On Friday, Jeff Capel talked about moving on from the Louisville game, continuing to improve and the challenges ahead. Here’s a full rundown of what he said.

Any update on Sidy?
Capel: He was able to practice today. We’ll evaluate him to see how he feels after practice, later on tonight, continuing to get treatment. But it looks like he could be available, as long as there are no setbacks from practice. He was able to get through the whole practice to do some things. Obviously, he’s rusty and not in the condition that you need to be, so if he is able to play, it would be in spurts. But he was able to get through practice, he looked good, he moved well; we’ll have to see about the pain now and evaluate him tonight.

That ninth player would make a big difference, wouldn’t it?
Capel: It would. The other thing is that it gives us another ball-handler, a guy that can create, a guy that has some experience. It would do that.

With a young team, we ask you about emotions pretty often and how they respond to different things; this is a new one, coming off a big win. How have you seen them the last 48 hours?
Capel: Yeah, we talked at night right after the game. Obviously, we were very excited and we should have been and we wanted to enjoy it. But just like North Carolina, we have to flush it and we have to move on. Yesterday’s preparation was mainly mental: we watched tape, we walked through some things, we shot some free throws, but the message was also, now it’s time to move onto the next play and we have to be ready to accept the challenge that’s in front of us.

Just like we didn’t allow North Carolina - the sting of that loss - we didn’t carry that over with us for Louisville, we can’t carry over the joy that we felt to this game. It’s a new game. And we have to be sharper in our preparation because it’s also a new challenge: life on the road in the ACC. We’ll have five guys that have never played in an ACC road game. One of the players in there, just right before I came in here - we just finished practice - came and sat with me and, ‘Coach, how are road games in the ACC?’ So this will be a new experience and you’re playing against a really, really good team that’s coming off of a loss. That building has energy, their fan base is rabid and especially now because Kevin Keatts and his staff and their team, they’ve really energized that fan base. So we know it will be a really good environment there and we’ll be playing against an outstanding team, so we have to be tough, we have to be sharp, we have to be together and we have to be connected.

How did Trey feel the next day?
Capel: He felt fine. He was good. I think he just banged knees. I think that’s all it was.

He talked about getting a lot of extra work after practice with Milan and trying to expand his offensive repertoire. Have you seen that from him, putting in that extra work?
Capel: He has put in a lot of work. He and Coach Brown are in here - like, today it was before practice because he knew that we had to leave to start to get ready to fly out, so they were in here a little bit earlier before practice. Sometimes, you know, during the break they would get in in the morning before practice, they’d do some stuff after practice. So he has put in work.

But you know what? A lot of our guys have and it’s something that - hopefully, that’s the culture we want to build that there’s nonstop work, you’re constantly trying to invest in your craft, invest in your game to get better and to improve things, to correct things, to…something that you’re good at, to refine it, to become better, to sharpen it, to keep it sharp. That’s the culture that we’re trying to create here.

When you look at him, second game in the ACC, he scores 33 points, do you see a limit to his potential? Where can he grow still from what he showed on Wednesday?
Capel: Well, he has a large room to grow. He was really, really good, and he’s a good player. I love the fact that he’s not afraid. You know, a freshman playing your second ACC game and then playing against Louisville, I mean, they’re good and they’re old, their backcourt is old, and to do that against them and to not be afraid of the moment is big-time.

But there are a lot of things he can work. Continue to work on his handle to become an even more consistent shooter. To understand the game more, to know where to pick your shots. To become a better passer. To be able to think the game and to see the game a little bit differently. He has a large ceiling - a very high ceiling, I should say, in order to grow, and the thing I love is that he’s not afraid of that, he understands that and I think he wants that.

You like to play pretty fast, but I think N.C. State’s in the top 10 in the country in tempo. Do you see this being a pretty up-and-down game?
Capel: Well, we can’t play at their pace completely because we don’t have the depth that they do. So, look, we want to play fast, we want to take advantage of opportunities, but at the same time, we have to have poise. We have to be smart about it. I think what they do, they create chaos and we can’t be chaotic in chaos. That’s what I think they want you to do. So we have to pick our spots, and we want to run, we want to be aggressive, but we also have to be smart. One of the things I’ve talked to Xavier about - we talked a lot about this after Louisville - you know, there may be times, because of his speed, where he’s not tired, but the other four guys may be on the court with him. So he has to be able to read that. That’s part of his growth. So he’s got to pull it out sometimes, he’s got to slow it down sometimes and allow guys to catch up with him.

You went to five guards at the end out of necessity, but what was your evaluation of how they played in that alignment?
Capel: I thought they did okay. We had to play zone in the alignment because we couldn’t afford to have another guy foul out, and I think at that moment, I think we had two other guys, maybe three, with four fouls. So we just stuck in the zone. Normally when we would play five guards, we’d play man and we would be in a switching man-to-man defense.

Offensively, I thought we did some good things. We have to work on our spacing in it and be able to make the proper reads, that’s something we tried to work on a little bit today. We’ve worked on it before in practice, but going forward, that’s something we’ll look at doing a little bit more.

The other night, you listed a lot of things these guys had to invest in, including diet and hydration, things like that. Is it almost likening playing basketball here to a job?
Capel: Yeah. I mean, look, if you want to be really good in anything and especially in our sport, you have to invest in it. You can’t just be, ‘Well, I’m just going to show up and play, I’m going to show up.’ This time of the season, the practices aren’t as long as when you first started. So I’ve always said this to players in general - for instance, for us as coaches, we are only allowed to work with these guys four hours a day. That’s during the season. Before the season, before we start practice, we get eight hours a week that we can work with them. That’s not enough. So if you want to be really good, you have to invest the time.

I don’t believe that coaches make players better. I think coaches help players become better. Players make themselves become better because they have to put in the time. They have to put in the work. They have to invest in it. It’s all those things, and the guys that become really good, there’s no secret. There’s some guys that are just more talented and maybe it’s a little bit easier, but the guys that become really good and become the best versions of who they can be, are the guys that put in the work. That’s what we have to learn to do.

Because no high school guy knows it. They know how to do it in high school, but every time you move up a level, you have to understand that it requires more. You know, you’re a freshman and you’ve become a really good player; as that season goes on, you have to understand that you’re a marked man, so you’ve got to be sharper moving forward because now - what are we? 15 games in? What are we, 11-4? So we’re 15 games in - we have 15 games in where, teams now, like N.C. State has 15 games they can watch. It’s not like the third game where that third opponent that we played only had two games to see Xavier and to see Trey.

So they’ve picked apart his game. N.C. State will know Xavier’s game. They’ll know Trey’s game. They’ll know that. So that’s why you have to constantly keep working. You can’t be satisfied. You can’t think that I’ve already done something. You have to keep working. And that investment requires a lot. That’s why a lot of people don’t become as good as they can be: because they’re not willing to make that investment.

Does it help now that - once teams are seeing you on film, they’re seeing that they have to stop Xavier Johnson from getting in the lane because he’s making so much happen - when Trey puts something like that on film, that adds another element for teams to prepare for.
Capel: It does. It does. I mean, the more guys we have playing well, the better we’ll be and it’s more guys for people to be concerned about. So we welcome that. We want all of our guys to play really, really well. Like Terrell played extremely well against Louisville. I’m sure there will be a little more attention to him in the scouting report from N.C. State and from other teams going forward because you see what he’s capable of doing. That’s why he has to work harder now. The things that he’s done in the past…when you have success, man, you have to keep staying sharp, you have to keep working, because people want to come after you even more then so you have to stay sharp and diligent in your work and what you’re trying to do.