NC State head coach Kevin Keatts met with the media for his postgame press conference after the Wolfpack lost to Texas 59-63 in the ACC/SEC Challenge tonight. You can read the transcript below.

What a hard fought battle tonight against Texas, a really good Texas team. It felt like one of those ACC games in late February where both teams played extremely hard and really wanted to. It was a defensive battle.

I thought, looking at us that night, we did some really good things. I thought we had a few careless turnovers at the end of the game. We missed a very crucial blockout.

The most important thing is of course that we have to take our free throws. We played 6 to 14. In the end, it’s a one-possession game.

In any case, our boys love the fight.

We are not winning any more victories in this program. We just don’t do it. But at the end of the day, we have a lot of things to build on.

Started the big lineup. We have done some good things with this. But I was really happy when Dontrez (Styles) came off the bench and really put the ball in the hole.

We didn’t have everyone playing well, but we had a few guys make some plays down the stretch. In a one-possession game, we can’t go 6-for-14 from the free throw line.

Michael O’Connell didn’t shoot the ball well and had turnovers in critical situations.

Michael was the leader.

He didn’t play great tonight. I’m not worried about him. I know he’ll be fine.

There were moments when he just didn’t play well.

Last move of the game

We wanted to get Jayden Taylor away from some relay screens to turn the corner and get to the rim if we could. I didn’t want to settle for a three. If we didn’t do that, the second option was to push Dontrez out to get a shot.

I thought Jayden did a good job. He hit the ball and honestly I thought it was contact in the restricted area.

I mean, we were always taught that if you make contact in the restricted area, you have a chance to go to the free throw line. We didn’t do it.

What was the plan for guarding Tre Johnson and what impressions did you have while watching him play?

Well, I mean, Tre is good.

Of course we didn’t want to stop him from recording. In the end he had 18 points. Our game plan was to have him make a lot of shots to get his points.

You can’t stop a goalscorer from scoring, but we didn’t want him to score so many goals. I thought there were two plays he made late in the game that showed how good he was.

In transition, he pulled up and made a big three-pointer on the right wing. And then JT was guarding him, and I thought he took a big three-pointer when he had it right in his face. He is a good basketball player.

I don’t know if he’ll stay there for very long.

Out rallied Texas in the first half and won by a fairly large margin in the second. What do you think was the difference?

They beat us with a few 50/50 balls.

We did a really good job in the first half. My focus going into this game was not to give up offensive rebounds at halftime. We did a great job.

I thought they beat us in the second half with a couple of loose basketballs. I thought we would have taken better care of fading out. There were long rebounds that we didn’t get.

I thought No. 2 Weaver had a huge offensive rebound for an and-one, not an and-one, but he sent it to the free throw line. I thought that was a big part of the game.

The players said in the dressing room after the game: “We’re a good team, we just have to do a little bit.” Was that what you told them?

If I didn’t tell you the score, but just the stats, you wouldn’t know who won the game. I thought we really did some good things. I thought our defense was really good.

I thought we answered some runs that Texas had. I thought it was a back and forth game. It literally came down to who had the last possession.

You can lose a game and still get something out of it, and I think our guys will take something from it. Obviously we have to clean things up at the end of the game.

We can’t miss our free throws. We can’t miss a block. I can’t turn the ball over.

Especially in a game that was back and forth. It was a back and forth game. It was a close game the entire time.

You probably didn’t know who would win the game until the last minute of the game.

Are you worried about the NET rankings at this point in the season?

That’s not me, I’m not caught up in this ranking.

This is the first one. That will change many times before the end of the season.

They have now lost three in a row. Is there one big thing you would like to see changed or adjusted to get this team to where it really needs to be?

Well, I think we lost to three really good teams. Our focus will continue to be on making the right decisions. Our focus will also be on continuing to work on not giving up on offensive rebounds.

I’ve said that from day one with this team. We can’t let a few guys play bad games. If you look at it, we had a few.

In those three losses we had one or two players who didn’t play well and we have to figure out what to do with one or two players who don’t play well.

Bigger lineup

Texas is a great size. I wanted to keep up with these guys and do a good job on that part.

I also wanted Dontrez to see the start of the game. When we were in San Diego at the start of the game, I felt like he was pushing a little bit. I also liked the way our adults trained together.

It was the first time we spent a few days getting these guys’ representatives together. I liked what I saw. Certainly some of it will depend on who we play and how well we can develop, but we have a lot of growth within us. I think this team has a really good chance.

You lose the two games in San Diego by 11. All of them hurt, but this one hurts because it’s one of those one-possession games.

We will come back. We’re watching a movie.

We’re going to show, ‘Hey, how can we get better on the track?’ And if we can, I think we’ll clean up some of that.

Do you notice that some guys somehow play better with each other than others in the rotation?

Yes that’s me.

I see some people improving in many areas. Marcus (Hill) started playing. Dontrez started playing.

We had a few other guys who didn’t play well. So now we have to figure out how to get everyone on the same page on certain nights.

The fans

I am proud of our fans and will encourage them to get behind this team.

It’s a 9:15 game, and at 9:15 you can make a lot of excuses… I have kids… I had to work the next day.

I’m proud of our fans for showing up and of our students for showing up. We will need them in the future. The unfortunate thing is that we don’t have much time left.

We have to turn around and play Florida State on Saturday, which is an ACC game. So we have to find out. I want to give a big shout out to the guys who are fans and showed up.

I really appreciate that not only did they show up, but that you could hear them in the building. You could feel them. So it was really good.

You told us in the offseason that you have a lot of confidence in Brandon (Huntley-Hatfield), Marcus and Trez. Looking at their numbers, some people might not have thought they were good gets. Is this what you expected from them? Nights like tonight, when they contribute a combined 43 points?

Yes, I liked them.

Listen, we’ve done a pretty good job recruiting. We go looking for people who we think are right for us. I thought the three guys you mentioned played really well tonight.

Of course we just have to grow from it. We have to shake it off. Like I told you, the crazy thing is that there really is a fine line between winning and losing a game and how you feel and how you approach the next game.

In our situation we have to shake it off. We have to get better. I think we’ll play Florida State.