NC State Basketball Coach Points to Non-Negotiable Mentality

The NC State basketball squad has not recorded a win in over three weeks and is without back-to-back victories since early December.

NC State basketball / Jaylynn Nash-Imagn Images

NC State basketball has lost six straight games and eight of its past nine outings. While none of the losses in the six-game skid has been by margin of over 10 points, it would be totally understandable if the Wolfpack (9-12, 2-8 ACC) was experiencing low team morale at this juncture.

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After all, an at-large NCAA Tournament bid is seemingly completely out of the question, no matter how NC State fares from this point forward. And for now, the squad is not even in position to receive an invite to the ACC Tournament in Charlotte.

So, how does the Wolfpack prevent its enthusiasm from plummeting?

"The way we do it is we keep playing hard and make it a habit," eighth-year NC State basketball head coach Kevin Keatts said following his group's 68-58 home loss to Clemson on Saturday. "Our good habit is that we play hard. If we have lost any game this year, it hasn't been because we lacked effort. I love the way our guys can be. I love players when they play hard.

"Because at this point, when you lose this many games in a row, it's easy to say, 'Man, we just don’t play hard.' But we are competing. And that's how we do it. That is a non-negotiable for me in my program."

Kevin Keatts and his cohorts are now preparing the Pack for two straight games in California. NC State faces Cal at 11 p.m. ET Wednesday before squaring off against Stanford at 7 p.m. ET Saturday.

Stay tuned to NC State Wolfpack On SI for more NC State basketball news.