PITTSBURGH — Winning five games in five days to claim the ACC Tournament crown, the NC State basketball team went from an outsider to right in the thick of the NCAA Tournament picture in less than a week.

The Wolfpack (22-14) rattled off wins over three other ACC teams that also made the March Madness field. Kevin Keatts said Thursday in PPG Paints Arena part of knocking off Duke, Virginia and North Carolina in consecutive days was the team going on a "revenge tour" against squads that secured wins over them during the end regular season.

"We were trying to figure out," Keatts said Wednesday in PPG Paints Arena, " how do we clean our stuff up and get better at not making mistakes."

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Keatts also said he and the team didn't pay any mind to the chatter about the team's 17-14 regular season, how some suggested he should be fired whenever the season ended, that the team, while talented, didn't have the goods to get to the NCAA Tournament, where the 11th-seeded Wolfpack will face No. 6 Texas Tech on Friday (9:40 p.m., CBS) in Round 1.

DJ Burns Jr. had a different way of looking at that.

"I'd say we used it as motivation," Burns said, "... the disrespect that we were getting, our coach and us as players, every night when we lost those games, just complete disrespect. And we took it personally, and I think that's kind of what the driving force was."

Burns, though, has seen his star shine a bit brighter since the Wolfpack's ACC Tournament run. Not chosen to any of the all-conference teams (not even an honorable mention) after the regular season, Keatts said that was another factor in Burns' great play during the tournament, which resulted in Burns being named the MVP.

That success, plus his basketball abilities as a 6-foot-9, 275-pound post, caught the attention of many: especially with a stat line of 20 points, seven assists and four rebounds in the title game against North Carolina.

"It's been kind of crazy," Burns said of his new-found stardom. "The exposure that you get playing at this level is really unmatched. And I didn't really realize it until after that game how big it could possibly get. It's truly been a blessing."

This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: NC State basketball used 'disrespect' as motivation for run to NCAAs