Quotes: Duke 92, Miami 71

Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Opening Comments:
“Our crowd was great, especially Sunday, late afternoon. The students were terrific today. It was a great atmosphere. You see something historic with J.J. (Redick) breaking Johnny (Dawkins)' record and Johnny being here. What a great thing. I'm really proud of J.J. In the night that he got 30 and broke the record, I thought the thing he did best tonight was play defense. He had Hite the whole game, and Hite's a terriffic player. I thought he just dogged him and still put up 30 points.

“Shelden (Williams) was great, just great. And Josh (McRoberts) keeps getting better and better. Our two big guys, I thought played with a lot of poise. We just didn't get them the ball very well in the first half. We threw it to them more than us for a while. They're such an explosive team, and we wanted to try to take away their three-point shooting, and I thought we did a great job of that. I thought our defense was good because our offense helped it. DeMarcus (Nelson) just gave us a huge lift. He played with a lot of strength for us.

“They're a good basketball team -- Diaz, Hite, Harris -- they can put up points, and Diaz did, but we were able to check the other two guys pretty well. I'm real happy with the win, and of course we clinched the No. 1 seed in the tournament, in the ACC Tournament, which is just fantastic. Our kids have done a good job. Now we've got to go on the road for a few games and then finish up, to make sure we don't let up now that we have something. That'll be the next obstacle to get over.”

On Redick's patience in getting enough points for the record:
“J.J. really, three-point records or whatever, he's not about that. We lost control of the game for a little bit because we were loose with the ball. I think when we did that, he knew transition stuff -- that's where he gets open a lot -- it was just not going to be a part of the game because we weren't being precise. We were going to have to run things, and it opened up other areas, which he's fine with. I wouldn't have expected anything different from him. I didn't even know where it was -- that he needed one more three or whatever. We called one thing for him, and he hit it, and then when everyone screamed, I guess that was it. He's not saying anything like get me the ball or anything like that.”

On Redick passing Johnny Dawkins' record:
“I just think it's great that Johnny was here, and Johnny's his coach. You have two of the greatest players in the history of Duke basketball right there at center court with our A.D. and president. That's a nice picture.”

On defense against Redick:
“When you're that scorer, you're marked, and in our league, you're usually marked by athletes -- guys who are big -- and you're not only being played by them, but you're double-teamed by another athlete. A lot of times in the second half, whenever any screen was set for him, he not only had to beat that guy but another guy. In a league like ours, for him to do what he has done is truly amazing, and it shows a toughness and a physical conditioning and mental toughness -- that combination that are at the highest level. He's playing defense too. We're not going back in a zone and hiding him, so he has to be in incredible shape.”

On hype over records:
“They can kind of take on a life of their own. You have to write about something, and that's a good thing to write about. I'm not knocking you. You're going to write about the fact that someone has the chance to break the ACC scoring record, and all of a sudden that can become a thing instead of trying to beat Georgia Tech. In doing these things, whether it be three-point, Duke, conference record, we have to spend more time talking about the job at hand. Thank goodness the kid who's doing it does the best job of talking about that, and that's J.J.”

On Josh McRoberts:
“He's getting the ball inside some now. He's comfortable now. He looks like a veteran. His demeanor is so good, he's making plays -- that skip pass that he made to J.J. over the zone, that's a big-time play. He's going to continue to improve. The last month, he has a feel for what it takes. He likes being out there, he's comfortable. It's reflected right away in free-throw shooting. He's our second-best free-throw shooter. For a month and a half this season, he's about 40 percent. When kids all of a sudden grow up like that, it's kind of neat, and he's done that.”

On Johnny Dawkins as a teacher:
“The thing that Johnny does that none of us on the staff can do is identify with that great player because he was that great player. Whether it be Jason Williams, Battier, these guys that we've had while Johnny's been the coach, Johnny is able to understand it better, so you want him talking to these guys and working with him because he was wound like that too. It's a tremendous advantage for me to have him just for that. I've coached guys like that, but I've never been that guy. He's coached and he's been that guy. That means with conditioning, maybe a little tip of how to get away, Johnny's done it. J.J.'s fortunate to have him here.”

On Miami's zone defense:
“We threw the ball away initially countless number of times. It was like we were having a burnout here or something. I didn't know what was happening. We just kept throwing to the team with green, and they weren't pressuring us. I think we came out with so much emotion, and J.J. got those two threes. We're just kind of going whatever that means, and then when they went zone we were still kind of doing that, and the zone can stand you up if you're not disciplined. All of a sudden we're making passes like this instead of discipline, and that got them right back into the game. We had a chance to lose control of that game, but then we adjusted better against it. I'd give DeMarcus (Nelson) a lot of credit for that. DeMarcus did a really good job when he came in to do that.”

Duke Player Quotes

Senior J.J. Redick

On becoming the all-time leading scorer in Duke history:
“It took everything in my will power to hold back tears. This is a day that I've dreamed of, and to do it at home was great. Obviously, to receive that ball from Coach [Johnny] Dawkins is such a great honor. He's such a great man and a great coach and was probably the best player in Duke history, so it's a huge honor.”

“I'm happy that our team won, and obviously I'm very pleased and fortunate that I could do it in front of the home fans. That was big. As a very naive freshman, I thought that maybe I had a shot to do this, but things didn't happen the way I wanted my first two years, and I pretty much lost all focus on this record and put it on the back burner. It's funny how things work out like this.”

On his chance to become the ACC's all-time leading scorer:
“I'm just hoping that I stay healthy. I have a good chance obviously to break that record as well. The thing about the last two games that's been nice is I've just gone out, not forced anything, and just taken care of my business, and played like I normally do, and the records have taken care of themselves. That'd obviously be very nice if I could get it done [in the next game at Georgia Tech] and we could just focus on the team, but scoring 31 points on the road is no easy task. Georgia Tech is going to have a great defensive plan for us, not just for me but for our team, and it's going to be a challenge.”

“They went to that zone, and it's tougher to find shot's in a zone - it really is. Everybody thinks that a shooter likes a zone, but with the way they extended and really shadowed me, it was difficult to find shots in that zone. We did a good job for most of the game in picking it apart and taking our open shots and finding the post. There was a stretch there in the first half where we threw the ball away, and they kind of gained some momentum.”

On Duke's struggles against the zone being a result of their not practicing or playing against it very often:
“We work on that everyday in practice. I think that'd be an excuse. I think we just didn't execute. The thing about a zone is that when a team goes to it, generally you're not necessarily prepared for it at that moment. We prepared for it in advance, but at that moment, it can stand you up a little bit and you make weaker passes, and I think that's what happened tonight.”

Senior Lee Melchionni
“Against a zone, you have a tendancy to relax and stand up, and they made us do that for a little bit and had success playing zone. You just have to be sharp [to beat a zone]. When you go against changing defenses, you just have to continue to run your offense and be sharp at it throughout the game.”

On J.J. Redick:
“He's a hard worker and he sort of plays with a chip on his shoulder. He has an unbelievable confidence that everytime he shoots it's going in, and that's something you need to be in his type of situation.”

On the shot that broke the record:
“There wasn't anything said [in the huddle during the timeout prior to the shot], but I think subconsciously - or consciously - we were trying to get him the record here at home because we're going on the road for three games. So he comes off the screen and hits the shot, and that's all she wrote.”

Freshman Josh McRoberts

“[Miami was] what we expected. They're a good team that fought hard and had great guard play.”

“I feel good about my progression. It's something I'm not going to get complacent about. I'm just going to try and improve every game. I've been able to play well in the last few games, and I'm going to try and keep continuing the things that I've been doing and improve on what I've been doing.”

Miami Head Coach Frank Haith

Opening Statement:
“I thought our kids competed and we played very hard. J.J. (Redick) is a phenomenal player. He wasn't just great tonight, he has been great all year. I think he is the best player in college basketball and he showed it tonight. Shelden (Williams) was terrific too. To our credit, I was really proud of how we competed under the circumstances. We have been on the road for awhile and I was pleased that we came out and played hard to give ourself a chance.”

On playing zone against Duke:
“We just thought we had to try and take him (Redick) out. As you can see it didn't help because he still got 30 points. He is such a great player. He finds ways. He is smart. It is like anything you do, it will work for a short period of time. He is just so intelligent and he is going to keep working. He is in tremendous shape. We were able to keep him from getting some touches and tried to get out to him in our zone. I thought we had a shot when the lead was 10 or 12 and we had possession of the ball. (Gary) Hamilton had the ball on the block and he made a pass to (Denis) Clemente who shot the floater. I thought we could have got a better shot than that. If we could have got the score underneath 10 than we would have a chance to get into the game a little bit better. We were unable to make that play and they went down and hit a three right after that.”

On Miami being one of several teams in the ACC fighting for a NCAA Tournament spot:
“I do think that down the stretch there are a lot of teams that are in the same boat we are in. It is very simple. You have to win some games. We have an opportunity on Wednesday at home. We have been on the road for awhile. We go home for a game and you have to protect your home court.”

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Players Mentioned

Lee Melchionni

JJ Redick

Duke information