Keatts: NC State made best to be in Sugary food 16

• Adam Teicher, ESPN Staff WriterMar 28, 2024, 02:44 PM ET

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DALLAS– 2 weeks ago North Carolina State had no factor to feel it would belong in the Sweet 16. But now that they’re here, the Wolfpack feel they have actually made their place.

“We simply think we earned the right to be here,”coach Kevin Keatts stated as the Wolfpack prepares for Friday night’s South Regional game against Marquette with the winner going to Sunday’s Elite Eight. “You simply don’t unintentionally get hot and win 7 games in a row with the kind of teams that we played.”The Wolfpack needed to win each of those seven games– the first five over five days in the ACC tournament and after that 2 in the NCAA competition last weekend– to get to this point. As a No. 11 seed, NC State would not have actually made the competition without winning the ACC championship.Editor’s Picks 2 Related Three of their 7 wins came against groups in the top 25, including North Carolina in the ACC title game. The Tar Heels went on to be the No. 1 seed in the West Regional.The Wolfpack are the only team remaining with a seed below No. 6.”I do not think you can win 7 games in a row in college basketball which’s not your identity,”Keatts said.”I believe that’s what tells us who we are. I return to it, think of this now. You go into every game knowing that if you lose that you’re packing up and your season’s over.” We were the 11th seed. If you view us, we do not play like that. … We don’t take a look at numbers, we just believe that we made the right to be here. “NC State hit the transfer portal hard last year, bringing in eight brand-new players. Keatts stated it took a while for whatever to fit together.It didn’t take place quick enough throughout the routine season to conserve the Wolfpack from the verge. Because sense, guard Casey Morsell said, NC State has remained in one-loss-and-done mode for some time.”We went into this postseason with the approach that it’s a brand-new season,”Morsell said. “Even in our conference before we went to D.C. [for the ACC tournament], Keatts composed on the board’0-0.’Every game was a champion, literally. We didn’t really look ahead. We never looked past anyone. “That’s the very same method we’ve had in this tournament. “