NC State focused on ‘one game at a time’ with ACC tournament on horizon

In Kevin Keatts’ final season at UNC-Wilmington during the 2016-17 campaign, there was just one thing that was on his mind going into the Colonial Athletic Association championship game. He needed to win. 

Though the Seahawks had won three straight CAA regular season titles and the conference tournament the year prior leading into that game against Charleston, Keatts knew that the tournament trophy was the only path to the NCAA tournament. 

Now, he is back in that same boat, but at the helm of NC State. 

The Wolfpack have one regular season game remaining, however. A trip to Pittsburgh will be pivotal in creating momentum heading into the ACC tournament next week after NC State lost its last three games. 

“The great thing about this team right here is we have one more game, which I can say this now, we’ve played everybody in the league and there’s so much parity in this league,” Keatts said after the Duke loss on Monday night. “I’m sure I’m going to get questions about ‘you missed another opportunity to get a Quad 1 [win.]’

“Well, now we get all Quad 1 wins because we go on the road to Pitt to finish the regular season, but I think the tournament is completely wide-open,” Keatts continued. “We have to prepare ourselves for the tournament.”

NC State currently sits in a three-way tie for eighth place in the league, but it does not have either tiebreaker against Florida State or Virginia Tech. A win in Pittsburgh on Saturday coupled with either a Virginia Tech loss or Florida State defeat would punch the Wolfpack’s ticket to a single bye. 

A loss or wins from both the Hokies and Seminoles would force NC State to play on Tuesday, the Pack’s first trip to a first round ACC tournament game since the team went 11-20 during the 2021-22 season. It had not played on Tuesday since the 2016-17 campaign, and now the Pack risks playing on the first day for the second time in three seasons. 

But the Wolfpack’s lone regular season game, which is against the same Panthers team that beat NC State 67-64 on Feb. 7, has a lot riding on it. 

Keatts put this final stretch in an easy way to digest: each player needs to execute their role. 

 “We need everybody to be on their game,” Keatts said. “We don’t need anyone to be anyone else. We just need the best version of them. … We got to get hot and get hot at the right time and we’ve got to go and try and win the tournament. That’s the way it’s going to happen.”

That includes graduate forward DJ Burns scoring with efficient passing, while graduate guard DJ Horne has to make shots, Keatts noted. The seventh-year coach added that junior forward Mohamed Diarra needs to continue his high-energy rebounding and junior guard Jayden Taylor has to bring his defensive intensity and his driving abilities on the offensive end. 

The tournament, which is set to begin next week at Capital One Arena in Washington, D.C., is a setting that Keatts is confident the Wolfpack are not in a unique spot. He pointed around the league, which currently has four teams in the NCAA tournament in ESPN’s latest bracketology, that a majority of the league is gunning for the ACC title. 

Outside of that, the 11 other teams have their seasons riding on lifting a trophy next Saturday in the nation’s capital. 

“So as much pressure as it may feel like it’s going to be for NC State, it’s going to be pressure for at least 10 teams going into the tournament because if you don’t win, you ain’t playing in the NCAA Tournament,” Keatts said. “And we’re one of those teams right now.”

With one game left before NC State’s season becomes a one-contest campaign in the elimination setting at the ACC tournament, Keatts is laser focused on winning one game at a time.

“I’m locked in, I’m pumped because I take it one game at a time,” Keatts said. “If I thought the league was so top heavy going into the ACC Tournament, my mindset would be a little bit different, but I don’t think there’s anyone on our schedule that we can’t beat. The flip side is everybody can beat you too.”

It was the mindset that Keatts had to have at the mid-major level. He will have to channel that again to get his team to his third NCAA tournament appearance in Raleigh.