NC State head coach Kevin Keatts and the Wolfpack went 1-2 to finish in fourth place at the Battle 4 Atlantas in the Bahamas. Keatts answered a few questions from the Wolfpack Sports Network following the Wolfpack's 67-58 loss to Tennessee on Friday.
Here are his responses:
What did you see in the loss?
“We didn’t play well on both sides of the floor. We uncharacteristically had too many turnovers. One guy turned it over and then the other guys did. We just never really got into a rhythm or get into a flow. That is something we have to address and get better at.”
With Tennessee getting nine blocked shots, did that make it uncomfortable?
“Certainly, when you look at the stat sheet, I thought they blocked shots at the rim. We just never really got into a flow. We never got going a little bit. We were playing some guys like Malik [Abu], so I can get him some game experience. You can tell he’s really rusty and never really got into the flow into the game.”
Do you feel like the offense goes as senior Allerik Freeman goes at this point in the season?
“Yeah, absolutely. He’s our veteran. He has to play better and have good games for us, and be in games. The last couple of games he hasn’t played great, obviously he is playing a lot of minutes and I have to figure a way to get him off the floor to get him some rest.”
How did you feel your big men did today?
“I’m very happy with our post guys. Omer [Yurtseven] had 10 and six and Lennard [Freeman] had 11 and six. From that center position, I got everything I could ask for. They have become a two-headed monster and both are playing extremely well on both ends of the floor. I’m happy for those guys.
“This is a tournament that I said coming in, you’ll get a chance to learn a lot about your team. It’s a measuring stick. I told everybody that this is the second week of college basketball, and we are playing in a tournament like this. I think all eight coaches, even Villanova, as they went 3-0, they’ll get a chance to see the things they need to work on and improve. This is a great early season tournament because I think it will prepare you for conference play.”
How will playing three different styles help you down the road?
“Absolutely. I was proud of our guys. We fought all the way until the end and cut the lead to five points at the end. Our guys didn’t lay down. You get a chance to find out about your guys. All three of these teams that we played will prepare us for a team we’ll play in the conference that we play against in the ACC.”
How did your players react to the loss?
“It bothers them and that is a good thing. Certainly, if it didn’t then we’d have problems. I’ve taken the approach with these guys, and we’ll have to look at tape and look at film, and figure out the things we will get better at. These guys are giving me maximum effort. I can’t ask for anything else. We aren’t as talented as most teams, but we are playing extremely hard. We were right there in both games that we lost, to have the opportunity to have chances to win the game.
"Nothing against those teams, I thought we made some mistakes that took us out of the game. We made those plays against Arizona. I told them ‘You see how good we can be by beating a team like Arizona. We have to figure out how not to be the team that lost the next two games.’”
