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Men's Basketball
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Quotes: Duke 62, Wake Forest 40
1/18/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement
“Our defense won the game. Points were hard to come by for both teams tonight so, Greg [Paulus'] performance in going 5-for-10 from three, especially his threes in the first half, and those few defensive plays that we turned into offense, really gave us that working margin. I was proud of our team that, when we could not score for a long period of time in the second half, it did not affect our defense. That's a really good sign for a team. You don't let missed shots let you miss assignments on the defensive end. In the second half, Josh [McRoberts] really protected our basket well. His blocks and defensive rebounds were terrific. We feel good about it. We have a quick turnaround; [N.C.] State has been waiting for us for a week and they're rested. This is a tough stretch for us but thank goodness we played very well tonight. We didn't shoot the ball very well, but we played very well.”
On Greg Paulus
“He and Jon [Scheyer] are our two best shooters. For the year, he is either in the high 40's in three-point shooting or right at 50; he's well above 40. We want him to shoot the ball. In order to shoot it, though, you have to play with your confidence in other areas. I think he was forgetting that he was a good shooter and was concentrating on other things. We needed his shots tonight; he was very, very good.”
On defense
“Our defense was excellent. It was rock solid. Even with the offense not going really well, it was really good. [Ishmael] Smith is a very quick point guard. He motors that ball down the court and we hardly gave up anything in transition. Greg [Paulus] did a good job on him. I like that kid; we were able to take away the thing he does best, which is transition, so that helped us a lot.”
On the team's growth
“We've played a really good schedule, we're a young team and we're just trying to get better. We had a two-game losing streak, but we had a 10-game winning streak. This team will lose and win, it just has to keep getting better and it has to have its own identity and its own growth process. When you look up at the banners since 1986, I think we have 15 ACC Championships. No one else has done that. What I'm saying is, that standard is what some people expect all the time and therefore they put a lot of pressure on these kids to be that. These are our guys and we're going with them. They may not be ready to get all that stuff right now, but they still should have the opportunity to grow. That's my responsibility to try to bring them along that way. I like my team; they're playing their butts off with a lot of pressure on them. I love these kids and they're trying their very best all the time.”
On the bench
“I thought it was the best Gerald [Henderson] has played. He had four rebounds, three offensive, and a couple big finishes. When we were struggling for some points, Josh [McRoberts'] pass to him on the backdoor was a big play. Dave [McClure] has been solid. He and Lance [Thomas], that combination, there has been a lot of energy coming from those two kids. They're contributions a lot of times won't be appreciated from just looking at stats. But. those two kids give us great energy and we have to keep that going. That's kind-of how our team is developing right now.”
Wake Forest Coach Skip Prosser
On what went wrong
“It's pretty self-evident I think. You guys can all read this (the box score). This is traditionally the best basketball conference in the country and Duke's certainly traditionally one of the best basketball teams in the country. We had 12 turnovers I think in the first half and were 0-4 from the foul line which basically translates into 14 turnovers- pretty tough to stay competitive.
On counseling Ishmael Smith and the other freshmen
“I think you can talk about it but I think you have to experience it. I don't think the aura of the building?legendary as it is?was the main culprit tonight.”
On team's confidence
“I don't think we are very confident. We haven't given ourselves reason to be very confident. I can go in there and start a little campfire and a little marshmallows and we can all sing “Kumbaya” but the reality is the way we're giving the ball to the other team and shooting free throws... I thought our defensive effort was pretty good for most of the game. (Greg) Paulus hits that three at the buzzer, we keep them under 60, which in most ACC games is going to give you a good opportunity to win.”
On how to turn it around
“We just have to keep working at it. I think we have talented young guys. It's not that cryptic? I mean this is a game you can't cheat. If you don't give yourselves a shot, even a bad shot, on the offensive end, then you're not going to win. When you get free opportunities against a team like Duke, if you don't cash in your share... Again I think it's not that cryptic.”
On how hard it is to win without a steady point guard in the ACC
“It's not a situation I'm totally foreign to. He's (Ishmael Smith) going to be good though.”
Players Mentioned
G
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