

May have been the best two halves that we played, especially on the defensive end. It was refreshing. Our back was against the wall a little bit.

We wanted to win a game here at home that we feel like we dropped a few where we were really close. I was happy for our guys to be able to finish and have them to feel good about themselves, obviously, going into the weekend.

Jayden Taylor seems to really relish playing R.J. Davis. What is it like when they battle each other? And how does he basically make R.J. earn every point he gets?

R.J.’s good. Obviously, Jayden’s a really good competitor. We just try to make it tough on him.

I mean, R.J.’s good. He’s a proven guy in our league. He’s been really good for a long time.

I feel like he’s been here for a long, long time. We just try to make as much things tough as you can. And for us, our best defender, on-the-ball defender right now in this group is Jayden.

So, certainly we do a lot of switching, but he’ll have some opportunity to guard him.

I think R.J. is a guy that, when he’s making shots, he’s as tough as anybody to guard in our league, and we’ll have a bunch of guys that will be able to guard him on Wednesday.