‘We’re going to fight’: Kevin Keatts’ words, actions helped NC State after his ejection

N.C State’s Kevin Keatts has experienced a lot of weird and unusual coaching games, but probably never one quite like Tuesday’s.

The Wolfpack rallied to beat Wake Forest 83-76 at PNC Arena with Keatts having been ejected, watching on television in the locker room.

Or, trying to.

One of the biggest moments of the game — three technical fouls called — came with 46 seconds left in regulation, and Keatts said the TV briefly blacked out. Then a manager’s computer stream went out, leaving him in the dark, unknowing for a few moments.

The Pack’s Ben Middlebrooks had scored inside for a 75-72 lead and was fouled. Keatts saw that. When he finally could see the game again, Middlebrooks was nowhere to be seen and guard Michael O’Connell at the foul line, waiting to take the free throw and then making it.

“I’m sitting back there in the locker room yelling at the TV,” Keatts said.

Soon, it was over. The Pack won, moving to 5-1 in the ACC and 13-4 overall. Suddenly, Keatts, who said he had been ill a few days and missed a few practices, felt more than well enough to yell some more and celebrate.

The Wolfpack won with Keatts off the bench. It won without making a 3-pointer in the game. It won with big man D.J. Burns slowed by what Keatts said was a stomach virus.

More than anything, it won by scoring on 18 of its last 19 possessions. It won with 20 minutes of gritty determination, with defense, with a kind of toughness that Keatts said many outside the program have not recognized or acknowledged enough this season.

“These young men believe, and they’re fighting,” Keatts said. “The message we wanted to send today to everybody is, ‘Man, we’re going to fight, we’re going to fight.’

“What I’m telling you now is we ain’t going to get pushed around. It’s just not going to happen.”

Keatts was a fighter, too — for his team. Not liking a no-call late in the first half on a Dennis Parker drive and already irked about the officiating, he ran on to the floor and was called for two technical fouls by referee Jeffrey Anderson.

“I deserved the technical because the call was awful. I thought they missed a call,” Keatts said. “I thought Dennis got fouled, in comparison to how all the calls were made.

“I didn’t think I deserved to get tossed. I didn’t see the second (technical) coming that quick. ... I absolutely knew what I was doing on the first one, but not the second one.”

Wolfpack fans howled in protest although Pack guard D.J. Horne later quipped he had experienced such things before, having played for volatile coach Bobby Hurley at Arizona State — “Nothing new there,” Horne said, smiling.

The Deacons (12-5, 4-2 ACC) kept on playing, taking a 45-35 halftime lead. The Pack, with assistant coach Kareem Richardson in charge, soon was back in the locker room and Keatts was waiting with a few words.

“Seeing him kind of stand up for us and put it on the line for us, coming in here at halftime he let us know, ‘Look, I’m not going to be out there, but I’m going to be with you in spirit.’ And he was,” Middlebrooks said.

“Wake Forest is a great team and was putting it to us. Coach kind of emphasized we’ve been through a lot, we’ve had a lot of battles this year and we’re used to this. We came out and we had a lot of energy and we got it going.”

Wake coach Steve Forbes said the Deacons “imploded” in the second half. The Deacs, despite shooting 33.3% in the half, held on to the lead until Casey Morsell’s two free throws with 2:16 left gave the Pack a 71-69 lead.

The Pack then forced a turnover and Horne scored. After a 3-point play by the Deacs’ Andrew Carr, who had a career-high 28 points, came the fracas that followed Middlebrooks’ basket that had Middlebrooks pick up a technical foul — and foul out – and the Pack’s Mo Diarra and Wake’s Hunter Sallis given matching technicals.

With Burns ailing, Middlebrooks and Diarra combined for 22 points and 19 rebounds — Middlebrooks with 14 points, Diarra with 13 boards.

“We won it with our defense and just sticking together as a team,” said Horne, who had a team-high 21 points. “We’ve seen adversity before, had to fight from behind. This was no different than the tests we’ve been through.

“That was his message: stick together.”

That was Kevin Keatts’ message on a strange and emotional — but ultimately rewarding — night for the Pack.