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Quotes: Duke 86, New Mexico State 61
11/12/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On his thoughts on the 86-61 win over New Mexico State:
“This was a very physical game, and I was pleased, obviously, with the outcome. I thought our kids played very well overall. When you're playing a good team, you let up just a little bit, and they're going to come back at you. We played really well and got that 61-30 lead and it seemed like we stopped and they kept going. Then at the end, we executed again very well. We're pleased with the outcome, and we're going to learn from it.”
On Jon Scheyer's 22-point performance off the bench:
“He can start too. In the two games we've played, I think he's played the most minutes. To me, that's the most important thing. He came off the bench and gave us a spark, both offensively and defensively. He was 8-for-11, and I thought he should have taken three or four more shots. He's a very unselfish kid, but we expect him to shoot the ball when he's open.”
On what Duke needs to improve on:
“We'll analyze everything. I thought we gave up too many open looks from the corner. They did a good job, they just missed some shots. We can't afford to hope that somebody just misses shots. That's not the way you become a winner.”
On how he thought Duke did defending the bigger players on New Mexico State's roster:
“I thought we did well. We won by 25 points, so we did okay. We can get better though. We were in foul trouble. There's a little bit of adversity there for our guys.”
On the upcoming EA Sports Maui Invitational in Lahaina, Hawai'i:
“I think it's going to be good for us. Obviously we want to win the tournament in Maui, but I think those three games are going to make us a better basketball team. We've got a lot of things to improve on, but I think it'll be a good way of seeing these kids improve. Our kids are gym rats. They'll stay in the gym and keep working. Playing three quality opponents in Maui will help us.”
“DeMarcus hit me on every kick. He did a great job of getting two or three guys to collapse and he just hit me for open shots. We need to get points in transition and get easy points like that. I think that's something we need to keep doing a good job of and that comes from our defense. I got a few in transition and a few from DeMarcus.”
“A couple of times I thought I saw guys open, but I had wide open shots and those are shots I have to shoot because the rest of my teammates are expecting me to shoot those. So when I don't shoot them ? the two times I didn't, they were turnovers. So I need to shoot those from now on.”
“Any lineup that's in there can really make a run, and that's what's so dangerous about our team. At any point in the game, any lineup, we can make things happen. And I think it catches the other team off guard too.”
“As well as we played at times, we also played pretty poorly at times. This was our first test, and New Mexico State is a really good team, and for us, coming out here, there were some things that we could get away with in exhibition games and obviously tonight we couldn't get away with those things. For us it's just a learning process and we can take a lot away from tonight's game.”
“I was just trying to make some plays out there, whether it's press row or out in the middle of the court. If a perimeter guy gets the rebound, it allows us to get out in transition. I was just trying to be scrappy and get all the loose balls. We'll let the big guys get the stuff up in the air and we'll try to stay to the floor and try to pick up the small stuff.”
“We got some buckets out in transition. Obviously it helps when you can just pitch it ahead and let someone else make a play. And we made some shots today too. Getting up and down helps, and we just have to try and limit those turnovers.”
“My freshman year we didn't have that many scholarship players. My sophomore year we played a six-, seven-, or at the most eight-man rotation and the same thing my junior year. So this is the first year that we've had this much talent on one team where you can play multiple guys and have multiple guys contribute throughout the course of the ballgame. It's really a luxury. Guys don't get worn down so much, and defenses can't key on any one individual.”
New Mexico State Coach Marvin Menzies
Opening Statement:
“Obviously I wish we would have played better and given Coach K a little bit more of his money's worth. We didn't represent the university the way that I would have liked but we showed some things in flashes that we have to work on or build off I should say rather. Optimistic -- still very much so for the future. I think that we've got a good core of guys and we just weren't prepared for this level of environment and ball pressure this early in the season and not having the things we'd like to have in place to combat that. It was an obvious weakness for us and we've got to work on that. We'll kind of build from there. We've got a schedule that consists of some intense travel along with some distance involved -- I'm not trying to make excuses but we've got to just stay positive and get back up on the horse right away because we've got a game on Wednesday and we travel tomorrow. We'll practice here and then we'll get on the road and we'll do some film tomorrow night and then we play again on Wednesday so I kind of feel like Pat Riley or somebody right now.”
On what he learned about his team in the first two games on the road:
“I got a good feel for personnel under pressure -- some things that we can build off of, a few bright spots with some guys that I didn't expect to perform that well so early. Wendell McKines was a very bright spot for us -- him not having the repetitions in practice due to the NCAA situation that he had hurt us in terms of us me being limited as to what I would have liked to run during the game. At the same time I wish there was a couple other kids that I wish I had gotten an opportunity to get in so I could get them a little battle tested too. So I feel like I didn't get everything I wanted out of these two tough games on the road.”
Players Mentioned
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