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Postgame Quotes: Duke 84, Bucknell 50
1/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Comments
“We played very well this afternoon. Our defense was outstanding, especially against an outstanding team. They are a really good team. They've been on the road forever too. I don't know if they came here straight from the West Coast, but they've been traveling a lot, and they probably weren't as fresh as they would have normally been. I understand that. I'll temper my enthusiasm for how well we played defense by the fact that they've been on the road a lot.
“In saying that though, we came out with great energy. I thought our big guys were more animated than they have been during the entire season at any one time -- where both of them were doing that. Our help side defense was terrific. Josh McRoberts and Lee Melchionni made numerous plays on the help side. Lee knocked balls away, where he was crafty, and Josh had a big physical presence in there. When we're doing that, that takes our defense up a level. I thought we really talked well on our switches, and outside of Jason Vegotsky getting open looks, we didn't give up very many open looks.
“I thought we beat a really good team. I have a lot of respect of course for Pat Flannery and his program. Those kids are great kids, and we may see them again because I would think that they'll be in the NCAA Tournament, and hopefully we will be too. They'll be a tough out for anybody. They have played a great, great schedule. For those kids to play at Syracuse, at DePaul, go to the West Coast, come here, wow. I would say they're ready for the Patriot League competition right now, just so they don't pick on Army too much.”
On using the press
“We did it on Saturday, and it's something we would like to do when we feel like the second big is not a real good ball handler. A lot of teams have a second big take it out of bounds, and if we trap and get it back to him and then deny the perimeter, you're putting the ball in the hands of probably the worst playmaker of another team. Now, I'm not knocking those kids. No. 1 is just not as effective 90 feet from the bucket. You put him eight feet from the bucket, and he's a really good player. Same thing with Donald Brown, No. 4. If we can do that, and we kind of did, then it disrupts their offense. We felt like they were such a good offensive team, we needed to change the tempo at which they played. It wasn't so much getting steals but just changing the tempo and in some cases getting their legs moving. It's tougher to score after you're running the court like that.”
On how Duke played
“It's a 40-minute effort. We didn't play well the first four minutes, but the other team played well. I told the guys at halftime that their program is too good. They will come out, and they're going to execute, and we need to take away their three. Of course they scored the first nine points. Outside of that, we had a great effort. We've had a lot of energy in our practices since the Christmas break, not that we had bad practices before that, and we're playing like we're practicing right now. Like Shelden (Williams) -- Shelden really ran the court well tonight. He was the freshest and the quickest that I think I've seen him since he's been here at Duke, and I just hope he can keep doing that. He's always been good, don't get me wrong, but he really ran well today and didn't seem like he got tired.”
On Josh McRoberts running the court with the ball
“I think it's a sign of his progression. Earlier, when he'd get it, he'd try to show people how I can dribble the ball, and it would stay within one spot. Now he'd get a rebound and put the ball ahead of him or get a steal. He's an outstanding passer, and he can handle the ball, and it's better if he elongates when he does it. That's a weapon. It's a good weapon.”
On Wake Forest
“I haven't watched Wake play yet this year. We try to not be six days ahead like you guys are, and I really concentrate on my team. I know that they're an outstanding team. Their inside people are as big and strong as you can have. And then Justin Gray is one of the truly remarkable collegiate players in the country because every time he touches the ball, he has the chance of shooting it and it going in. Trent Strickland is going to be a tough matchup. Just watching their boxes, it seems like he has had a number of double-doubles because he probably dominates that third perimeter matchup, which will be a tough one for us. I'll have to look and see how we'll try to attack that because they'll be a lot bigger than we are.”
On confidence heading into conference play
“I know who we are. We're probably going to get beat a number of times, and I just think we have to keep improving and use the conference like we've always tried to use the conference as a way of getting better because we'll have a tough game every game. I like my team. We're not who we will be. DeMarcus (Nelson)'s return is a big thing, and he's going to see the doctor again tomorrow, and we'll have more definitive stuff on that. We could use to get deeper. There's no question about that.”
On this week being the last with a mid-week break
“How we handle these next few days is important. I don't think you start getting ready for Wake until later in the week, so tomorrow we'll work on things for us, maybe do some things that are a little bit different. We'll try out some new things or how we conduct the practice, how we do conditioning, just to break it up a little bit because it's a long time in preparation for any game. How we do that as a staff I think will be very important.
Senior J.J. Redick
“I think we're in a good place headed into ACC play. Today was a great day for our defense. It was a good stepping stone for us, especially coming off our defensive effort on Saturday [against UNC Greensboro]. We still have five days of practice to go until ACC play, so we're going to look at those days as a way to improve.”
“I don't know about sending a message, but it was definitely a thing where we wanted to make a statement and say to ourselves, ?Hey, we can shut down a good team, a precise offensive team, and beat them pretty good and put them away.' They're obviously a team that has beaten some big-time schools this year and last year. They've been called giant killers, so it was a good win for us.”
“We play for Duke and we have a certain level of performance that we want to play at every game. We have standards here, and when we don't meet those standards, whether it's against [UNC] Greensboro or against a team like Memphis or a team like that, we're going to be down on ourselves, and we're going to look for ways to get better and try to improve the next game.”
“I'm not especially happy all the time after I have great games, and I'm not especially down after I have bad games personally. What I'm looking at is we're 13-0, and we got another win today. Obviously, coming off our game Saturday [versus UNC Greensboro] when we didn't play great defense, for us to play the way we did today feels really good.”
Senior Sean Dockery
“We're very happy. Today was one of our first days where we were successful on the offensive end and the defensive end. We're really excited about that. Everybody played great, and we also had fun today so that's a good look.”
“We knew they were going to hit some shots. They're one of the best offensive teams in the country, so we knew they were going to make shots. [Coach Mike Kryzewski] just didn't want us to let down all the way. He wanted us to be a great team all 40 minutes of the game.”
Freshman Greg Paulus
“I'm feeling more comfortable. Even if you can't see it, I think that I feel that way. I think that our offense is getting better, and, as time goes on, it's going to get smoother and smoother. But right now we're just trying to work out the kinks, work out the mistakes and try to learn from everything that we're doing wrong.”
“I think we're getting there. We wanted to get the two wins - at Greensboro and at home against a tough Bucknell team - to lead into [the ACC regular season]. We wanted to get some momentum and play great defense, and that's what we did tonight. So I think we're feeling confident, but tomorrow is a new day. We have to get back to work and get ready for Wake Forest.”
Senior Lee Melchionni
“We wanted to send a message. This Bucknell team is a good team - they beat Kansas, Syracuse, Pitt, and lots of other teams. It's a good overall win. At Duke, it's always big news when you lose and no news when you win because you're expected to. We knew that Bucknell was capable of beating us, and to win by however many - 25, 30 points - it's a good win for our team and our program.”
Bucknell Head Coach Pat Flannery
Opening Statement
“I didn't want to come in here and back off with them. I wanted to come in here and play. I knew what we were up against. I thought in the first half, we rushed a lot and we didn't use the clock enough. They're (Duke) so good that if you give them too many possessions, they're just going to wear you down.”
On Duke
“They're everything they are built up to be. The biggest compliment that I can pay is they play so hard. They're the No. 1 team in the country and they play hard every day. The key to them is (Shelden) Williams and he was just a man (tonight). He does everything and we just didn't have another answer besides Chris McNaughton. They're good. They get in the passing lanes and do all of that quickness stuff. They spread the floor very well, they dribble penetrate and they have some bombers. They have the package.”
On Duke's Shelden Williams
“(Shelden) Williams is a man in there and he keeps you at bay. He really works in there. I'll be interested to see as the year goes along who develops with Williams and what they can do when he's not in. I think he kind of holds them together. He's a guy that's really a piece for them and a handful.”
Players Mentioned
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