NC State advance to 9-9 overall and 5-8 in ACC play after a 74-73 road win over Pittsburgh Wednesday.

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

Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the win:

"Give my guys a lot of credit, I don't have the statue with me but I will tell you this. I'm proud of our young dudes. I thought they grew up today. They didn't play a perfect game, but when you look at Cam's assists, you look at Shak's assists and then, by the way, Manny Bates had a career-high in assists with three.

"I thought we got some stops when we needed to, I thought we did a great job executing when we needed to.

"We played a little zone today, and it was good for us because we just put it in yesterday. I give those guys a little credit for fighting through it.

"I'm proud of these guys, this is our second road win in a row, and I think this is a game that we can continue to build on. We fought until the end. We ended up being okay and came out on top. I'm happy."

Pitt looked like they tried to get some calls. Coming into the game, did you stress playing defense without fouling against them?

"We did. Pitt's a good basketball team. They have a lot of emotional guys on their team, meaning that they play with emotion.

"We knew that Xavier Johnson would be physical, we knew Justin Champagnie obviously would make some physical plays. I kind of wanted our guys to stay out of that as much as we could, and I think we did up until Jericole kind of slapped the ball out of his hand.

"I thought every technical was earned. I think on both ends, so I have no complaints about that part of it.

"It was going to be a toughness game. It was a game of who wanted it the most. Not that those guys didn't want it, but certainly both teams came off of losing two in a row. We needed a good win to make us feel better, and obviously get a road win, so I'm excited that we finished the game the way we did."

You guys seemed to be switching less on defense. Was that an adjustment that you made?

"It was an adjustment for this game. Reason being, I didn't want guys like Cam Hayes and Shakeel and Braxton to get caught up on more 6-4, 6-5 guards.

"They tend to post those guys. They run some isolation plays for them. We kind of stayed on those guys. It's similar to the way we play against Carolina because those guys are so big."

You tied the season-high in ACC play with 19 assists, and it came in some unlikely places. Career-highs for Hayes, Moore and Bates in assists, and Funderburk even got one...

Hold on a second. Did you say DJ got an assist?

He did. His second this season.

You would point that out. I was joking, and you would say that. Go ahead, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt.

Where I was going with that, would you say tonight was the best ball movement you’ve seen this season from this group?

"I'm not going to say it's necessarily the best ball movement. I think we've had certainly games where we moved the ball pretty well.

"It may be the best results that we got, meaning guys making shots off of the passes.

"We talked about this with the guys. We talked about winning the turnover battle. I went into this game saying, 'Give me 12 or less.' I think we turned it over 14 times, but we had 19 assists.

"We cleaned up a couple of things, and I thought we got better. Our ball movement has been pretty good the last couple of times, we just haven't scored off on it."

The freshman guards all played well today. With Hayes, Moore and Seabron, was that their best collective performance this season in your eyes?

"Together, I think it is. Those guys, man, we have fought so much adversity. Even in just the last couple of days.

"Obviously, with Thomas Allen not being able to play, Braxton Beverly hasn't practiced since you guys saw him plays last game, and we just played him in the game. Then, unfortunately, I want you to keep Dereon Seabron in your prayers. Unfortunately, we got some bad news that he had a very, very close family member that passed away sometime this morning.

"He was playing with a heavy heart, and those guys, it's hard man. Because these kids are like my own children and when you see the emotion of what's going on with them, it's gut-wrenching to me just to see what they've had to go through just this entire year. We've had so many ups and downs, and we just fight through it. We're going to continue to fight through it.

"To go back, and sorry to get on a little rampage, but to go back to your original question. Those guys stepped up in a big way for us."

What did you see in that last sequence and did you like the defense on that last play?

"I thought the defense was good. I'm glad he didn't make the basket. I thought he hooked us as he drove.

"Then, I want to go back and look at the Cam Hayes play, when they called him for traveling. From where I was standing, I thought he got shoved into a travel, but maybe he didn't.

"I thought we locked in. We had nine seconds, we knew we had to get a stop, and we came up with a stop and a big rebound. Well actually, we had a rebound, then we lost it and the guy got a shot off."

What got into Braxton today, especially considering his health situation?

"He was a savvy veteran that came in and did what he needed to do. He made some shots. He had a couple of drives to the basket. He made a big three.

"He's going to be one of those guys, man, he may not ever practice again for us. When it comes down to it, do we want him in practice or do we want him in games? Certainly, a kid that's as smart as him that's played in the system a little bit for four years, he can certainly be a guy that can do it. The only problem with it is his rhythm is off sometimes.

"We try to get him some shots up, we got him some shots up in the arena today this morning during shootaround. I knew he was ready to play.

"Also, from the veteran's standpoint, Jericole Hellems has been very solid for us. When you look at his numbers with 17 points. I thought in the first half, DJ Funderburk completely carried us. He got offensive rebounds after offensive rebounds, those two guys played well.

"This was the first time that I've had two guards, I think since Devon Daniels has been gone, that had double-figure scoring when you look at what Cam did with 11 and Braxton had 12.

"We're going to build on it. Certainly, we're just not satisfied with just getting this one right here. We want to build on it, and I want these guys to continue to grow up.

"Those three young freshmen are going to be good players, but they're learning on the job. Today, they answered a lot of questions for me and they got to continue to get better."

Thomas Allen didn’t play tonight. Is this injury related to his previous injury?

"It's on the same foot, ankle, as his previous injury. His X-rays came back negative. It's a sprain.

"I'm from the old school, so don't ask me if it's a high or low ankle sprain. With me, we just used to sprain our ankle. But it's fat. He's going to need a lot of treatment.

"I couldn't tell you when he's going to be able to play again."

You’ve had your struggles in the second half this season. Tonight, Pitt took a two-point lead with less than two minutes to play, but you bounced back and came away with the win. Is that a sign of growth for this team?

"I think any positive sign that you see of this team, it's a sign of growth. I mean that in a very positive way.

"We're getting some guys who are completely learning on the job, and they're getting better. And I'm tough on them. I'm not going to give them a pass because they're freshmen. I'm coaching them as though they were upperclassmen and trying to teach them. I just want them to limit their mistakes.

"But I do think our guys took a big step forward. As I told you before, we didn't do everything right. There's a bunch of plays that I look back and say, 'I wish we could have done something different.' But at the end of the day, I'm proud of our guys.

"It's tough to win on the road, even without fans. I'm sure if you guys do the research, it's still tough to win on the road. This is a great road win for us. This is a good team. They've beaten a lot of teams on this floor. For us to come in and get out of here with a win, I'm happy with that."

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