Full transcript: Kevin Keatts after Florida State loss

NC State dropped to 6-4 overall and 2-3 in ACC play after a 105-73 road loss to Florida State Wednesday night.

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

Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the loss:

"Give Florida State a lot of credit. I thought they were incredible tonight. I thought my team fought as hard as they could towards the end. Certainly, on this given night, I think they would have beaten most teams in the country.

"Obviously, I don't like the outcome of the game and the score of the game, but I thought they played tremendously. I thought they played out of their mind, making 12 3-pointers. They made them long, they made them in transition, got to the free-throw line, going 11 for 11 from the free-throw line.

"Probably the best team that we have played in our early season so far. We got to shake it off. We got to get better. We understand the things that we got to work on, and we're going to move forward."

Were you trying to play more up-tempo than normal with the absence of Manny Bates tonight?

"We wanted to play up-tempo, that's the way we play, but I mean s***, man, they shot the hell out of the basketball.

"They made us pay for every mistake that we made. Give them credit. Obviously, we lost the game, and as a coach, I will take full responsibility for it and so will my players, we talked about that. But at the end of the day, you got to give it up to those guys. They had a hell of a game, and I thought so many guys played well.

"We wanted to play fast. We didn't want to get into a half-court situation where we had to score against a half-court defense because they switched off screens, but at the end of the day, I think they may just pay for everything that we did."

Do you feel like your guys have become too reliant on scoring off of turnovers?

"I don't think so. We try to get one-third of our offense off of our turnovers. We try to get out in transition, and we try to get some of that stuff from a half-court offense. When you look at it, you go back to it, we scored enough points to win the game, even though some of those points came late in the game. They just played well. They were really clicking offensively.

"Do we miss Manny Bates? 100 percent. Obviously, because he can protect a lot of that stuff at the rim. When you don't have him and then a guy like Braxton Beverly, who hasn't practiced a lot, we're relying on two freshmen guards to play a lot. That being said, none of that would have changed because of the way Florida State played tonight."

How do you rebound against a team that had such a size advantage like Florida State?

"It's tough because when you're missing one of your bigger guys, and I've got Jericole Hellems, who is 6-7 and trying to fight against someone of a bigger size. Florida State's a big team, maybe the biggest team that we've played against, the other one being Carolina.

"I think the smallest guy that they have in their lineup is about 6-5, and that's if they're not starting No. 4, who's really good. In order for us to do better against a bigger team, it takes a lot of the guards to rebound the basketball, and they're just bigger than us."

What do you tell your team after a game like this and how do you try to make tonight a learning experience moving forward?

"I talked about playing hard all the way to the end, and I will live with the results. I want them to remember the loss. We're all going to take ownership, and we understand that we got to do some soul searching. We got to get better in certain situations.

"I certainly don't want those guys to forget what happened tonight. We learned a valuable lesson. These guys are really good, and we played a good team on their own floor, who shot the ball really, really well. That being said, that doesn't get past the feeling of what we feel like.

"We talked about the last few years how we started the season. You look at my first year, we were 2-3 in the conference, and we went on to win 11 games to finish 11-7.

"One of our biggest things, we have to get healthy. We're not playing with our full roster right now and certainly with an injured Braxton Beverly and not having Manny Bates, it changes us a little bit.

"That being said, there's a lesson to be learned. I thought our guys fought to the end. We just ran into a buzzsaw today."

Did you feel the team was mentally prepared for this game?

"I thought we were mentally locked in. It's hard to overcome. I've seen a couple of games early on [this year], where the team really shot the ball very well, and the score is obviously going to be lopsided.

"One of the games I think when I scouted was when Syracuse played Boston College. Syracuse shot and made maybe 15 of 16 three-pointers. Those are hard to overcome. It was a good game when we started off, both teams had two three-pointers to start off, and we start missing and they kept making them.

"I thought mentally we came into the game ready to play, I thought our guys were prepared to play. We played against a good Florida State team that was ready to play today, and our guys were ready also."

How much did it change the game when DJ Funderburk gets in foul trouble and you're already missing Manny Bates?

"It changes us. DJ's our only veteran big that we have. Obviously without Manny being able to play in the game, and then DJ goes out, we become incredibly young.

"Instead of being able to put another veteran guy in the game, I've got to put in a freshman. Then when you add the fact that you've already started two freshmen in Cam Hayes and Shakeel Moore, now you got three freshmen that have to play a bulk of your minutes, so it completely changes us."

With all of the hype around Scottie Barnes this year, what did you see in facing him tonight?

"He's talented. When you see a young man like that who's 6-9, what makes him I think special after watching him on tape and watching him play today is that he's affecting the game in so many different ways.

"He can handle it, he can pass it. He almost reminds you of a tight end on the football team because he does so much stuff. He's going to be a good pro. He's got great size. I mean you don't see a guy at his size at 6-9 handle the basketball.

"He's a very talented kid. I know a lot of people say, 'Well, he doesn't shoot it as well.' But he'll get that as he continues to mature and get better."

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