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NCAA MEN'S 1ST AND 2ND ROUNDS: WICHITA

March 14, 2018

Kevin Keatts

Wichita, Kansas

THE MODERATOR: Let's get your thoughts on tomorrow's game with Seton Hall.

COACH KEATTS: Well, we're excited about our opportunity. We're playing against a very good Seton Hall team who obviously have four seniors who have obviously played in the tournament for a couple of years. They can score inside and out. They're great in transition. They do a great job on the defensive end of kind of mixing their defense up. It'll be a tremendous challenge for us.

Q. Your players spoke of the contrasting styles, physical versus what your team does, up and down the court pressure. How do you view that as being a key to this game and what do you tell your players about playing against a physical team like Seton Hall?
COACH KEATTS: First of all, I think we have to play with some toughness. When you look at those guys, Kevin has done a tremendous job. They play physical. They get in the paint. They score. Delgado is probably one of the best post guys in the country that doesn't get enough credit. He's extremely a very good basketball player. He rebounds the basketball. Rodriguez can put the ball on the floor and get to the hole.

They're a talented team. I think we have to do a great job of trying to keep those guys in front of us, but also we gotta match that physicality.

Q. Your transition coming to North Carolina State, your team opened up the season, won the first five games, and you closed out the season strong, winning five of your last seven games. How did it go in that regards there, accepting your philosophy?
COACH KEATTS: Well, I think anytime you take over a program, you have to have a signature win early, and for the guys to buy in to your system.

For us, when we went to the Battle for Atlantis, we were able to beat the No. 2 team in the country at the time, which was Arizona. I thought that was huge for us, and from that point I thought our guys' confidence kind of grew and we became better as a team and we started to grow as a team.

And when you look at us, I feel special about this group because we were a team that were picked twelfth in the ACC and won 11 games and found a way to finish third.

Q. And with the great tradition of North Carolina State, 11 wins are most by a first-year coach at NC State in terms of league wins and you tied the legendary Everett Case with 21 wins. The tradition of North Carolina State, you've done a great job carrying that on.
COACH KEATTS: Well, it's important that, you know, one of the things I talked about in my press conference was trying to figure out how to get this program back to the success that it had had in the past. And I have to give our guys a lot of credit. I thought they bought into our system. Anytime you take over a program, there could be some challenges. And especially for us. We had kind of what you consider a makeshift roster, and for those guys to buy in in one year says a lot about our kids.

Q. Kevin, can you kind of put in context how much this team has overachieved?
COACH KEATTS: Well, you know, it's one of those things, man, where you look back at this group, and I've said this all along, Gary, and I know you've interviewed me plenty of times, we're probably one of the teams in the Power Five that doesn't have a superstar. And what I mean by that is we don't have a guy that on every given night can go for 25 or 30 points. Somebody else could lead us in scoring in every game. But we've learned how to play together. We've learned how to compete together. We've learned how to fight together.

And it's special. Anytime when you talk about a team, you think about us this year winning 21 games and 11 games in arguably the best conference in college basketball, it just means a lot.

Q. Kevin, how good has it been to have some time off from the end of the ACC tournament to now with the kind of grind that the guys have been through?
COACH KEATTS: Well, it means a lot. Now, when I say that, I would certainly have loved to win the ACC tournament. But if you feel confident that you're going to make the NCAA, certainly a little time can help. But when you think about us, you know, I took the job almost a year ago, and we took a foreign trip to Italy, and from that point on, our guys have been kind of busy. They really haven't had much time off. They stayed in summer school for both summer sessions, and now we're here.

So to be able to get a little break to give them a couple days off towards the end of the season before you play in the NCAA means a lot.

Q. Coach, why don't you talk about the development of Omer Yurtseven, how much he's meant to your squad.
COACH KEATTS: Well, he's become I would say probably the most improved athlete in the country. He's become a better player for us. We're able to rely on him. He's a tough matchup because you can throw the ball inside and he can score over either shoulder. He's a pick-and-pop guy. He's become very solid on the defensive end.

If you look at him, he's starting to block shots. And a lot of that comes with I think he's very familiar with our system, and then he's playing with a lot of confidence.

Q. Al Freeman came to NC State from Baylor, and when he came in, it was pretty well known you needed him to score. The last ten games of the season he's been very, very consistent. Can you talk about his consistency and his ability to put the ball in the basket?
COACH KEATTS: Yeah. You know, I'm so excited that we had the opportunity to coach Al Freeman. You know, he's the only experienced guy that we have really that has played meaningful minutes in the NCAA, obviously being at Baylor playing three straight years in the NCAA.

But I'm excited for Al. He's turned the corner in a lot of ways. I thought he's matured over the season. I think his breakthrough game was at Wake Forest, and he told me after the game, he said, Coach, I understand what you're talking about how to be a leader.

When he first got here, he thought he had to be a leader by shooting the ball at everything, every time he touched it. Now he's been able to pass the ball. Now he's been able to find his teammates. Now he knows when to score, and he's also been great on the defensive end for us also.

THE MODERATOR: Coach, wish you the best of luck for tomorrow. Thank you very much for your time.

FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports

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