During the weekly ACC zoom, the NC State basketball coach addresses media.
Good morning Kevin. Good morning guys. We appreciate you taking the time to speak with everyone. We appreciate it. You can also use the raise hand tool to ask Kevin a question. Marc Berman will be the first to ask a question. Go ahead Mark, Good morning Kevin. You can look back on that first meeting in Blacksburg not too long ago. Was there anything you liked about your offensive defense that you wanted to kind of recapture at your place on Wednesday? I thought we were fast on both ends of floor. I thought we were able reach our presses and, you know, even though we didn’t get many traps, I thought he was picked up full court and made them work hard for a lot shots. I also thought we were very stingy on defense. You know what? Kevin, Petaluma, and how they can really destroy you on your inside is one of the most important things. It was one of our most successful games in helping our post guys. I thought we did a great job keeping those guys off of the glass and out of the paint. The offensive end was where I think we shared basketball. We moved the ball. We had great play ball movement. We were able to have great playing ball movement. Go ahead. Good morning coach. I don’t know what you mean. I can’t hear josh, can you hear? You can go ahead, josh. You got me now, Okay. After the game, Coach said: Coach spoke a lot about you and your relationship. He said that you two seem to have become close during the pandemic. He said that he thought the best of you and considers you to be a leader at this conference. How would you describe a relationship once they get rid of the old men? What does it mean for you to have him in your corner? You know, I think we have been lucky enough regardless of whether we wanted to. He and me were both members of a couple committees, um as we were dealing with the pandemic and all the changes that needed to be made and the events that were taking place. I believe there’s an amazing mutual respect. Um, you know, I tell everyone I’m the N. C. State Coach and my job it to be fiery as well as represented. She was a good coach, and she didn’t let the guys down. But it’s hard to ignore or ignore the great things coach K did for college basketball and the A. C. C. I was fortunate to be able to coach against some of those guys. We are very grateful for everything he did and we appreciate his kind words. They were kind words. You know, we’ve had probably more dialogues in the last couple years than we did in the first few years I was here in my fourth. It’s good, it’s fun, I appreciate their kind words. But you know, we’re all competitors and unless we have a chance, you’ll be the last person to play against me. It’s amazing to think that Kay will be gone after this year and you’ll be the one who knows the ropes more than anyone in North Carolina. I used to say this all the time, and hubert laughed at me. But everyone says that I would be the longest tenured guy, but that doesn’t mean I’m the oldest man now. That goes to hubert. Just remind him that I said that he is currently the oldest man in the area. But I’m sure I don’t think it has anything to do with this region. It’s all about A CC basketball and some incredible coaches. Um, coach Williams, who was really really, really, very good for a sec. and basketball, and now coach K, were both lost. But they’re still great veterans of this league. This guy has been around a lot longer than I have and, yes, in this area I may be the longest tenured person, but I always go back to hubert’s got, because he’s much older than me. You can also see that. Karen, thank you. We’ll go to Jonas Pope, Go ahead Jonas. Because we’ve talked all year over Avian and how fearless and how he never backs down in a big moment, um recruiting. Did you take a look at his freshman season? Is he on the right schedule or does he exceed your expectations? Is he really where he is supposed to be? Is that where you thought he might have been at this point in the season? That’s a great question. That’s an excellent question. He could come in and, you can see, he scored 3000 points, 33 state titles. It’s not uncommon for kids to go from high school and college to college. But he’s still scoring higher at his level. He’s probably scoring a little more Jonas than I thought, averaging around 15 points per game. Um, I thought that he would be a guy coming in and scoring around 10 to 11 points per game. I didn’t realize at what point he was going to start for us. Did you know that he is likely to be a starter due to his ability and the way that he competes? He doesn’t know that he is supposed to be a good freshman. That’s what I think makes him unique. It doesn’t matter where he is, he plays. He can do it, and most men wouldn’t be able to do that. He is unique because of that. His ability to forget. It doesn’t really matter what the environment is when you go to Duke on Saturday. I imagine that he was likely very excited to get into the building and let everyone see his game. Yeah. Jonas is a competitor. One thing I will say is that he doesn’t want anyone to be better than him, regardless of whether it’s practice or a match. You know what? Some guys are prone to overthinking things when they go into certain environments. This kid sees every environment as a great opportunity. Mike barber is up next. Nahi Marlene is their morning coach. Number four was number seven out of three. It seems like he was able to find his stroke in the Notre dame match. How does their offense change when he has that outside shot going well and all three of the perimeter players making shots? They are a very dangerous and tough team. Um, when you look at them, you’ll see that the two inside players are, you can see, very tough and very dangerous. When you look at Kevin Bloom, you see they are a lot of fun. Then you see Murphy making shots Murphy making shots. They are good because they can stretch the floor and you don’t have to pay so much attention the bigs. He’s also starting to shoot the ball. He’s making shots now, you know? I saw some of Notre dame’s game. We’ll go to matt carter, go ahead matt. But I don’t have any update. I’m sure we will have one before Wednesday. At the moment, I don’t have anything for Kevin Kevin. We appreciate your time. We appreciate it. We will see you next week. Happy Martin Luther King Day. Jeff Capel will be on the pit here in a few minutes.