NC State Wolfpack basketball head coach Kevin Keatts recorded his weekly radio show Monday morning with co-hosts Tony Haynes and Jeff Gravley.

Keatts reflected on the past week, which included a 79-76 home win over No. 17 North Carolina that made the Pack open the ACC portion of its schedule with a 1-0 conference record.

He also previewed the upcoming matchup with Boston College on Wednesday night in PNC Arena, which will be broadcast on ACC Network at 8 p.m.

Here were the highlights from Keatts’ radio show:

On how Christmas break was handled with the players:

"We gave them three days off and it actually turned into four days. We played the game on the 22nd, the guys who were closer home were able to leave that night because we have some local guys. A majority of our guys got off the 23rd, 24th and 25th. We returned on the 26th. We tested, we quarantined, so really they got four days off and then we were able to practice yesterday."

*NC State returned to practice on Sunday with more than eight players.

On what stood out to Keatts from the 79-76 win over North Carolina Tuesday in the ACC opener:

"I think our guard play was tremendous. Then, considering the fact that they had four really huge guys who are really good players. I thought Manny Bates played extremely well on both ends of the floor.

"Even though Jericole Hellems didn't have a great offensive night, I thought he did some really good things on the defensive end. I thought everybody who came in the game made an impact on the game.

"I think we played nine guys, and those nine guys were really effective. Guys like Cam Hayes, who hadn't played since December 3, came in and had seven points, he was three for three. You could tell he wasn't in great shape, but he did a tremendous job just having another guy. Shakeel Moore was tremendous off the bench.

"Devon Daniels did a tremendous job playing both halves, even though he got in foul trouble, and I thought Dereon Seabron gave us a tremendous lift off the bench also."

On Shakeel Moore's breakout performance:

"He's been playing that way. He came into NC State as a non-shooter, more of a driver, athlete. Give our coaching staff a lot of credit, they've done a good job of trying to develop him into an outside shooter. We don't want him to fall in love with that, but he's been playing well, especially on the defensive end.

"You look at that game, we ended up playing four freshmen in that game, and it was a great experience. Out of those four freshmen, three of them were from the state of North Carolina, and that was really good."

On Manny Bates' strong play over the past three games:

"If you look at the two better teams that we played, he's been at his best. One game he had eight blocks against St Louis on the road, and then against Carolina he had five. You can tell he's starting to raise his level.

"Sometimes for a guy like him at his size, it's better to play against other guys his size. When you play some of these smaller schools, it's tough because these guys have 6-6, 6-7 five men who can pick and pop, who can drive you.

"He's just gotten better and he's working hard. I can honestly say since I've had that kid, there's not a day that I felt like he took a day off. When we go to practice, he competes. He's always competing like he's trying to win a starting job. That's really good from a guy who is obviously your starting center right now."

On how Manny Bates' confidence has grown since last season:

"The weight room has done a tremendous job with his confidence because obviously he's put on some great bulk. He's also not afraid to get hit anymore. At one point, he was nursing that shoulder. I would have done the same thing, but now it seems like he's playing through contact."

On Jericole Hellems' defensive performance against preseason ACC Player of the Year Garrison Brooks:

"Garrison Brooks hasn't just played well, he's actually crushed us the last few times we've played, and I give that kid a lot of credit. If you just go to the stats and you pull up a stat sheet, you'll say 'Man, Jericole Hellems wasn't very good.' But that's not the story of the game. Offensively, he didn't make shots, but he did some really good stuff.

"He dove on the floor, he made some really good passes that led to some easy baskets, but the stat sheet doesn't show how he had to battle with those guys at his size.

"We talk about Garrison Brooks. They subbed two bigger guys in, and he had to fight against those guys. I'm happy with him, I'm proud of him. Would I have loved to have him play better and shoot the ball well? Absolutely. But he did exactly what we needed him to do on one end of the floor."

On Devon Daniels' evolving role into a senior leader on this team:

"His maturity level in that game was unbelievable. It wasn't from what he scored. It was how he was during timeouts, how he was at halftime. How he handled being on the bench, playing well then getting two fouls, then coming back in the second half and playing the way he did, scoring seven or eight points at the end the way he did. That was his maturity, he played well.

"It was the best game that he's ever played in NC State uniform. Not because of his points, but just his demeanor and he showed leadership as a senior."

On Devon Daniels' offensive capabilities:

"He's unorthodox. His game is different, and he's a really good player when he's in attack mode. You think back to the end of last year going into the tournament on Senior Night, when he's attacking the rim and he's getting to the free throw line, he's a really good player.

"When he's playing a game outside-in, he's not effective. When he plays inside-out is when he's really effective and surely we have a chance to win the game.

"He's different because he's got floaters. He's been able to get all the way to the rim, he's got a pull-up jump shot. He's been in attack mode, he's been very aggressive and we need him to play that way."

On preparing for 2-5 Boston College after an emotional win over a ranked rival:

"As crazy as it sounds, we don't talk about records. We talk about how good of a team they are in their personnel, but we don't talk about record because I think you when you talk about that, you're setting your kids up for failure. If you tell them that a team's not very good. You might not say those words, but when you say 2-5, automatically, because they're younger they think we got an easy one. And it's not, it's a very good basketball team."

On the differences between playing at home or on the road in the ACC in 2020:

"Any team in this league can beat you on any given night. You don't have home court advantage anymore. The only home court advantage you have is that the other team may have had to fly in here. Well, they're taking a private plane, and they're staying at a nice hotel. The travel doesn't play as much.

"If you were playing a smaller team that may have to drive on a bus for six or seven hours, that may be a difference. They took an hour and 30, hour and 45-minute flight, they get to the hotel, they relax. There is no advantage in that part of it.

"The advantage is when you have 22,000 people at PNC that are screaming, but you don't have that. You have to take everybody very seriously because you don't have that group that when you make a big dunk, they just get you energized."

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