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Men's Basketball
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Quotes: Duke 86, Columbia 43
11/12/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“I thought our guys played very hard and so did Columbia. We expected them to be a veteran team, which they are, and they're well-coached. They had a good game plan against us. We had to play really hard to win and we won big because everybody who came in the game for us played hard. We matched them in effort. I was particularly pleased with our three veterans ? Josh [McRoberts], DeMarcus [Nelson] and Greg [Paulus] ? I didn't think they forced anything. To see Greg out there for about 20 minutes after only practicing a couple days was really good. Obviously he'll keep getting better and better. The veterans didn't force things; they wanted their teammates to get involved. I like the fact that our veterans don't feel like, in a game where we're winning pretty big, that they need some superficial stats to show how good they are. They want to work on developing our team.”
On feeding the ball to Brian [Zoubek] in the second half:
“It came out of the flow. Our guys are getting to know each other a little bit. They could see that he really wanted the ball. The thing about Brian is that he'll pass the ball, too. If we cut or relocate off of him, our guys have no problem getting it to him. He has good footwork. He was really well-coached in high school; all of our freshmen were.”
On Greg Paulus:
“His first day back, three days ago, he was a whirlwind in practice. He had six deflections and four steals. The next day his foot was fine but his hamstrings were sore because he hadn't been in a defensive stance for a long time. He just got progressively better after that. I know he was a little anxious tonight; a couple of his shots were just in and out. He had seven assists and one turnover. His two fouls in the first half were silly. He'll be fine. It was encouraging to have him back.”
On the freshmen:
“All four freshmen are good players; they have different skill sets. Jon [Scheyer] because of Greg [Paulus] being out has been able to play the point, too, so he becomes a little more versatile. Lance [Thomas] is athletic and can cover a three, four or five. Brian [Zoubek] is unique. Gerald [Henderson] is a unique athlete and he missed most of the preseason with numerous injuries. When he gets into really good shape, he'll just keep getting better. They're all good and we're going to need them.”
On the depth that showed tonight:
“I don't know if we'll be able to do that every game. Some of that had to do with the fact that they went small. Brian [Zoubek] I think only played six minutes in the first half. At halftime we said we'd start him if they went big and we'd start Lance [Thomas] if they went small. Knowing that we don't have to pace ourselves is very important. We have guys with multiple skill sets. Jon [Scheyer] can play with Greg [Paulus] or replace him. DeMarcus [Nelson] can be out there, too. Dave [McClure] can play the three or four. I thought he did a good job tonight. He had six rebounds; it makes me wish we had him last year. He's such a solid basketball player and it's good to see him recovered.
Columbia Coach Joe Jones
Opening Statement:
“I don't know what to say. I'm still trying to get past the Cameron Crazies jumping up and down. It's an honor to be in this venue and it's an honor to play against the Duke basketball team. It's an honor to match wits against a legendary coach. I have great respect for him and the way they run their program. We're trying to take some things away from watching Duke play and the way they carry themselves on and off the court. For us it's been a great experience and the people at Duke have treated us great. They gave us a nice round of applause as we left the floor- I hope they were cheering for us, maybe they were cheering for the Duke team as they walked off. I thought they had great respect for the way our guys played tonight. It was a great experience to play the game tonight.”
On what Columbia took away from the game:
“I thought at the beginning of the game, the first 10 minutes or so, we were able to play with some sort of composure, which was very good. A lot of teams come in here for the start of the game and wilt under the pressure. It's one of the toughest places to play. The Duke players play every possession so you know they're not going to have a night off when they're not ready to play. So I thought we were able to compete for the first third of the game. The problem with our team right now (to play against a team like this, a program like this, a coach like this) is you have to be able to play every possession, and we just weren't able to do that. Their size overwhelmed us, they played very well together, they played as a team (we knew that was going to happen), they made plays for each other, and I thought as the game went on we just couldn't handle the speed, the intensity, their athletic ability, their size, it all just did us in.”
On not having trouble hitting threes after making their first two:
“The speed of the game as the game wears on, I thought we had some open looks we couldn't make. I thought it took the wind out of our sails when we did have some touches inside, we went up strong, but they have two pros in there who made some unbelievable plays. I thought McRoberts and Zoubek just made some great blocks inside. Usually we'd be able to finish that play on most of the teams that we play, but against those guys we just couldn't finish. I thought we ran some pretty decent offense and got some pretty good shots, they just blocked a number of our shots inside. I thought that hurts and took the wind out of our sails. We weren't able to readjust.”
On Duke shooting well:
“They have really good players. They were able to make plays, they made some unbelievable plays. I thought they scored inside, they were able to take the ball off the dribble. We tried to play zone, they torched the zone. They're just a very good team. They got great players, they play together, they're well coached. I thought we left Scheyer and Pocius with wide open looks against the zone. We didn't do a good enough job matching up with those guys, and they were able to skip the ball across the floor and get those guys open. I thought those guys really hurt us, but they're just a really good team. My hat goes off, but I thought our guys competed the whole way. I didn't think they stopped playing, they fought the whole way. We have to get better, we know that. I took from this game that we started the game well. I didn't think we came out the second half ready to go, which is something that we need to work on as a program. But I was proud of the way our guys attempted to stay in the game and keep their composure. We didn't lose our composure, we just didn't play well as the game went on. I thought Duke just did a great job.”
On hearing fans taunting:
“I don't hear anything once the game starts.”
Players Mentioned
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