NC State dropped to 6-5 overall and 2-4 in ACC play after a 86-76 road loss to North Carolina Saturday.

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

Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the loss:

"Well, I thought our guys fought hard. When you look at it, I thought we played a really good, hard, inspiring game. When you look at it, I thought the difference in the game probably was the last three or four minutes of the first half, kind of got away from us a little bit.

"You look at the two guys who I thought really hurt us today on the offensive glass was, Armando Bacot, who played well, not so much offensive glass, but he scored inside. Then also Day'Ron Sharpe, both of those guys played extremely hard, extremely well and made a big difference in the game.

"I thought our guys were playing well. One of the things I told my guys in the locker room just now is, 'Man, you're playing hard, you're competing.' Whenever we get back in practice, it will be the first time in probably 15 or 16 days that we've had our entire team in there. We have to go in there, we got to get ready for our next game.

"Everybody's got to get on the same page, everybody's got to continue to work, we got to get back in shape and figure everything out. But give Carolina credit, good win on their home floor."

How important is Braxton Beverly playing well for you guys moving forward?

"Well, it's good because we need some of our better players to get reps together and be able to play together. Braxton's had a couple of good days in practice. It was one of those things that...

"I had a good conversation with our sports medicine department, we were just playing him on game day, and that was tough because he's a guy who needs to play and practice to get a little bit of rhythm. I think that's really affected the way he's played early on. Because he was able to get more reps leading up to this game, I knew he would play better than he's played in the last few games.

"It's tough because it's a great balancing act with him, whether you just save him for just the games, and what I've asked for is let me get him for 15 to 20 reps in practice so he'll be prepared when the game starts. It was good to see him play well.

Do you feel like you guys missed some opportunities to take more threes?

"I do. I thought Cam Hayes had one in the corner where he was called for travel. I thought it was a combination with Jericole, he had a couple threes that he could have taken that he drove the ball. A lot of that is rhythm, timing and all that other stuff. We didn't particularly make a bunch of threes, but I thought we passed up on a bunch that we could have taken."

Do you go into games with a specific number of threes in mind?

"I don't. I want them to go with the flow of the game to get shots, so I don't have a number saying, 'Hey, I need them to take at least 20 or make at least 10. We just try to take it in the flow of the game."

Could you pinpoint any moments in the game where you felt the pause played an impact on your play?

"I think more so our rhythm and timing. Just guys being on the floor playing together. Not only were we on a pause, that's the tough thing about it. Certainly, everybody's going through this.

"We were without Manny Bates, and honestly, I played him a lot more than I ever expected. Yesterday was his first time having contact since he sprained his ankle, I think it was at the end of the Miami game.

"Pauses hurt. Here's a crazy thing, coaches, we love to have control, but we cannot control what happens with this virus so it's unfortunate because we may have another one, we could have one in the next couple of days.

"Certainly, it's no excuse, but every coach in the country is going to go through this. Your team is just not the same team when you don't have a chance to practice as much as you can be, and you have to live with that. You got to get better, you got to live with it and try to figure it out."

It was a tale of two halves for DJ Funderburk. What do you think made the difference for him in the second half?

"We challenged him. I didn't think he played well at all in the second half. When I got the stat sheet, of course when you're in the course of the game, you don't see everything, but I was pissed off a little bit at the stat sheet that I got in the first half because I just didn't think he affected the game.

"He got in foul trouble, he played I think 9:30 in the first and didn't affect the game. We talked to him, I got his teammates to talk to him, and I thought he came out and responded.

"We've got a good basketball team. I know everybody will say, 'Well, you're 2-4 in the league.' But there's a lot of basketball to be played. I have to get my best guys back on the floor together in practice. I've got to try to figure out how to keep COVID away from my program if we can, which I know that's going to be a major challenge.

"I like our pieces. I'm not disappointed in the way my guys competed. Unfortunately, we came up a little bit short."

This is always a heated rivalry game. Are the guys mad right now?

"They're disappointed. Think about this, man. I know it sounds crazy, we were doing something that most NC State programs and players haven't done. We were going for a sweep in this series, and we talked about it. It's important not only when we play Carolina, but you had an opportunity.

"I was on the show with Joe Giglio the other day and I think I talked to Craig Hammel also, I didn't realize this. It was 2000, I think it was 2002 is what I was told that we had not as NC State won twice against Carolina, and rightfully so. It's a good program, but we had our opportunities I thought our guys fought, I thought our guys understood."

Today seemed like the second straight game where the offense played well enough to win. What was your assessment of the defense today and where do you guys have to improve moving forward in conference play?

"You're right about our offense. Our offense has been well the last few games. I think our biggest problem is they came in and they've worked the last couple of days of pounding the ball inside as much as they can.

"When you look at those guys, they shot for 4-11 from three, 8-for-18 from the free throw line. I think the difference is they were shooting around the basket and give Bacot and give Day'Ron Sharpe a lot of credit, they were very effective around the basket. When you have guys shooting two-footers and three-footers around the basket, the percentage is going to be good.

"I thought we did a good job against a Carolina team, the last time we played them, even though we won the game, we gave up 19 points in transition. Obviously, we know that's one of the things that they've done.

"We were able to take away the transition, but we couldn't keep them off the glass because we gave up 14 offensive rebounds, and that's something that we've got to work on."

Shakeel Moore had his breakout game against UNC in December but only played four minutes today. Was there something injury-wise that kept him off of the court?

"No, he hadn't practiced well. I'm one of those guys that rewards guys who are practicing well. He's going to be fine, he's a freshman, he's going to play great in our program but, honestly, those guys haven't practiced well.

"We talked about being competitive in practice. We had a stretch in practice last week where in a two-day period, one team won 16 games and they were short games, and the other team won five.

"The way I gauge whether you're ready to play in a game is how hard you've competed in practice, and are you prepared to play. That's nothing against him, he just leading up to the Carolina game, I went with guys who I thought gave us the best chance to win."

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