Survive and advance: NC State looks to slow down Oakland's Gohlke in NCAA Tournament
Posted March 22, 2024 6:37 p.m. EDT
Updated March 22, 2024 8:08 p.m. EDT
 Oakland Golden Grizzlies |
73 |
 North Carolina State Wolfpack |
79 |
| F/OT | |
The NC State Wolfpack men’s basketball team will play its seventh game in 12 days on Saturday night when it takes on the Oakland Golden Grizzlies in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
On Friday, a reporter asked NC State head coach Kevin Keatts how he keeps his players from getting exhausted.
“When you go to Chick-fil-A, they never tell you what's in those sandwiches, and it's really good, so I'm not going to give my secret away,” Keatts joked.
NC State (23-14) takes on Oakland ((24-11) at 7:10 p.m. Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at PPG Paints Arena in Pittsburgh. The game airs on TBS.
Wolfpack junior forward Ben Middlebrooks – who scored a career-high 21 points in the 80-67 win against Texas Tech on Thursday – echoed his head coach’s sentiments.
“We've been hearing about fatigue for a long time,” Middlebrooks said. “You said we have played a lot of games. I don't see any of my guys getting tired.
“I don't feel like we've lost a step at all.”
Keatts said he was most proud of his players’ abilities to block out distractions even despite losing the final four regular-season games.
“It would have been easy for those guys to say, ‘Man, it's just not our season’ and pack it in,” Keatts said. “And, when we were winning those games at the ACC [Tournament], we were also on spring break, and it was warm in [Washington,] D.C., and so our guys could have said, ‘Man, we lose, we can go home, we can go on spring break.’”
Keatts addressed the Wolfpack’s challenge in trying to stop Oakland senior guard Jack Gohlke, who scored a game-high 32 points in the 80-76 win against Kentucky. Gohlke made 10 3-pointers.
“I don't know that I've seen a shooting performance like that,” Keatts said of Gohlke’s first-round performance. “If I have, it's been a long time.”
Wolfpack senior guard Michael O’Connell discussed how he and his teammates will try to slow down Oakland.
“If we let them get going, it's going to be tough to get the win,” O’Connell said.
O’Connell said the Wolfpack would try to limit Gohlke’s touches.
Offensively, the Wolfpack will have to go against Oakland’s zone defense.
“You’re not used to seeing that all the time,” Keatts said.
NC State junior forward Mohamed Diarra shared what it was like to see NC State start to get national attention after winning the ACC Tournament and the opening-round game.
“We need that,” Diarra said. “Like you're talking about we're tired, but we got good cheer, screaming for everybody for us, for DJ Burns.
“Like they give us energy and we really appreciate it.”
When asked what song best describes Burns, Diarra offered a guess.
“’King of the Galaxy’ [by rapper BabyTron], I think,” Diarra said. “That’s a good one. He loves that song.”
Keatts also credited Oakland head coach Greg Kampe, who has been Oakland’s head coach since 1984.
“He's a tremendous coach,” Keatts said of Kampe. “I mean, you do not get the opportunity to stay anywhere for 40 years unless you know what you're doing.”
