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VIDEO: Kevin Keatt’s Press Conference After NC State’s Offensive Debacle Against VT

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5 years ago

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#23 NC State’s offense posted one of the most atrocious performances in ACC history today, losing to #12 Virginia Tech 47-24. The Videos are BELOW, with a bulleted breakdown UNDERNEATH.

  • Obviously, I can’t say that I’ve seen this before. It obviously didn’t go the way we wanted to. I don’t know if I’ve ever been a part of a game where none of our guys played well.
  • If  you look at the stat sheet, we didn’t shoot well at all. I thought it would get better in the second half, but obviously it didn’t.
  • One of those games where the ball didn’t go in. We didn’t play great. Certainly we have to try to learn from this, and move on.
  • What I told our guys at halftime is that no matter what the score is, and obviously it was 20-14, it could have been 35-29, we were down six. It doesn’t matter when you’re down six, you’re obviously still in the game.
  • We didn’t have it today for whatever reason.
  • When you look at these numbers…they’re mind-boggling…the percentage our guys shot.
  • In the second half, our defense struggled because of our offense.
  • In the first half we just missed shots.
  • I think we gave up some baskets in the second half because we were a little frustrated that we weren’t making shots.
  • Give those guys credit. They did a good job. We just missed a lot of shots that we should have made.
  • I wouldn’t say effort, I would just say we missed shots. Our guys played extremely hard. We missed shots. Here’s the crazy thing…holding a team to 47 points is pretty good. The unfortunate thing is we only got 24.
  • When you look at the numbers, Braxton Beverly hadn’t been shooting it well, but he’s typically not going to go zero for 12.
  • We were two for 28 from the three-point line.
  • As far as effort, I’m proud of the guys. Showed up and competed. It was an off night, and we got to figure out how to not have any more of those.
  • We’ll go back…watch film…go back into the gym and start working on our shots. Obviously, we got to move on, and the unfortunate thing is that we don’t have a lot of time. We have a game in a few days that we have to prepare for.
  • I thought their (VT’s) defense was better in the 2nd half. They were able to close down driving lanes.
  • I thought the shots we missed in the first half were more on us. We got great looks, and as you guys saw just some of that stuff didn’t go down the rim.
  • I have no answer to why we didn’t make shots. Of course, when you’re not shooting well, I thought some of the guys lost their confidence as we missed some shots. Obviously you have to take those shots to try to get back into the game, and it became a snowball effect.
  • I thought we got tight, and that’s what I was afraid with these guys. I just said, “look you got to rely on your defense.”
  • At halftime I actually told them to relax and let’s laugh a little. I said it’s 20-14. I don’t think Virginia Tech would have ever thought they were just going to score 20 at the half. I know we didn’t think we were going to score just 14. I said “just relax a little, and go back out there and play.” Then shots didn’t go down.
  • It was crazy. It was like there was something on the rim.
  • I think Markell’s timing is off. He’s lost some of his conditioning because of the time he has been off. Obviously he’s not playing well like we want him to because he missed three games. That being said, he missed a lot of practice time.
  • Typically you’ll say “Alright, there is a silver lining, or here’s a positive about it.” When you look at these numbers there’s not one guy I thought played well.
  • I am going to watch the tape, unfortunately. In about 30 minutes, I am going to re-watch it. With the players, I will decide if I think they should watch it or not. Obviously, I want to show them the good things they’ve done.
    • It’s crazy, I can only imagine seeing it live and then watching it, I am probably going to get frustrated because I thought we had some great looks.
  • I took a long time to talk to them because I wanted to sit back and replay the game myself. I thought about what happened and what we could have done better. What I kept coming back to was that you have to be able to make shots, and we didn’t.
    • We talked about a lot of things, especially making shots. It was an off game and it was a bad game. We have got to be able to shake it off and move on.
    • We talked about some stuff that we have to be able to do better. We have got to win some of the 50/50 balls and those types of things. It was a bunch of things.
    • We were in there longer just because it took me longer to get in there to talk to them. I talked to them about the same amount of time I usually do.

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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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18 hours 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!

Published

2 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

Published

3 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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Louisville Transfer Guard Mike James Commits to NC State!

Published

4 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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