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Kevin Keatts’ Press Conference After NC State Falls to UNC 90-82

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5 years ago

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Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts spoke with the media in his postgame press conference after NC State fell to UNC 90-82. The video is ABOVE, and a bulleted breakdown is BELOW.

  • I’m proud of the way my team fought. Started the game and couldn’t get anything going. We missed shots, and then we battled back. It was a very good basketball game between two teams that can score the ball. I told our team at the end of the game that 82 was enough to win the game.
  • We’ve got to do a better job of cleaning up some of the mistakes that we made. They did a great job of beating us to some 50/50 balls, and we gave up a lot of rebounds. We have a chance to be a really good basketball team.
  • Give North Carolina credit. I thought they shot the ball well. They did a tremendous job making three-pointers. We had our chances and made some runs, but the ball didn’t fall our way at the end of the game.
  • I thought a lot of that (poor shooting) was due to our slow start. What happens when you start the game slow and miss some shots, they will try to bring us back by themselves. We didn’t share the ball particularly well. We went into the game saying that we wanted to get as many touches as we could and spread out the shooters, but we didn’t do that. We didn’t move the ball enough. 82 points is enough to win the game. Give North Carolina a lot of credit. They did a great job tonight.
  • I like where my team is, and I like the way we fought. I told our guys that if we clean up little things, we have a chance to be a really good basketball team.
  • I thought DJ (Funderburk) was great. He was very active. He did a great job. He had a heavy presence down low, both offensively and defensively. What I didn’t get was the rebounds from Torin Dorn, CJ Bryce, and Devon Daniels. We typically have both DJ Funderburk and Wyatt Walker with 7 to 11 rebounds, but we also have our 6’5” guys with rebounds, but tonight North Carolina beat us to some balls.
  • I thought we made some runs. We didn’t do a great job running Cam Johnson off the 3-point line. I thought he got some great looks, with a couple of those coming off offensive rebounds. We knew they did a great job of rebounding the basketball, and getting them off quick for threes, but we didn’t do a great job of running them off the line.
  • We lost a tough game early in our season, and I’m a big streaks guy. We won 7 in a row after we lost, and we talked about what do we do from here. We went to Wisconsin and lost a heartbreaker similar to that. You find out a lot about a team by how they bounce back. That was the last thing I talked to them in the locker room. We did enough to win the game. If we cleaned up some stuff with the basketball, rebounded the basketball, and got some 50/50 balls, there would have been a different outcome tonight.
  • We just missed shots (On UNC’s fast start). If you go back and look at the start of the game, we had some great looks that didn’t fall. Sometimes the basketball just doesn’t go in. I thought we settled in. You aren’t always going to score the basketball, but rely on your defense to get back. When we got down early, I thought we locked in on defense better, and we started making shots. Braxton Beverly hit a couple shots to kind of loosen everything up for us.
  • Our bench has been tremendous. I like my bench. These guys have given me tremendous effort every day. They are fighting. We won’t be defined by one game. I thought it was a good game, but the guys who came off the bench did a tremendous job.
  • I wanted to bring Braxton Beverly off because I wanted him to see the game start and get into a flow.
  • It doesn’t drive me crazy (On being within a few points most of the game). It means that we won’t lay down. These guys are fighters and it shows a lot about us, the program, and the direction that we are moving in. We refuse to just lay down.

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Matthew is Co-Owner of Pack Insider. He writes for all sports, with a focus on football and recruiting, and is in charge of business strategy. He is an NC State alum who majored in business. Matthew is also the lead pastor of The Point Church in Cary, NC.

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NC State Basketball

Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar Commits to NC State

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2 days ago

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April 26, 2024

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Boston Transfer Center Caitlin Weimar (6’4″) has verbally committed to NC State for her final year.

Weimar took an Official Visit to NC State a little over a week ago.

She is the reigning Patriot League Player of the Year, and has been named Defensive Player of the Year the past two years. She has earned 1st Team Patriot League Honors the past two seasons.

This year, Weimar averaged 18.7 points, 10.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks. As a Junior, she averaged 15.5 points and 10.0 rebounds. She shot 55.5% this year, and 59.7% last year.

With the exodus of River Baldwin, picking up a commitment from Weimar is massive.

With the addition of Weimar, NC State now has 2 scholarships available heading into the 2024-25 season.

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NC State Basketball

Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill Commits to NC State!

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3 days ago

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April 25, 2024

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Bowling Green Transfer Guard Marcus Hill (6’4″/185) has committed to NC State!

Hill took an Official Visit to NC State this past weekend.

This past season, Hill averaged 20.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game for the Falcons. He earned 1st Team All-MAC honors. Even though he was only at Bowling Green one season, he had one of the best seasons in school history, scoring 698 points, which ranks 5th all-time in program history for a single season.

For his first two years of collegiate ball, Hill played for Southern Union State College (JUCO) in Alabama. In 2022-23, Hill earned 3rd Team NJCAA All-American honors, and ranked as the #32 overall Junior College prospect.

247Sports ranks Hill as a 4-Star Transfer Prospect, and the #81 overall player in the Transfer Portal, and the #11 Shooting Guard.

Even though 247Sports and ON3 consider Hill a Shooting Guard, NC State is recruiting him as a Point Guard.

Hill is the 4th player to transfer to NC State this offseason, joining Louisville’s Brandon Huntley-Hatfield & Mike James, and Georgetown’s Dontrez Styles.

With the addition of Hill, NC State now has 1 scholarship remaining for next season.

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NC State Basketball

NC State’s Mohamed Diarra Will Not Return to NC State for Final Season

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4 days ago

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April 24, 2024

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NC State Forward Mohamed Diarra will not be returning to NC State for his final season of eligibility. Rather, he will give 100% of his focus to pursuing his professional career.

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Diarra is declaring for the NBA Draft, and will explore that possibility as far as it goes, but the likelihood of him playing professionally in his home country of France are high.

Diarra was a significant player for NC State all season long, averaging 6.3 points and 7.8 rebounds (team high), but his impact in March was tremendous, recording 10+ rebounds in 7 of the Wolfpack’s 10 postseason games, and five of those performances were double-doubles.

Wolfpack fans will always remember the grit and mental toughness that Diarra put on display in the NCAA Tournament, playing game-after-game while fasting for Ramadan.

The Wolfpack’s frontcourt just got a little bit thinner. In the past two weeks, NC State has lost Diarra and Ernest Ross.  Ben Middlebrooks is returning, and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield transferred in from Louisville. Dontrez Styles transferred in from Georgetown, and while he is more of a Small Forward, in certain lineups, he could play the Small 4 position. With all that being said, I fully expect NC State to try to find another post player in the Transfer Portal with Diarra’s exodus now official.

With Diarra not returning in 2024, NC State now has 2 scholarships available for next season.

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NC State Basketball

Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

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5 days ago

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April 23, 2024

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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James (6’5″/200) has announced his commitment to NC State!

 

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This past year, James averaged 12.6 points per game (3rd on the team) and 5 rebounds. He’s extremely physical and aggressive, taking 47% of his field goal attempts at the rim (making 46%). As a result, he draws a lot of fouls, ranking 10th in the ACC in Fouls Drawn, and 4th in Free Throw Rate. James made opponents pay this year when they put him on the line, making 81.8% from the charity stripe, which ranked 15th in the ACC.

James shot the ball better as a Redshirt Freshman, than he did this past season. His Effective Field Goal Percentage in 2022-23 was 55.8%, which ranked 19th in the ACC, and his True Shooting Percentage of 59.6% ranked 14th.

News broke about James entering the Transfer Portal back on March 25th, and NC State was quick to reach out. Kevin Keatts and his staff recruited the former 4-star prospect out of high school heavily, but he ultimately chose the Cardinals.

After redshirting his first year in Louisville due to torn achilles, James has been a starter for the Cardinals the past two years.

He does have the ability to knock down a three, making 34.8% for his career.

James has 2 years of eligibility remaining. With James’ commitment, NC State currently has 1 scholarship available for next season.

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