Raleigh, NC – Here’s a collection of post-game quotes from NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts and Boston College basketball coach Jim Christian plus select players. NC State won the game over Boston College, 82-66
Head Coach Keatts
(Opening Statement)
“Like most of you guys, the first five minutes of the game, I was going to get up and leave because we had not scored. It’s weird. For whatever reason, we did not make shots early. I was okay with it because they only had six points. But by the end of the half, we ended up with 44 points. When you look at the first half, the two guys that were great were obviously Braxton (Beverly) and Sam Hunt. They did a tremendous job shooting the basketball. I think between the two of those guys, we made eight threes. I’m proud of these guys. Our main focus coming into this game was to defend the three-point line. Those guys lead the ACC in made threes in a game, and I thought we did a tremendous job holding them 4-for-25. When you look at Robinson and you look at Bowman, those guys are elite guards, the best backcourt team in the country and in the ACC, and I thought, for the most part, our guys stepped up to the challenge. We had some great contributions from a lot of people. It was good to see Malik (Abdul-Malik Abu) get in there and do some different stuff. I told the team after the game that when you’re not playing well, just root for your teammates, and I thought we did that. I’m excited this group has gotten to nine (ACC) wins, and it means a lot, especially on the home court.”
Head Coach Keatts
(On Sam Hunt’s play)
“I rested him for a bunch of games so he could run down the stretch. No, I’m kidding. I took the NBA approach with him. I just didn’t let him play for four or five games. No. I think he is shooting the ball well. Someone told me he is 10-for-13 in I don’t know how many games, but it’s Sam’s birthday. I didn’t know it. If I did, I would have found more minutes for him to play, but he’s been good. He’s been making shots for us. That shot he made in the corner by the bench was special.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On what happened to Markell Johnson’s hand during the second half)
“I have no idea. I don’t know if it was a fashion statement or not. I let the trainer deal with that. The only time I can tell you (is) if he can’t play. I’ll know that, but I don’t know that. If he comes up here, you ask him. Or I’ll ask him and tell you later on, but I don’t know.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On the team’s offensive explosion of 13 field goals in a row)
“I thought we made the right reads. When you look at us, 19 assists on 29-made field goals. We did a good job. They took our roll guy away with the corner man, and I thought our guards came off and found the corner shooters. We were able to step up and make shots. I thought we played well. We found a way to win when I didn’t think we were particularly sharp today. Even though, when you look at us, we scored 82 points, but we didn’t play a flawless game in all. We were a little rusty for whatever reason.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On what triggered the switch to go from 0-for-8 to 17-for-19)
“I think we had to score eventually, or we were going to be in trouble. What happens is that I don’t know we were 0-for8. I’ve got to go back and look at it. I do remember a couple of things. I remember Leonard (Freeman) coming in and thinking, ‘I’m going to get a lift.’ He missed a layup. We missed free throws earlier. We just didn’t play well. There’s no explanation for it, the first five minutes of the game. And then, like I said, we found a way to get 44 points to be in the half. If you look at the halftime score, we started out 6-0 and went into half 44-28. So I think we’re maturing as a team because obviously, earlier on in the year, I don’t think we could have come back from that when we didn’t play well.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On what this break until next Sunday’s game looks like)
“We’re going to rest tomorrow, and then I don’t know how much I am going to do on Thursday. I do know tomorrow we are 100 percent off. We may come back in on Thursday and do some film work, may get in the gym a little bit. But we’re locked in. I told our guys that it’s easy to say right now, ‘I’m banged up. I’m a little bit hurt,’ but who isn’t? Everybody in the country that’s still playing meaningful basketball has got some bruises, and certainly we’ve got to be able to play through some of that. Now, if you’re hurt, you’re hurt. I want our guys to be mentally strong at this point in the year.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On whether Lavar Batts is healthy)
“Lavar is healthy. It was more of just a coach’s decision. I needed some more shooters on the floor to make some shots to be able to open it up the way they were playing us. So he hasn’t done anything wrong.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On whether the corner is Sam Hunt’s comfort zone when shooting the three)
“You know what? He’s always been, if you go back and look at the young man’s career, he’s always been a very good three-point shooter. Sam Hunt’s been a very good basketball player in his career. He has over 1,000 points. So he’s always been able to make shots, but its tough. Tt’s rare that you can get a guy that can make corner threes. A lot of guys can make if from the top of the key. A lot of guys can make it from the wing, but the three-point shoot is tough from the corner. He’s been huge for us the last few games.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On the Louisville championships he was a part of and the banners being taken down)
“Well I found out today, obviously. We were getting ready for a shoot-around, and with social media, I found out today, and all I’m going to say on it is that I’m just disappointed.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On the importance of the win as March approaches for the team)
“I told you guys that this group of guys are in uncharted waters when we got to six wins, so now it’s getting deeper and deeper. Every win builds confidence, and I know you’re talking about ‘bubbles’ and all of that, but I don’t even talk about that. I don’t even know about all of the brackets that say where you’re at. I just try to win the next game. I’m excited. I don’t take it for granted. Our guys have played very good basketball. To have nine wins in this conference, it means a lot. I’m proud of these guys. I can’t think of a game where these guys didn’t give tremendous effort and played hard. In all of our games, I can’t tell you we’ve done everything right, but I can tell you we’ve played extremely hard.”
Coach Kevin Keatts
(On 20 wins being enough to earn a spot in the NCAA tournament regardless of what happens in the ACC tournament.)
“That’s not my decision. I believe we’ve done a lot of good things to be considered as an NCAA team.”
Braxton Beverly, Guard
(On turning everything around in the first half)
“We just picked our energy up. The energy comes from the defensive stops we get, so once we started getting stops and getting out and running, we started getting easy ones. Once that builds momentum, it feels like you’re not going to miss.”
Braxton Beverly, Guard
(On being on the NCAA Tournament Bubble and what this win means)
“These wins are huge. We’re trying to go make some noise in the tournament. We’ll keep doing what we’re doing now and keep getting wins.”
Braxton Beverly, Guard
(On the team starting cold and then getting hot)
“It was pretty crazy, but it shows the talent we have and the unselfishness we have. With all the assists, all the baskets we made, and everyone finding everyone for the best shot each possession, it works out pretty well.”
Braxton Beverly, Guard
(On getting to nine ACC wins and if it exceeds expectations)
“We feel we can play with anyone in the country, as long as we come out and do what we know to do each and every night. We’re not really looking at it as exceeding expectations. We just see it as all the work we put in the preseason and throughout the season.”
Sam Hunt, Guard
(On coming off the bench to spark the shooting turnaround)
“My teammates did a great job of finding me in open spots, and I was able to knock down the threes. I’m glad I was able to give us a spark to give us the lead.”
Sam Hunt, Guard
(On if making shots is contagious throughout the team)
“Seeing your teammate make a basket, and then you get going and the next guy gets going…it’s not about one person. It’s about a whole team, so luckily we were able to make shots throughout the whole game.”
Sam Hunt, Guard
(On his shooting confidence over the past few games)
“My confidence is high, not just because of me but my teammates. They do a great job of telling me to shoot and finding me. We work out before practice, after practice, so my confidence stays because I’ve been putting in the time and effort.”
Sam Hunt, Guard
(On the successes coming in as a transfer)
“I said every week I’m really living the dream. I couldn’t imagine this, I couldn’t ask for this. I never knew what it was going to be like. I just knew I was going to be playing in the ACC. For us to be doing what we’re doing now, it’s a dream. We’ve got to finish up strong and then go into the ACC Tournament hot.”
Abdul-Malik Abu, Forward
(On tonight’s win and how big it is for the team)
“It was very huge. Every game is really important. We’re playing meaningful basketball right now, and we want to play in the tournament, and we’ve got the ACC Tournament to look forward to too, so we’ve just got to go out there and give an extreme effort every change that we get.”
Abdul-Malik Abu, Forward
(On what the games mean to him being a senior)
“It means everything to me. I want to go far. I want to play in the tournament again, survive and advance, but it’s just the little things that lead up to that.”
Abdul-Malik Abu, Forward
(On what the team needs to do to make it to the tournament)
“Just keep competing. We feel like we can play at a level and compete with some of the best teams in the country, so we’ve have to go out there every game and prove that and just keep building.”
Boston College Head Coach Jim Christian
(On what went wrong for BC in the first half)
“I think everything we did right in the first four minutes. We were very energetic at the point of the ball screen. We were getting back and matching in transition. We were containing the ball, and then we just stopped. We just stopped. We let some good shooters open. Once a couple of good shooters get going, that’s what happens. It was all transition, it was all ball screen, it was nothing else. A couple of one-on-one three-point shots. That’s been our problem. We have yet to understand that you have to play 40 minutes of basketball hard and compete to have a chance to win in this game. It’s not about shooting. The shots will eventually go in. We didn’t shoot the ball well, but we could have still had a chance if we played harder for 40 minutes. The lulls that we have, when the lead balloons to 17 or 18, and then we fight back, and then we give up another couple of layups. We just have to get tougher at that point. That’s really the truth, and I’m not taking anything away from them. They are a really good basketball team, and it’s always a combination of both, but from our perspective, if we can’t get tougher at those moments, you cut it to eight, you cut it to six, you give up back-to-back layups or dunks, then you’re not going to win in this league on the road. You’re not.”
Boston College Head Coach Jim Christian
(On concern at the start of the game)
“No. I mean, I thought we got great shots, and we just didn’t hit them. Like I said, I’m concerned with effort. I’m more concerned with the first ten minutes of the game effort we’re playing with. Shots will go in. Again, if you’re going to have a chance you have to make shots, so I’m more concerned with the effort.”
Boston College Head Coach Jim Christian
(On his team’s effort in the second half)
“I think it’s understanding that point. I think it’s understanding that you fought so hard to cut it to eight, and we gave up back-to-back layups. So that’s it, that these possessions, when they’re at eight, they’re really important possessions now. So all the work put into that point, you better play even harder there. If you watch the really good teams in our league, when they get a chance, when it’s at eight with six minutes to go or seven minutes to go, no easy shots are coming. They’re going to have to hit a tough one late clock. We gave up back-to-back layups and then a dunk in transition, which you guys miscommunicated. That’s the next step for us. If we want to be one of those teams, because then you can overcome bad shooting, you can overcome a Jerome (Robinson) going a whatever he went, 4-for-20, you can overcome all that if you understand that. Regardless of what happened previously, it’s eight. It’s eight. We had two guys bat the ball, and it went out of bounds. We had the ball in our hands. Those are plays you have to make if you want to win in this league. Again, I’m not taking anything away from them because they have to make the plays, and that’s a great thing for them, so I don’t want it to be one-sided because a lot of times guys come in here, and they tell their story, but they make all the good plays and they’re a good basketball team. They played great.”