Quotes: Duke 49, Rutgers 44

Duke Coach Joanne P. McCallie

On her impression of Duke's performance against Rutgers:
It was a very physical game. I loved the defense played on the floor and the scrappiness of our team and their grit. It was really fun to watch the time and score plays down the stretch in terms of the rebounds and hustle plays. I thought everybody here contributed, and it was a great team effort. I thought (Jasmine Thomas) really changed her speed and did some nice things throughout the game, which is hard in a game like this. I think Carrem (Gay) was really focused and sharp. She did some very nice things offensively, but for us, it was her defensive adjustments that were critical. I thought Chante (Black) was steady as ever, and I thought Abby (Waner) held her composure when she got in foul trouble and had to wait to participate and do her thing. I thought she was focused after having to spend a lot of time waiting for that opportunity.

On Duke's scrappiness and grit displayed against Rutgers:
"(The scrappiness and grit) has been there, it just hasn't been there consistently. It's a learning process. I think this team works hard and is figuring stuff out. I think those things just show when you work hard and stay focused, and that's what we did tonight. This team stayed together. It wasn't exactly a banner start to the game, but it doesn't really matter because we stayed in the moment and stayed together. I just know the team's been working hard and we're getting better. You can't just be so outcome-driven all the time. Sometimes you just have to take care of stuff in the moment and let things happen, and that's what we're trying to do."

On the play of sophomore Keturah Jackson:
"KJ is a special person. She works really hard and can do a lot of different things for us, but I guess what I remember is her slashing in the middle and putting the ball in quickly upon returning to the game. She gave our team an enormous lift. It's funny how those little things matter. Defensively, she gives us a lot of confidence because she works hard and uses her athleticism well. I was really happy for her because last game out she didn't get a lot of minutes, and she didn't whine and complain. She came out to practice and she played hard and had a great look. Tonight she played 17 minutes and really made a statement about her toughness, and I'm really impressed with it."

On the difference between her team's performance against Penn State and their performance tonight against Rutgers:
"That is so easy to answer. This team played defense."

Sophomore Joy Cheek:

On being in the starting lineup tonight:
“I think like any time your coach feels that you should start the game you feel like hard work paid off. She [Coach Joanne P. McCallie] thought I brought energy to the team so I just wanted to make sure I continue to bring energy to the team, get my rebounds, make my shots and take care of the ball.”

On how this victory felt after losing to Rutgers to end the season last year:
“I was just sitting there and we were cheering--- I was like ?this feels so good.' We really needed this to give us a boost. We've got a lot of momentum for the next game but we really needed this win. It really showed that we worked on our defense--- the past few games we've been getting beat. Transition, on-ball defense, help side--- I think tonight we really showed that we can run this matchup zone and that we can play this man-to-man.”

On how important it was to get a win tonight after three straight losses away from home:
“We had a long stretch of away games so it was good to come home, play in front of our crowd, build up our confidence some and get a win.”

Sophomore Keturah Jackson:

On playing an important role in the game tonight, especially in the end with her timeout call after a loose ball and free throws:
“It felt like something that I should've been doing. I work hard, my teammates had the faith in me and I just wanted to be there to help finish the game and close out the game because we had been working really hard."

On how this win felt after losing to Rutgers to end the season last year:
“I don't think it was so much about last year's loss but more about how we've started off this year. We know that we're capable of playing better and to be home we felt like it was the perfect environment for us to show our talent and show the defense that we really can play - the discipline on defense and rebounding. We were just focused on coming out, playing our game and making the adjustments that we hadn't made so far in the season.”

On the difference between tonight's win and the losses in the last three games:
“It was definitely our defense - specifically guard penetration. We did more drills in practice this week focusing on guard penetration and help side defense. If we cut out guard penetration that pretty much eliminates help side. We focused more on that, we focused on keeping our defense tight so it's definitely defensive intensity and rebounding.”

Freshman Guard Jasmine Thomas

On her first start:
“It was exciting but I've been getting prepared for every game. The way Coach P has been rotating me in made it feel like any other game for me. I just came in and stayed relaxed and tried to do what I've done in every other game.”

On the first half and not quite breaking through:
“It was never really frustrating, you just have to take your time and be patient. We got good shots, but they weren't falling for us. We had to slow down, concentrate and let the game come to us instead of forcing things.”

Junior Forward Carrem Gay

On her free throws in the final seconds and last year's end:
“I didn't think about last March at all. It was just a regular free throw. We practice free throws in practice, so that free throws in games are just free throws. It doesn't matter who shot them before.”

Junior Forward Chante Black

On switching to zone:
“We've been practicing and focusing on defense. We were able to take away their penetration and keep Kia [Vaughn] from getting the ball. We were able to execute our defense very well and got some stops.”

Junior Guard Abby Waner

On the final five minutes and the determination:
“That just was focus. If we would have lost by two points, it would have been frustrating knowing that the put back off Kia [Vaughn]'s missed free throw was a basket that should have been a rebound for us. It's little things like that we're going to have to focus on and put everything together. I had faith in this team the entire game. We stuck in there when we were down in the beginning and we came back in the end.”

On the emotion after the game:
“We needed this game to get us on a roll. Obviously we've had a rough stretch, we've been through a lot and we've been learning and growing from it. The best thing was that it was on our home court and we got to celebrate with our fans here. We're going to enjoy it tonight, but we're moving on tomorrow and preparing for our game on Saturday.”

Rutgers Coach C. Vivian Stringer

Opening Statement:
“I thought Duke played well. They played inspired and they were aggressive going to the boards. They played well as a team and they looked for each other. We seemed somewhat lackadaisical and a little bit slow and just out of sync. No team can have three starters shooting two-for-nine or two-for-10 in the center. It's not to take away anything from Duke; I thought they played well and they played smart. With the balls that were loose, they wanted them more. I thought Chante Black did an excellent job of intimidating because we did not stay focused with the shots we had. Hats off to Duke; I hope this is what they need to inspire them to go on and be the team that they are capable of being. Clearly, they have a lot of great players, and as I told Coach McCallie before the game, I thought they would find what it was that was missing and unfortunately they found it on our backs.”

On what led her to take out the starters:
“Winning games doesn't mean that much to me. If we aren't doing the things we're supposed to do, I will take out everybody and I'll take a loss. You can't have your hands tied. We lost a lot of sense of what we were doing, offensively and defensively. Here, it doesn't matter that Duke has lost three games and it doesn't matter what Duke looks like because they are great players and they have a lot of pride and they play with that, and they play together. We were not communicating nearly as much as we needed to and we were a second late on everything. We should have been doubling and we forgot half the time. There seemed to be miscues. We've played in front of great crowds but I think sometimes the sound here can make you think that you're down by more than what you are. I think Duke really wanted it more and I think for some reason we made excuses for ourselves. We had no excuse and we just weren't as tough as we needed to be and we deserved to lose.”

On what she learned about her second team:
“I thought they came in and they worked hard; I wasn't surprised at anything. They were frustrated with what they saw. We took breaks on plays. You can't take a break on a play with Duke. We looked like we were tired, so why not give a break? They did their best. Whoever you are, it's your responsibility to be the best player that you can be. You might not be the tallest player or the quickest player but I recognize when I'm getting the greatest effort. I felt that the second group was doing the best they could and that's why they stayed in as long as they did.”

Sophomore Center Rashidat Junaid

On the second team going into the game:
“What was going through my mind was that we just had to go out there and play with confidence. We play against the starting five every day in practice. We wanted to go out there and play like that.”

Senior Guard/Forward Essence Carson

On the second team:
“They did a great job. They handled their own and did what they were supposed to do. They went in there and got some stops and they hit the boards and played together. We couldn't ask for anything more from them. It was a move that Coach Stringer had to make. We weren't doing our jobs and we weren't getting stops and rebounds like we were supposed to. The other group went in and showed us what was supposed to be done.”

On what she learned from tonight's game:
“We have to play together. We have to let the game flow and we can't let our offense become stagnant. We have to commit ourselves to defense on every play and not take breaks.”

On the emotion that Duke played with in the second half:
“You could see it in the first half. They came out to play and they came to win. Just the way they were diving after balls and going after rebounds, no matter what shot went up, everybody was in there crashing the boards and that just shows their will and determination.”

Sophomore Guard Epiphany Price

On the troubles that Duke's zone gave them:
“In the beginning we were attacking them, but when they went zone, we started settling for jump shots. We weren't penetrating through the gaps and we were relying on our outside shots.”