NC State advanced to 13-9 overall and 9-8 in ACC play after an 80-69 road win over Notre Dame Wednesday.
Wolfpack head coach Kevin Keatts answered questions from media members following the game.
Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the win:
Opening statement
"Man, I’m pumped. Our team played extremely well on the road again. I’m proud of these guys.
"I’ll take you guys back, we were 4-8. This team had every reason and every opportunity to lay down a little bit and make excuses about why we weren’t winning. Instead, they have battled, and we’ve kind of flipped this thing around. In that stretch we’ve won five road games and five in a row.
"We did a great job today following the scouting report. Dereon Seabron was really, really good. He had a career-high with 17 points and 13 rebounds. So was Cam Hayes. When you look at our games, we're finding ways to win. The last game it was the veterans. This game I thought our young guys came out and played well.
"Shak Moore, even though he didn't have a lot of points, but I thought he played well also.
"I'm happy with where we're at. In this league, to go on the road and win five consecutive games, that's tough. Proud of our guys."
Questions
What do you think is the biggest thing that changed in these past five games?
"We never stopped believing, and those guys never stopped believing. We did a couple of things that we haven't done in a long time. I went to play more four-man games in practice. This time of year, you don't want to go a long time. I think it's helped our younger guys be able to adapt to game-time situations.
"Our biggest adjustment is we stopped turning the ball over. When you go back to the Syracuse and Duke games, we didn't give ourselves an opportunity to win because we turn the ball over. You look at the last few games that we played, we've been on 10 turnovers a game.
"Our guys have bought in. It took us a little time to get a different identity. We didn't know how we were going to play, but our guys made a great adjustment. We started playing the game inside-out and good things started happening for us.
"The biggest adjustment is when you look at us, we have become more solid on the defensive end. We've done a good job of shutting down and guarding people now."
When the news broke this afternoon that the Virginia Tech game was canceled, was that something you brought up to your team? If so, do you think it gave the guys an extra spark of motivation knowing this could be the last game of the regular season?
"100 percent not at all. I don't have the type of team that I can talk about a game on Saturday going into a game tonight, so I haven't mentioned a word to them.
"Now, I'm smart, I know they're all on social media, so I'm sure they've seen it. But I didn't say a word to them. I don't think with these kids it would be a motivation to say this is possibly your last game, we're just playing good basketball right now."
After the veterans carried most of the weight against Pittsburgh, did you expect a game like this from your freshmen in response?
"I would be lying to you if I told you that both Cam Hayes and Seabron were both going to have career-highs, but they both have prepared the right way. Both of those guys and even Shak, all of those guys realized they didn't have their best performances, and those guys have a sense of pride about them.
"That was good. It was good to see them have the ball go in, and it was good to see them play aggressively. They all wanted it more than they did the last game.
"When you're young, you realize how hard you have to compete in every game, and I think that was a wake-up call for those guys because we won a game against Pittsburgh that was a grind-it-out game without any guards really playing well other than Braxton Beverly."
How has the adversity that you’ve had to overcome and the five-game winning streak made you a better coach?
"Forget about the basketball part for a second. Just what's going on in our country has given me a better understanding of everything that's happened in the world. The patience.
"What I have realized, you don't know how good you have it until you hear someone else's story. I've been locked in and trying to figure out... This is entertainment for us. What I mean by that is, we're blessed to be able to put our guys out on the floor, which they want to play, and to be able to help someone else get through their day.
"For me, I've learned a lot of patience because I had to get a lot of patience from basketball because I'm playing younger guys. But at the end of the day, it's bigger than just basketball.
"When you look at everything that's happening for almost a year now, it's tough. I try to keep everything in perspective. I'm more humble than I've ever been, and not that I wasn't humble, but I understand that we got great opportunities here and our guys are playing hard for themselves, their family and their university."
How do you feel about heading to Greensboro with this kind of momentum?
"I like the way we're playing. Right now, we could make the argument that we're playing just as well as anybody in the ACC. When you're playing well, you want to continue to play.
"Our guys have bought in. They're understanding that it's finally clicking. When it's clicking, you want it to be clicking in March. That's where we are right now.
"I know we're going to get a million questions about Saturday. We'll evaluate everything in the next couple of days, we'll talk to the ACC, we'll figure out if there's an opportunity or if there's not an opportunity. And we'll make the best of the situation."
It seems like the freshmen have played a little better on the road. Is the ice cream a little extra motivation?
"It could be a lot of different things, but it's distractions. Maybe it's ice cream, maybe they just like playing at different venues.
"That being said, I think they've had some tremendous games at home too. We love PNC. It was so unbelievable just to have the few fans that we had at the last game. We love it. We just love playing basketball at home or on the road."
What are some specific ways that you’ve seen these freshmen grow over the winning streak?
"They have matured in a lot of ways. You guys know it, you wrote about it. We would turn the ball over, we would fall down. We would do freshman things. It's not a fault of their own, it's just they were thrown into a situation that they weren't ready for at the time.
"Ball security is the number one thing. Defense is the second thing because they have all have been liabilities on the defensive end. The biggest thing is that they're starting to believe in this team and themselves. I think that's the biggest thing."
Is this one of the best feelings you’ve had in your tenure at NC State?
"I feel great. We have had a heck of a February, and not so good of a January. It's a great feeling. Winning is a great thing. I told the team when you win, everything's better.
"Our guys feel good about themselves, they're doing a tremendous job in all areas because of that. I'm happy with where the team is at.
"We don't feel like we're done, we've got work to do. We just got to figure out what's our next game. If it's a Saturday opportunity or we try to take this momentum into the ACC Tournament."
One of the adjustments you’ve made is inserting Seabron into the starting lineup? What does he give you essentially playing the two for you because you’ve gone from having one of the smallest starting lineups in the league to one of the biggest?
"I'll tell you what happened. You guys will think I'm crazy. Nah, you won't think I'm crazy. I was watching when we were preparing for Pittsburgh the first time. I'm watching the game from the tournament from last year, it was March 11, 10th or 11th. I looked out there and we had Markell Johnson at 6-1, C.J Bryce at 6-5, we had Devon Daniels at 6-5, Jericole, Manny and DJ. I said, 'Man, it's tough' because we're rolling out there now with who are really good players.
"We got Braxton who's, he says he's 6-1 and we list hime at 6-1, so that's out fault. And we got Thomas Allen, who's a really good player also, but he's 6-1. So we were really small, and in our situation because of Braxton not being all that healthy and not being able to practice, Thomas Allen going through his injuries.
"It allowed me to experiment with a little bigger lineup, and it's kind of worked for us. So I'm proud of Seabron and proud of Cam because they both have gotten better on the defensive end. Good things happen to you when you play defense, and that's the way they both scored."
If you guys make a deep run in the ACC Tournament, is there an argument you should be in the NCAA Tournament?
"You're not going to get me into that argument today, buddy. I got no control over that. Kevin Keatts didn't stay the NET, he didn't say anything about that.
"Listen, we're going to take one game at a time. I don't get to make those decisions, all we can do is try to win games."
You would think they want teams playing well late in the NCAA Tournament, wouldn’t you?
"Once again, thank you. Enjoy your ice cream. Not answering the question. I love you to death, but I don't have an answer for that."
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