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Duke-Georgetown Postgame Quotes
12/2/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke-Georgetown Postgame Quotes
December 2, 2006
Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“We respect [Georgetown's] program and their kids ultimately. We knew that, physically, they would be better with starting [DaJuan] Summers, [Jeff] Green and [Roy] Hibbert. We weren't going to be able to match up that way. In the first half I thought Brian [Zoubek] and Marty [Pocius] really held the ship afloat for us. They were good. Marty gave us a boost [at the start of the second half] and so did Brian. I thought Gerald [Henderson] and Jon [Scheyer] responded well; they did not play well in the first half and that's going to happen, but they didn't wait until the next game to play well. They played well in the second half. DeMarcus [Nelson] has been our rock the whole time. I thought Josh [McRoberts] played like a star tonight. He made some really big things happen. He's become a really good defensive player. With Greg [Paulus], obviously this has been his best game of the season. He finished a couple times on drives ? he and Jon ? that were manly finishes. I'm proud of our guys; the crowd was great. It was just one of those good Saturday nights to be in here and we were fortunate to win. We unbelievably respect Georgetown and what they are doing and their kids. It's been a heck of a series.”
On starting Greg Paulus:
“It's not a big decision. It's just a matter of when you do it. Not having him in there was also trying to get other guys off because he was only going to play 20-something minutes. We were just trying to figure out when those minutes were. Tonight we said it's time to break some limits; you have to play more than 20 minutes and go after it. He got off to a little bit of a shaky start but then he really showed a lot of poise and toughness. He's still not in the shape that he will be in, but he played with a lot of courage tonight and did a good job on [Jonathan] Wallace. I like Wallace; he's a really good guard and their best shooter and he only had seven points which was a big thing for us.”
On defensive adjustments in the second half:
“Our defense has been really good. It shows how much these kids are together and want to play well. It hasn't translated yet on offense but tonight it did at times. We stopped fouling them. Part of that was that we changed our point of pick up; it was more at the top of the key and we switched everything which is a little bit like zone. Then we added the doubling of the post so they couldn't get a fluid move into the lane and would have to shoot over along the baseline. Our kids executed.”
On this year's team:
“It's all good. Last year it was a veteran team; we would run plays for J.J. [Redick] and we had a chance of hitting it or getting the rebound. With this team, you have to pick out who you're going to call the plays for and no one has really stepped up in that regard. So, it's like a team that has to score together. I really love my team. This is a big win. I got a little emotional at the end of the game tonight. A lot of times at Duke when we have a veteran team, winning is taken for granted. Our locker room was great tonight and I wanted to set the stage for that on the court. I have to be hard on them but they also have to see us have fun with them.”
Sophomore Josh McRoberts
“Defense is kind of what we've been hanging our hat on. Everybody's been talking about that. We played pretty well defensively and some guys stepped up big on the offensive end when we needed them to.”
On Duke's first-half struggles:
“Whenever anybody asks me about problems, I always say, ?I wish I knew because then I'd fix them.' I don't know what it was. We just weren't moving very well on offense or defense. [In the second half], we made some changes defensively mainly. They got a couple of back doors which is what we wanted to take away. That was disappointing, so we came out and kind of changed up the defense a little bit, actually just kind of started playing the way we were supposed to from the start.”
On the play of Greg Paulus:
“He stepped up bigger than I've ever seen. That was the best game I've ever seen him play. He really stepped up big when we needed him.”
Sophomore Greg Paulus
On his strong play in the second half:
“A lot of guys made some plays. You know Josh [McRoberts] is making plays and he's making drives. Jon [Scheyer] made a couple of big shots for us by getting to the foul line. It's going to open up a lot of seems and a lot of area for me to drive.”
“It was a tight game and it was a great game. Those are the games we like to play in, where we're making those kind of plays to help us win. I did feel comfortable out there, and it feels good to win.”
On his key layup late in the game:
“It was a long rebound and I saw two Georgetown guys and I think I even saw Jon Scheyer coming. Everybody was going to get it and I felt if I tried to jump and tried to run then I would've been called for a travel. So I just tried to tip it up to myself and try to push it because I didn't see anybody in front of me. If they were all set up, I was going to pull the ball out, but I saw a little seam and just tried to be aggressive and take it to the basket.”
“The foot was ok. In that kind of game, you're thinking about what do I have to do to help us - do I have to get a long rebound, do I have to double team in the post? I wasn't thinking about my foot at all.”
Freshman Jon Scheyer
“Once we started to score a little bit, they had to slow it down, and we really made them run their sets I think. They really didn't know what to do. We were putting good pressure on the ball and playing really good team defense. So that was a big difference.”
On his second half contributions:
“I needed to be there more for my team. I wasn't ready to play in the first half, so in the second half I was going to do whatever I needed to do for the team. And it happened that I made a couple of layups - it was nothing big but it was a great feeling, being there for my team. The best part was our team defense and getting stops on the defensive end. That was big.”
“[Georgetown] is really good, even though they're 4-3 right now. They came to play today especially. I think they really wanted to come out and get this win. We knew it would be high level. They kind of came out and hit us with the first punches, and we can't let that happen. So in the second half, we kind of came back and re-focused. We just played. I think that's the best job we've done all year of just playing instead of thinking so much.”
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson
On Jeff Green and Roy Hibbert taking turns in the second half being in control on offense:
“There was a stretch there where we definitely wanted to go inside and put the ball in their hands. Our guys are still sorting through and trying to figure everything out and that's fine to throw it in, but at the same time we had to kick it back out and keep the ball moving and keep everything going instead of trying to force feed it. At the end of the day if we're going to put it in anybody's hands, it's going to be one of those two guys, and we're going to let them make a decision on what happens and we just have to get better. You have heard me say this over and over again- we have to get better. You know it's hard to sit here after a disappointing loss and say we showed progress, but in a lot of areas I think we did show progress today. Now we just have to keep moving forward.”
On the difference in Georgetown's execution in the second half:
“There was a big difference in execution in the second half. We had to keep the ball moving and just play, and they did a better job. They didn't play us as tight. They definitely changed what they were doing, which is why we tried to change what we were doing at the same time, but it didn't turn out as we wanted. Still coming down the stretch, I think we got a lot of good looks at the basket that didn't go in.”
On Jesse Sapp's play:
“He's confident in himself and talented. Once we can take that confidence and couple it with experience, and then knowing when to do what he does and when not to do what he does. I think that kid plays with a lot of heart. Jesse's a player, I've said that over and over again. He's growing and he's learning, and we all are. We got a group of guys over there that they have had tough stretch here- that's stating the obvious. We just have to keep moving forward, we have to learn from this. This is probably the end of what I would call the first phase of our pre-league schedule. Now we have to keep improving and keep working toward conference play. We haven't had the easiest schedule and we haven't had as much success as we would've liked, but as long as we keep improving, moving toward league play, we'll be okay.”
On problems caused by Greg Paulus in the second half:
“He seemed a lot more assertive and a lot more aggressive in the second half. It seemed like the first half he was trying to get everyone else involved in the game, but in the second half he decided to get himself involved. I thought for the most part we did a decent job with him- he had a couple of breakaways and made some tough layups in the second half that he was missing in the first half. He is a very good player, he's experienced and it's hard to contain that guy. Duke is young, a lot like we're young, but there are pretty talented pieces around him (Paulus), and he did what good players do.”
On Jeremiah Rivers' injury:
“I have not heard since they took him off the floor. I have no clue. I think it was his knee. You know as much as what I saw.”
On Jeff Green as a decision maker:
“Today we tried to make an effort to put the ball in Jeff's hands in both halves. The first half he was able to help a lot of his teammates. In the second half he tried to score a little more, which is fine, but a few of his shots rolled out. We let him play and make the decisions. Jeff Green is a terrific player, and he makes good decisions. We said we needed him to be a little more assertive and a little more aggressive, and he was trying to do that coming down to the end. He had a few shots that he normally makes that didn't roll in, but I'm fine with Jeff being more assertive and more aggressive at the offensive end.”
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