Kevin Keatts is solely focused on Georgia Tech

NC State men’s basketball coach Kevin Keatts met with the media Monday via Zoom call to discuss his team that is 14-4 overall and 4-3 in the ACC. Keatts and the Wolfpack will face Georgia Tech on the road Tuesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff on ACC Network.

Video of Keatts’ Zoom can be found below via The Wolfpacker’s YouTube channel.

Here are highlights from the transcript of Keatts’ availability.

Kevin Keatts’ press conference

You just came off of a very emotional win versus a Miami team. How do you keep that same poise and calm and collected going forward against Georgia Tech team?

Kevin Keatts: Well, I think they’re really good, and sometimes records don’t indicate how good you are. I saw enough when they were able to beat Miami at Georgia Tech. What’s unique about what Josh [Pastner] has done there is that they mix their defenses up and you’re going to see a couple of different zones and you’ll see some man to man.

“And then anytime you run a Princeton offense, it kind of keeps you in a game. We want to just stay focused and locked in. We’re not good enough where we can say we can look at anybody and think because of their record we can that’s an automatic win. Our league is so good. Anybody can beat you on any given night.

“And so our guys our focus has been turning the page against a very good win at home versus Miami to go and play a very good team in Georgia Tech on the road.”

Everybody’s talked a lot about D.J. Burns’ scoring ability. Can you just go into what he gives you as a passer?

Kevin Keatts: “You know, what makes him really good is his ability to find other guys. And it kind of puts you in a little bit tougher situation because you have to pick your poison. Do you want him to score the basketball? Or if you decide that you’re going to double him, what makes him unique is his ability to find people to make passes.

“I think that’s a little bit underrated part of his game, because he is a good passer and he’s almost like a point guard from the center position because he always makes the right play. I think that’s what makes him really tough to guard.”

I wanted to go back to the final play of regulation against Miami. You ended up getting Jarkel Joiner taking a three. Was that what you guys wanted coming out of the timeout, or did you have something else in mind?

Kevin Keatts: “Of course … you know I didn’t want that. We were trying to get him to go screen for T, and to a drive and to DJ getting to the baseline and sort of drop off. Obviously [Norchad] Omier is a tremendous shot blocker. We felt like if we can get Jarkel getting down a lane to his right hand we would have him come over, rotate and make a shot.

“Obviously, you know when it doesn’t work out it looks bad. He just dribbled, dribbled and then end up taking a crazy three, but I will say this to you. Let’s give Miami more credit for the defensive effort. I thought [Harlond] Beverly did a great job of defending him and not going forward and stay locked in.

“Fortunate enough we were able to move on and overtime and get to win.

More impressive from Ernest [Ross] the other day: 17 points in 22 minutes or six offensive rebounds in 22 minutes?

Kevin Keatts: “Man, you’re asking me to pick which one of my sons I love the most. I love both of those.

“I mean, his 17 points were really good. And here’s why they were good. All year long I thought he has settled for taking corner threes, and he’s always open and he’s open for a reason. I thought this time he decided to play around the rim and DJ, give DJ credit, he found him on a lot of those.

“But his offensive rebounds were tremendous. They were timely. They were great when we needed him at the time. And you know, if you look back, … he had two games last year, maybe not 17 and nine, that showed us glimpses of what he could do. One of them was at Virginia Tech and then one of them was at Louisville.

“We just hope that he can build on it. Between him and Greg [Gantt], you know, when Jack [Clark] went down, they’ve stepped up in a huge way and I think they’ve really helped their team.”

You mentioned earlier DJs passing ability out of the post and out of doubles. Is that something he had shown in the Big South and you knew you were getting?

Kevin Keatts: “Well, … when he plays at a smaller conference in the Big South, of course he’s gonna see a lot of double teams. So we were able to see his ability to pass the ball. This is not a surprise, … we knew coming in that he was a really good passer.

“You just don’t respect and appreciate it as much until he’s playing for you.”

Everyone’s talking about Ernest and D.J. but you had the great game from Greg Gantt as well. … I just want you to talk about his performance and, and how everybody’s seeming to up their game.

Kevin Keatts: “It shows a little bit about the roster that we’ve been able to put together. We couldn’t last year, we lost so many important pieces to injuries. And the year before was Devon Daniels’ situation, and I thought that year before when Devon went down, we were able to bounce back, finished 9-8 in the league and won five road games at the end.

“We couldn’t we couldn’t overcome what we had with our injuries. These guys have stepped up in a major way. You look at what Greg’s done, and he’s used his experience. He’s a guy who’s battled injuries and his knees has been bothering him, but he went from not playing to almost playing 30 minutes a game or a little bit more.

“Greg came in and played hard for us. Then Ernest is something that we’ve expected. It’s been a little slower coming off of his ankle injury for last year. He shown some flashes in practice but hadn’t played that way. That being said, leading up to the Miami game, I thought he had really two good practices that helped him.

“So our guys are really bought in. It’s tough when you’re losing two starters, and Dusan [Mahorcic] meant so much to us and because he played hard rebounding the ball. And then Jack Clark was our leading rebounder and he’s also a three point threat. We’ve had completely had to switch a little bit how we play, and the credit goes to those guys who stepped up in a way and that would be you know, number one, I would say would be Greg and Ebenezer [Dowuona] stepped up and then also Ernest.”

How big of an opportunity to as NC State have this week with the Tech game and then the Carolina game to sort of create separation amongst the ACC and amongst the national saying?

Kevin Keatts: “We focus in on the next game, and so we’ve got a great opportunity. … We’ll play against Georgia Tech, who loves to mix it up and loves to confuse you. Every game in this league is so important. If you think that it’s not, there’s something wrong with you.

“You can, on any given night, you can win and on any given night you can lose. When I sit back and watch a really, really good, talented Miami team go to Georgia Tech and lose that opens your eyes up, and like I said Josh has done a good job with his guys.”

I’m just curious to know as far as the new coaching staff that you brought in and this new mix of players, how well was everybody meshing and how would you assess the job that your new coaching staff has done this year to help where you guys are at right now and why?

Kevin Keatts: “Our coaches are working. Obviously, they’re doing a really good job. I think the main focus of any coaching staff and one that you put together is obviously bringing someone or bringing people in who are just locked in and is committed to our players and getting them better from day to day.

“I think they all have done a tremendous job. One of the hardest things as coaches and especially as assistant coaches is when you’re coming in new just trying to build a relationship with every player and getting them to trust you. I think our guys have done a good job of getting the trust from the players and putting in a lot of work and I’m excited that we have them all here.”

With Carolina coming up on Saturday, you’ve got a lot of kids who are new to the program. Do you talk to these guys about about rivalries and things like that? And do you feel like they’ve got a feel for how much the fans really get into these kinds of games?

You know … you’ve been covering me for a long time and I’m just focused on Georgia Tech. Tech’s our next game. That would be very unfair and silly of me to even think past that.

The defensive metrics would suggest this is perhaps your best defensive team, including your ones at Wilmington. Would would you agree with what the numbers indicate? And if so, why do you think you guys have been so good on that end?

Kevin Keatts: “I would have said that up until the Miami game and made Miami just destroyed all your defensive numbers. I mean, it was one of those that who could score the most. You get 83 points and and you think that it should be an easy game and it’s a two-point game.

“We have become a little better defensively. A little bit more stingy. I think one of the reasons for it is Jarkel Joiner has done a great job at the point of our attack on the defensive end. We’re understanding a little bit more how to keep guys in front and not give up so many easy baskets.

“So, I do like our defensive intensity right now. Especially when you look at it two games I thought the two best defense against that we played was Duke here at home where we were able to hold them to 22 points in the first half and the same thing at [Virginia Tech] on the road.

“So I will say that I liked the way this team is defending. Questioned everything when you go back and look at the Miami tape because [Isaiah] Wong had a stretch where you felt like that we didn’t even try to defend him, but he’s a good player. But we are building. I do like where we at. Hopefully we can continue to get better in those areas.”