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Quotes: Duke 74, Temple 64
1/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski
We feel really good about the win. We had some adversity during the last 28 hours with injuries, so we had a real small team. We're not that big anyway, but our two tallest players are out. Collectively I thought we played well. We played really well defensively. Our freshman class did a really good job. Taylor King gave us a huge lift. Nolan Smith looked like a true basketball player out on the court. And Kyle... made a save like in soccer. He just dove right across the floor. I thought that was one of the big plays in the game. He basically just extended his body and he took the lay up away. We have a lot of respect for Temple. We knew at halftime Christmas was not going to just go 0-for. And he comes out and hits six straight shots, three threes, then we foul him and he hits three free throws. I thought when he hit like that, and we couldn't score because of their defense, they felt that confidence. And actually Tyndale and Christmas can do that for their team. When they get going they bring everybody forward. When it got down to eight, Jon hit a couple free throws, a big three, and a layup for five points that got us from eight to about fourteen, fifteen during that time. So we feel really good about the win.
On young players developing
This is a good game for our team because we are still very young, DeMarcus being the only senior...Our three freshman played pretty well tonight...but you get into these situations, and until you're in it, in my career it doesn't happen to you very often, but those eight minutes can happen to any team. They play good defense, the crowd is into it, and you just can't seem to hit a basket...All of a sudden you're wondering if you're going to score.
On Gerald Henderson returning home
Obviously Gerald will have better games other than tonight...I thought he wasn't in sync. He's been a terrific player for us this year. However, in the second half I thought he made some great defensive plays for us....The main thing when you come home is if you win, and I know he's happy about that.
On where the team is at this point in the season
I'd like to be healthier going into the ACC. Our kids are in shape, they play well.... They're a real together group. We're not a real strong, physical team, so we have to shoot the ball, play collective defense, and the big guys that we have, have to get healthy.
On how they prepared for Dionte Christmas
Christmas is a kid who really loves the game. He doesn't get knocked back. He didn't have a really good first half. But I told my staff the kid is going to get 20 on us in the second half...I really like him because he plays with a verve, and that's what they're team needs. Any team needs that. He's a kid that I think most coaches would like to have on their team.
Temple Coach Fran Dunphy
On His Teams' Play
"I thought we had different attempts at the rim in the first half, and against a team like Duke we can't just give up those opportunities. You can't be down 16 at the half and expect to make your run and be right where you want to be. It was nice that we hustled and we hung in there and cut it to 8. We have to pay more attention to detail and when we get it to he basket, we gotta finish it. We didn't shoot particular well at the foul-line either. , Against this caliber a team, you need to be almost flawless."
What He Was Happy With
"Pleased with the defense for the most part, two just fantastic threes by Taylor King at the start of the half, but for the most part our defense was OK."
On Playing Duke
“It's a tremendous opportunity for us. I would like to play them as many times as they would like to play us wherever they would like to play. It's a quality program with great players and a great coach and there is a nice feeling in the building when you play them. I'm not adverse to telling you it's an honor to play them.”
Duke's Scoring Drought
“They are a very good defensive basketball team. We have to do a better job of playing attention to detail. There were a number of opportunities in the second half to cut that lead down some more. We didn't run a good offense in the first half. We got out of sorts in the first half, doing some things that we can't do, threading needle on passes, that's not our game.”
Allen's Play
“I was disappointed in his one foul in first half and I kinda let him have it, because he's too a person and too good a player to do that.... Just relax, you don't need to anything more than get your arms up and get a defensive rebound.”
“Lavoy for a lot of years was a guy who would defer to others on his team. He's gottta get out of that. We need him really be a terrific player.”
On Dionte's Play
“He did not have a good first half. He tried to force a few things. He was out of sorts a bit in that first half, but he really rallied and put us on his back in the second half and he gave us a chance to cut it to eight points.”
Players Mentioned
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