NC State fell to 8-9 overall and 4-8 in ACC play after a 69-53 loss to Duke Saturday.

Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts answered questions from media members following the game.

Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the loss:

"As I told the team after the game, it's going to be hard to win any ACC game, or any conference game down the stretch, if our ball security is not very good. To be honest, we stink right now in that area.

"Going back to the last couple of games, against Syracuse we had 20 turnovers, against Duke tonight we had 18, and we don't put ourselves in a great situation to win no matter how hard we play, no matter who has a hot hand.

"When you look at the first half, we gave it away 13 times, and we dug ourselves in such a big hole. Then you're climbing back out of that hole the entire game. I wish I could point to one guy who's doing it, it's everybody. When you take the stat sheet, it's not a good thing for us, it's not a good formula. It's weird because I've never been on this end when we have turned it over so much, we're usually the team that's turning people over, and we have to solve it. It's on me, I'm the coach, I'll get it straight.

"We're just not very good in that area, and when you're not good in that area, it doesn't work well for you to win games. I think we gave away 22 points off of turnovers. Those are opportunities that you don't have a chance to defend against the other team. I think we gave away 16 fast-break points, some of that is a combination of turning the ball over.

"We didn't for a couple of days in practice, I didn't have Cam Hayes or Braxton Beverly. Those two guys, who are praying pretty solid for us, we found out that they had a stomach virus that's kind of going around, so we were able to sit those guys on for a couple of days. If you guys didn't notice, Ebenezer Dowuona wasn't at the game today because he's actually the one who's going through it right now.

"We have to get better in that area, we're not going to shy away from it. I don't have to tell you guys, you've seen it enough, you've been around enough basketball. Right now, that's not an area that we're doing well in, and we got to get better."

Could you give us an update on Braxton Beverly?

"I don't have anything. I'll get it later on. The promising thing is he was sitting in the locker room after the game as opposed to in the training room, but he's going through it. He's in pain.

"The problem with him, he's probably not going to let you know he's in pain, so it's going to have to come from our sports medicine staff to figure it out."

Duke got a lot of open looks today, especially Matthew Hurt. What happened there?

"I thought Hurt was tremendous. We did have a couple of breakdowns where he made shots, but also give him credit.

"I don't want to take away from his performance because even when we switched out, we switched out to take away from the pick-and-pop and he would shoot over a shorter guy. We switched out with Manny a couple of times, he made shots, he had an incredible day. He's a good basketball player.

"When they added Mark Williams to the lineup, it allows Matthew Hurt to be able to play on the perimeter and not so much inside. He's probably one of the toughest, if not the toughest matchup in our league because he can spread you out at 6-9, 6-10 and make shots. I don't want to take away from his performance saying that we didn't do a great job because I thought he played tremendously.

Did you think motivation was a problem today?

"I didn't. I think our guys were motivated to play. I thought our guys were excited about the opportunity to play.

"We stink right now in turning the ball over. I don't care how motivated you are, how much energy you come out with, we never gave ourselves a chance to win this game or be in the game when you go into halftime... When I saw the halftime stat sheet, I almost lost my mind because I'm seeing 13 turnovers. That's more than you want to give away for the entire game.

"I will say this, luckily we did a better job in the second half, turning it over five times. I think their motivation is there, our guys are fighting. Our guys are bothered by the fact that we don't have great ball security. I do think that's something we can fix, but we need to fix it in a hurry because it's not a great formula to win ACC games."

Did you anticipate having problems with the pick-and-pop?

"We knew that they would come in through scouting because Hurt was playing more at the four and pick-and-pop. I thought early on we made a couple of mistakes, and we didn't switch off or they dragged the screen as they doubled and threw it back to them.

"Once we started switching, it's tough when you're switching it's a four-to-one screen. They won't be able to pick-and-pop on you, but you got a 5-11, six-foot guy on a 6-9 guy who can shoot over most big guys.

"I thought early on we lost them, he made some great plays. The first one was out of transition, we didn't locate. The second was on a ball screen where they dragged the ball screen and threw it back to him. At that point, we started switching the screen because I didn't think they could hurt us inside by the time they moved the basketball around. He made shots, give him credit. He was as good as advertised today."

Do you think there will be value for the freshmen in the experience they’ve had to go through this year?

"I hope so, I really do. I do think there is. What's encouraging to me is, when you look around our league, and you start looking at the sophomores that played last year and really struggled. They were good basketball players, but they struggled. Now they're playing great. [Armando] Bacot, Manny's taken a step forward, Isaiah Wong is another one who's playing really well.

"You're hoping that this experience. that a guy like Shakeel Moore, Cam Hayes and [Dereon] Seabron, those guys will get experience and it'll be different. Those guys will be really good basketball players for us, and they're doing the best they can, but right now as young guys, I have to get them to lock in where we don't turn the ball over.

"The turnovers are not being blamed on our freshmen, it's all of us. It starts with me as a head coach, and it trickles down to the players.

"I told you guys earlier today, we've won 20 games the last three years because we could turn people over. Now it's kind of going back towards us and we have to get better in that area. Our ball security has to get better."

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