Kevin Keatts’ Postgame Press Conference After NC State’s Win Over Pitt on Senior Night: TRANSCRIPT

Head Coach Kevin Keatts met with the media for his postgame press conference after NC State’s 71-63 win over Pitt in the Lenovo Center on Senior Night tonight. The transcript is below.

You know what, guys, what an incredible night, and it’s incredible because of our seniors, and I don’t know that I’ve ever had a game where every senior scored and they scored all of the points in the game. So I couldn’t have scripted a better night for those guys.

I want to give our underclassmen a lot of credit. We talked about their energy and whatever they could give to their seniors tonight because this was going to be their night that they would provide for them, and I thought they were tremendous on the bench, the guys who played.

Breon Pass, you know, what can I say? I don’t know that there’ll ever be another guy, a scholarship guy, that starts at NC State or most universities and actually graduates at this level. And here’s why I say that. Most times guys at this level are either going to be really good and they’re going to be a pro or they’re going to be impatient and they’re going to go somewhere else with the transfer portal.

I wanted to start him tonight. A great night. I thought he answered.

You could tell he had a lot of shots that he hadn’t taken over the years, so he put it up tonight, but I was happy with him.

A little bit more about our seniors…Ben (Middlebrooks), JT (Jayden Taylor), Breon (Pass), and Michael O’Connell.

They’re going to be part of something special that they’re going to always remember. They will always be able to walk into this arena when they’re old and gray and show their grandkids those two banners, and that’s special. I don’t know that there’s been many seniors that could ever do that.

Obviously, it’s been a long time. Then the other three guys, you talk about Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield), you talk about Marcus (Hill) and Dontrez (Styles). I’m grateful that all of those parents allowed me to coach their kids and mentor their young men, and that’s what Senior Night’s about.

So, good game. Pitt’s a good team. Obviously those two guards are as good as any guards that you’re going to compete against. I thought we did a good job.

Our defense was really solid. We did a really, really good job of trying to not give up 40 points in the paint. That’s been our problem for the last couple games.

It’s a good win. I’m excited about it. I’m glad for our guys.

Any games to be watching tonight?

I’m not going to watch any. I’m just waiting for somebody to call me. I just don’t, you know.

We can only control what we can control, but, of course, I’m not going to watch a game. I’m just waiting to see what someone says.

You mentioned Breon, but what has his journey been like with him through his last four years? His father passing away before he got here, he comes here, the COVID year. What has that been like with him all these years?

He’s a great kid, and here’s what’s so special about him. He’s so great with recruits.

He is the best teammate that you’re ever going to find. After every year, he and I talk about…’hey, is this the best place for you?’ And we always came back to…’hey, I want to stay here. I want to get my degree. My family’s around. My dad would have wanted me to get my degree from here, I think’…and it’s been great.

You couldn’t ask for a better young man. He’s going to be special in life because he’s got a great heart and he cares about people.

For you guys who don’t know, Breon was a big-time football player. The first couple years I had to keep Dave Doeren off of him to make sure he wasn’t going to be a two-sport guy, but he’s a good player. I love him.

Marcus Hill said in the locker room that he’s planning to come back for another year to compete and play due to the JUCO ruling. What has he meant to this program, and what do you hope to see from him in this last game, for sure, and going forward?

Marcus has gotten a lot better. When you transfer up from a mid-major college…he was a good player…20 points a game, obviously, it’s a tougher league to play in. He’s made the adjustment. You know, where can he get better? I think in the offseason, just continuing to rep his shot.

It’s not bad, but more so having confidence in it. I think he’s our leading rebounder in conference play. He can score around the basket.

I just think he’s got to expand his game a little bit.

I know you’ve talked about NIL in the past. Have you talked with Boo (Corrigan) about what you might need moving forward in the next year, whether it’s NIL or other changes, as you guys try to implement?

Yeah, Boo’s promised me $10 million, so we’re going to be good. No, no, we’ll have those conversations after the year. I mean, it’s not the right time for that. We’ll talk about it. It’s important. I think it’ll get better here at NC State because of the fact that it’s revenue sharing. I’ve said this all along.

We fell a little short because it was more out of our control because it was outside with the collective, and I think as we move forward, I can see it getting better.

Another great performance by Dontrez Styles. How impactful has he been this year? I know he’s somebody you wanted out of high school, and took some time to get here, but what does he mean to you?

We can make the argument that he’s been our most consistent guy. Obviously we’ve had, and you guys know this, I’ve told you this, we’ve had some ups and downs with our offense and guys scoring.

One night a guy scored, one night he may not, but if you look at it, Dontrez has probably been our most consistent guy, especially in league play. So I’m happy.

He’s a versatile forward that can play both positions and guard both positions, and I thought he was good again tonight.

How much more emotional is it that the senior’s were able to get this moment tonight when you don’t know what’s promised after this?

This night is special.

We lost this game last year, and shit, I think, everybody booed us off the floor, I think, and then everybody cheered for us when we won 9 in a row.

So it means a lot. You get into this business to change lives and affect lives and be a father figure to some.

Just to see those guys grow up. This bunch will be the first to tell you, and as a coach, I will. It’s been a tough and disappointing year for us, but we’re still fighting.

It’s the next to last game of the year, and we lost a couple games, and you would think we would have come in here and rolled over. There’s no quitting these guys.

We just have not had a great year, but we’re fighting every moment that we can. And we cherish tonight. It was great.

It seemed like they were having fun. Did you sense a difference?

Yeah, I told them.

I said, ‘I don’t care. We’re going to live with whatever the result is. I just want you to have fun tonight.’

And it was good. I thought the biggest difference was when you look at the bench, everybody was genuinely happy for one another. I thought that was good.

How difficult is it to analyze talent in the transfer portal?

Well, it’s changed. I want you to think about this now.

We got Jarkel Joiner. Man, that dude was at a discount. I mean, he was really good.

That’s when NIL first started.

You just got to get the right people. There’s money involved.

So when there’s money involved, you got to make sure you get the right people to fit NC State, and obviously bring the right culture to here. And is it difficult? It’s the number one recruiting tool now.

As great as this building is and all of the great graphics that we hung up over at our practice facility, the main thing is they want to know how much revenue sharing now that I’m going to get. So you got to figure that part out, and what I’m looking for is somebody that wants to compete and the money matches their competition, how they play.

Because it can go different ways.

You guys are a great example of this league getting teams into the tournament and overperforming year after year. But again, it looks like the ACC may get three or perhaps four teams in the tournament.

Well, it’s so disappointing. Think about this. So Pitt’s a good basketball team.

Wake’s a good basketball team. We’re not having a great year. We’ve been on the other side of that.

But when they walk in here because of some number on the NET, and they lose these games, it destroys their hopes of making the tournament. That was not the vision of the ACC to take the best of the ACC and the best of the Big East, and then we obviously added Cal and Stanford and SMU.

Like, it’s a joke for this league to get, I mean, it’s 18 teams and we’re getting three teams in. That’s tough. Think about this now.

When we make the tournament, we perform well. You look at us, and this is no disrespect to any of the teams we play. Playing our ACC schedule when we got in the NCAA tournament prepared us.

I thought we were better prepared and had played against equal or better competition in our league when we got outside our league. I’s tough. It’s just not a lot of teams getting into the tournament.

We’re fortunate. I say this all the time. We have been to two out of the last three, and it’s only been four schools. Only four schools that have been to two out of the three. Duke, if you go by Duke getting in this year, Duke will go three for three.

We were two for three. Virginia’s two for three. And Clemson will be two for three.

That’s only four schools. So think about how hard that is. It’s just tough.

Through all the trials and tribulations this season, what are things that you’ve learned about yourself, not as a head coach, but as a person with just everything you guys are doing?

Just be patient. I mean, there’s so many.

First of all, I learned so much from last year. We talk about staying locked in and being a part of something special, block out the noise. I know you guys cover us, but you don’t understand what goes into a locker room.

You don’t understand, obviously, these guys are prideful. Because of the Internet, everybody has an opinion, and a lot of times opinions are negative towards either the coach or the player.

That doesn’t bother this group or last year’s group, because I’ve been able to have them lock in and say, ‘hey, man, the only thing that matters is what’s in this locker room.’ And one thing I’ll say is, I hope you guys don’t get offended by this, is I ask those guys, ‘the people who are talking negative about you about basketball, would you go to them and take advice about basketball?’ And most of them say ‘no.’ So it don’t matter, right? That’s where I look at it.

But I learned a lot. I learned patience. I learned, just never give up.

Lock in, believe in your players, work your butt off, and anything can happen.