NC State advanced to 7-5 overall and 3-4 in ACC play after a 72-67 home win over Wake Forest Wednesday night.

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

Here is the full transcript from Keatts following the win:

"Well, it's good to get back on the right track. I thought our guys played extremely hard today. We've had two really good practices, and what made it special was, for the first time, I've had everybody in practice and everybody was healthy. The competition in practice was really, really good.

"We focused on coming into this game knowing that those guys can really shoot the basketball. The last couple of games they made 15-to-13 threes, and we wanted to take away the three-point shot.

" We also wanted to get back into our pressing because we haven't been able to practice a lot and our conditioning hasn't been great, we haven't had a chance to press as much. We were able to play a little bit more 2-2-1 and some man-to-man.

"I heard you guys talking to DJ [Funderburk], somebody gave us 24 [turnovers], but I'll take it if that's your count. I'm looking at 21. What was impressive about the 21 turnovers is we were able to convert on the other end and get some easy baskets.

"So, happy for our guys. It was good for our guys to be able to be happy in the locker room. We just want to take this game, we want to continue to build on it, and my guys want to continue to get better."

What does Devon Daniels’ injury do to the psyche of the team?

"We're going to concentrate and be happy. I've learned in this league that wins are golden. We're going to pray for Devon and make sure everything's okay, I don't have an update for you guys.

"Hopefully, I'll get something in the next 24-to-48 hours. We're going to enjoy as much as we can, our win.

"We're going to try to build on it. Our guys in the locker room are extremely happy. It's been a long couple of weeks for us when you think about what we've had to go through as far as COVID, then not having Manny Bates, Braxton Beverly not being able to practice, it's taken a toll on us. Nothing like getting home and getting a win to make you feel better."

You guys turned it over 19 times on offense. Was Wake doing something to force that or was it carelessness with the ball?

"When we play the way we play, we're going to have some turnovers. I do not like 19 turnovers, but we play fast. I'm allowing these guys to be able to play fast and get after it as much as we can.

"We'll clean it up, we've been working on it. It's not been just one guy, it's been a lot of guys. When you have the leading assist guy that I've coached for the last two or three years, for the first time, we have different people that have to handle the basketball, it's going to make a difference. That's where, because we haven't played a lot of non-conference games, where you can clean it up, that's where it's starting to show it's head right there.

"We're going to get better in that area. We were doing it obviously before we went down with COVID, and we'll continue to get better."

You’ve talked in the past about how you want to score 33% of your points off of turnovers. Considering you guys did exactly that tonight, did it feel like a get-right game in terms of getting back to your identity?

"Finally, you believe what I've been saying for a long time now. One-third, one-third, one-third. I'm giving you credit for paying attention to what I've said over the years.

"It feels good to be able to get out and play defensively like we like to play. You guys have watched us, we're not pressing as much because we just haven't had the bodies and we haven't had a chance to press in practice to get better. We haven't been in great shape because of what we've been through.

" For the first time in practice, we were able to get after each other for the last couple days and we got better in that area. But I'm proud of the fact that we were able to take those turnovers and transfer them to points.

"That's kind of how we play. We like to score in transition, we like to create off of our defense. I don't have my deflection numbers, but we try to go into every game trying to get 40 deflections. I'm sure we were way over 40."

How important was Jericole Hellems’ play, particularly after Devon Daniels went down in the second half?

"We're not going to think about anybody missing time, we ain't going to start with that.

"I thought Jericole played great down the stretch. He made a big jump shot, I think he went to the free-throw line, he was 6-of-7 from the free-throw line, but he also gives you the ability to switch off screens at 6-7. It's going to be important that he continues to get better. He needs to see the ball go in the hole.

"He's had some good games, but he hasn't had the great games that he's capable of. I'm proud of him for continuing to fight and get better. We're going to need him regardless of the situation as we go down the stretch."

You comforted Devon Daniels when he was on the floor after his injury. What was your message for him?

"Just relax, just relax. When you're an athlete and you're a really good player, and you go to the ground, your natural thing is to freak out. These guys are not used to injuries, so I just wanted to make sure that he relaxed and knew that we were here for him.

"I just told him to take a couple of deep breaths, relax and let's let the trainer and the doctor look at it."

You guys were up 14 when Daniels went down, then Wake Forest went on a run right after. Do you think his injury weighed on the team during that stretch and is he scheduled to get an MRI?

"I haven't been able to get to our training and our doctors yet to figure out what the next step is. If I'm guessing, knowing how we quickly do things in a situation like that, I'm guessing that there will be some type of MRI probably tomorrow. That's just a guess. I'm sure they want to make sure there's no swelling.

"I don't know if they made the run because Devon went out of the game or if they would have made to run regardless. When you look at Wake Forest, in every tape that we watched, Virginia Louisville, Pittsburgh, which they won, they made a run in the second half. All of those games went down the stretch, same thing when they played Virginia Tech. I really couldn't answer that.

"If you want me to give you an answer, I would say probably, yes. One of your better players goes out and you've got a sub some younger guys in. I was proud of Cam [Hayes], and also Shakeel [Moore]. I wanted them to finish this game because I wanted them to get that experience of finishing the game. We did a great job down the stretch."

You’ve mentioned you wanted Hayes and Moore to carry the torch a little more at the point guard position. What did it mean to you to see them get that confidence and finish this game out?

"I give a lot of credit to Thomas Allen, Devon Daniels, and Braxton Beverly. They pulled those guys aside and told them how hard they had to compete every day to be prepared for a game.

"A lot of time when you're young, you think that you can turn it on in the game. Those two guys had really great practices, and they played well. I've said all along, those two guys, if they will stick together, they're going to be really good basketball players for us.

"The unfortunate thing, I feel bad for them because they would have traditionally had 11 games in non-conference to get better in certain areas. We just finished our 12th game today, so they were thrown into the fire.

"I thought Thomas Allen, his approach to the young guys, and Devon, was tremendous. I had a good talk with both of those guys about what's expected of them, what this team needs from them.

"They're going to play, they're going to make some mistakes and we're going to live with the mistakes that they make, we just don't want them to continue to make the same mistakes."

——

• Talk about it inside The State of Basketball

• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes

• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolfpacker

• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolfpacker

• Like us on Facebook