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Men's Basketball
at Stanford
Quotes: Duke 78, Eastern Kentucky 43
11/25/2007 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On Duke's defensive performance against Eastern Kentucky:
“Our defense was great. Their offense puts you in a tough position because they spread you out. I thought our defensive intensity for the whole 40 minutes was excellent. They run their offense through Dialls, who is a really good player, and I thought Lance (Thomas) especially did a good job with him. (Dialls) didn't have an assist today and had four turnovers. That to us was the key in making them take their offense a little bit further so that their back-door cuts weren't on. They ran them well, but the ball was real high, and it's tough to make that pass when the ball is real high.”
On Eastern Kentucky's defense:
“I thought what they did defensively was really good too. They did some things within their zone that took away our penetration. After watching us in Maui, we penetrated so well, and that was a really good adjustment by their coaching staff. We had a hard time with that for a while until we started skip-passing. We weren't going to get all the way to the basket against them with wha t they were doing. It took us a while to adjust to that.”
On freshman Taylor King, who scored a team-high 27 points:
“The thing is, as well as he played offensively, he played defensively. He gave us a lift. If you watched the celebration in Maui after we won, it was really a neat thing. It was a happy, happy team and there was no kid who was happier than Taylor. And then the last couple of days in practice, he said “I'm going to work.” What a great attitude and what a great game he played. I'm really proud of him.”
On the depth and balance of the Blue Devils:
“We do have a lot of different guys, and we'd like to see them all play well at the same time. In Maui, all of them did, and that's how we beat Marquette and Illinois, especially. But it's a long season, and we still have a young team. To think that they're just going to be outstanding every game, it's just not going to happen. The thing that you hope is that when they struggle a little bit, they don't struggle on defense. That's why Taylor was so big today.”
On Duke's upcoming home game against Wisconsin:
“They'll be kind of knocked back with (Wisconsin's) size. They are really a big team. I say that, but it's not like they're big and slow either. They're big and mobile. They have a swing offense where the big guys come out, and that means that everyone has to be pretty good with the ball. The fact is, they have some older guys so they're accustomed to doing it. It's a different offense than what is run in our league and they run it well.”
Freshman Taylor King
On his performance today:
“Today I just felt like I needed to contribute as much as possible to the team, in as many minutes as I get. I knew we were going to come in and play good defense, and I thought we did that. I thought we struggled a little bit offensively, dribble-driving and penetrating. We couldn't really do that much against this team because they were a great defensive team. We just needed to drive and kick and I was open on the wings most of the team and fortunately I shot the ball well.”
“I thought that I got good open shots and felt like I played good defense. I thought my defense was pretty good and as a result my offense followed.”
On being in the zone:
“It was fun. My teammates got me open and that really helped. They definitely drove and kicked, and I was open for shots and knocked them down.”
On how a performance like his today will help his confidence:
“It can raise you up big-time. You need confidence to help you play better and I thought I did that. Especially coming off only playing two or three minutes in Maui, I thought I kept a good attitude and my teammates helped me out big-time. My coaches said, ?Just be ready to play,' and that's what I did.”
On the difference between his playing time today versus in Maui:
“It was just the way the game was going on. Guys were playing well ? Gerald (Henderson) and Kyle (Singler) played unbelievable out there. The whole team did. [Coach Mike Krzyzewski] went with the rotation that he did and I was just happy we won. That's all that matters.”
Senior DeMarcus Nelson
“Our defense was great today. We forced a lot of turnovers and really contested a lot. We knew that the key to [defending against] their offense was pressuring the guy at the top of the key. Lance [Thomas] and Taylor [King] and our bigs did a really good job of contesting that guy and putting ball pressure on him, which took away their back doors. And our wings really contested and took away their threes.”
“It was a total team effort today the way we played. We have a long season ahead of us, and it's going to take a total team effort for us to be as good as we can throughout the course of the year. We just have to take games like this and really strive to be even better. There are definitely some things offensively that we're going to look at and that we can do better.”
“We have a really good shooting team. Everyone can shoot the ball ? that's one of our strengths. We have big men that can shoot the three also, so we can overload the zone and invert those guys out onto the perimeter and get those guys shots.”
On the upcoming matchup with Wisconsin:
“They're a huge team and have a lot of size in the frontcourt and on the whole team. And they're a very physical team. Obviously, we know Wisconsin is a winning program and has a very good coach. I anticipate a really good battle.”
Eastern Kentucky Coach Jeff Neubauer
Opening Statement:
“First of all I'm really proud of my team. The way we played in the first half, even though the scoreboard only had 12 points for us, literally was as well as we can play right now at this point in the season. Our guys really did compete. For us to hold Duke to just 34 in the first half, especially with the pace of the game and with us having 18 turnovers in the first half... was very rewarding. Obviously they have a very talented team--- they're easily one of the five best teams in the country. I did love the way our team competed although the scoreboard was not what we wanted.”
On being a little overwhelmed by Duke's pressure:
“Last year we played Carolina in the first round of the NCAA Tournament. We were down 27 in the first half and then we came back and cut it to 48-44. I was really proud of how our team responded there. We didn't win that game either, but we certainly were overwhelmed in that game. This game it happened again but it didn't happen as quickly, it didn't happen at the very beginning of the first half. That's what we were pleased with. We were certainly overwhelmed--- their athleticism, their talent and then how hard they play is as good as any team in the country.”
On his offense being based on getting the open three and only getting 14 attempts today:
“All that credit goes to Duke's defense. We just took 38 threes in the game two games ago. We definitely want to shoot threes. I actually thought our guys made some good decisions where we got bad cuts and still found the opposite corner and we just didn't make them. Their defense is very impressive because they scramble so well. Once you maybe get them to help the next guy covers up for him and it's just over and over you can't get an open look. We are trying to shoot as many as we can this year before they move the line back and we just couldn't find them today.”
On thinking he could get some matchups when Duke spread out their defense:
“I don't think there were a whole lot of matchups that were good for us. We did hope to get behind them, get them back-door a little more but they're just so quick and athletic that they cover it up incredibly well. You can't make a pass to the wing because they're denying but then you go back-door and they cover that as well and you can't get them back-door.”
Players Mentioned
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