Keatts, ACC Office Discussed UVa Calls

NC State coach: 'We agreed on some of them and we disagrreed on some'

NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts met with the media on Thursday in advance of Saturday's road game at Georgia Tech and Monday's quick turnaround game against North Carolina at PNC Arena.

Among the subjects about which Keatts was asked was whether he spoke to ACC Supervisor of Officials Bryan Kersey about some of the calls (and noncalls) that went against the Wolfpack in last Monday's 53-51 win at Virginia.

"Yeah, I did," he said.

Keatts' main point of contention was the technical foul that was called on D.J. Funderburk with around seven minutes remaining. It was part of a double foul in which Virginia's Francisco Caffaro was assessed a "common foul" and came one possession after the Cavaliers' Jay Huff threw a forearm into Funderburk's throat with no call by officials Michael Stephens, James Breeding and Pat Driscoll.

I just don’t know what these guys are watching. pic.twitter.com/jXuBITjy33

— Danny Hamrick (@DH4thePack) January 21, 2020

Funderburk, perhaps mistaking the identity of the UVA player that hit him a moment earlier, pulled Caffaro's finger as he walked past after a whistle. Caffaro, taking exception to the gesture, then shoved Funderburk in the back.

The State big man fouled out of the game shortly thereafter when he barely brushed Cavaliers' point guard Kihei Clark on a hedge 30 feet from the basket.

"Bryan Kersey and I talked and not just about that foul," Keatts said Thursday. "We talked about a lot of different calls that happened throughout the game. I’ll keep it private. I will tell you that we agreed with some of them and we disagreed on a couple of them. It was a great open dialogue."

Keatts also took exception to a foul called on the Wolfpack's C.J. Bryce before the ball was inbounded in the final 10 seconds, giving UVA an opportunity to score two points without the clock moving.

"Just so you know," the State coach said, "when I call the head of officials I just want to know what we can do to get better in certain situations so it doesn’t happen moving forward. That’s all it was."