After 6 games in 11 days, N.C. State coach, players say there's still important work to do

N.C. State had a losing record in the ACC (9-11), finished behind nine teams in the standings and lost to Pitt twice.

Yet the Wolfpack will be inside PPG Paints Arena on Saturday night competing against Oakland — an 11 seed against a 14 seed — for a spot in the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 next week.

And they reached this lofty perch the hard way, winning six games in the past 11 days, including five in five days in the ACC Tournament last week.

Coach Kevin Keatts, who took his team to Pitt’s Petersen Events Center for practices this week, joked that he didn’t want to reveal the secret to his players’ durability, referencing Chick-fil-A’s refusal to reveal what makes its chicken sandwich so popular.

But he’s in a good mood these days, so he happily relented.

“I’m amazed at them every game that we play,” he said. “We spent a lot of time in the preseason and during the season working on our conditioning. We call ourselves one of the best-conditioned teams in the country, if not the best.

“It’s really paid off for our guys, mentally and physically. We’ve gotten stronger in every second half.

“The buy-in and the energy that we provide through our program and our energy that we give on the bench, I think it really helps our guys in understanding what the opportunity is. There really is no secret sauce. Our guys are in good shape and mentally believe that they should be playing in the game.”

His players deny the existence of any fatigue.

“We’ve been hearing about fatigue for a long time now. I don’t see any of our guys getting tired,” forward Ben Middlebrooks said. “I don’t think we lost a step at all.”

He said he does miss home — and his dog — after spending last week in Washington, D.C., and most of this one in Pittsburgh. Those sacrifices don’t overtake the obvious, however.

“I’m still trying to win some more games,” he said.

Added guard Michael O’Connell: “At this point, even if your body’s hurt or you’re tired, you’re not really focusing on it too much because you want to do everything you can to win that next game.”

The key to the game might be how well Oakland handles N.C. State’s 6-foot-9, 275-pound center D.J. Burns, who has averaged 15.3 points during the Wolfpack’s current six-game winning streak that immediately followed seven losses in a nine-game stretch.

Oakland coach Greg Kampe said he is worried about possible bone fractures if his players spend too much time colliding with Burns. But Middlebrooks competes with Burns at every practice, and each of his bones are intact. He did admit to some soreness in his chest, however.

“It has made us the players we are today,” Middlebrooks said.