NC State basketball's Kevin Keatts explains start of Wolfpack's ice cream tradition

GLENDALE, Ariz. — Five days. Five scoops of ice cream. 

That was the shirt designed by NC State basketball coach Kevin Keatts after the Wolfpack’s run of five victories in five days to win the 2024 ACC Tournament. 

But, bad news for NC State fans. 

“Yes, the ice cream shirt is my idea,” Keatts said Thursday in a press conference at State Farm Stadium ahead of the Final Four. 

“The one shirt that I wear, it's only one on one. Everybody is like, ‘Can you get that shirt?’ You can't.” 

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Wolfpack fans can't get the shirts, but they can get ice cream to celebrate the team's wins away from Raleigh.

It's a tradition that was birthed during Keatts’ time at UNC Wilmington, where he led the Seahawks to a trio of CAA regular-season championships, two tournament titles and back-to-back appearances in the NCAA Tournament. 

Keatts won 72% of his games in Wilmington from 2014-17, but when he arrived, the Seahawks had lost 11 road games in a row. In the second road game of his debut season, UNCW earned an 84-72 win at UNC Greensboro to snap the skid. 

“We got our first road win … I came in the locker room and I was jumping up and down, but I had most of the players back from the previous year. They had no idea how to celebrate,” Keatts said. 

“In that moment, I said, ‘We're going to go get ice cream.’ From that point on, every road win we get ice cream. We took it from UNCW, brought it to NC State.” 

That includes neutral-site games. So, after winning nine straight elimination games to reach the Final Four for the first time since 1983, the 11th-seeded Wolfpack (26-14) will look to keep the tradition rolling against No. 1 seeded Purdue (33-4) on Saturday (6:09 p.m. ET, TBS) in Arizona.

“I love the ice cream,” Keatts said. “Who doesn't love ice cream? You get a chance to win a road win, you got to go out and celebrate it in some way. That's how it happened. That's what it's become.”

Staff writer Rodd Baxley can be reached atrbaxley@fayobserver.com or @RoddBaxley on X/Twitter.