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Postgame Quotes: Duke 95, Duquesne 72
11/28/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening statement:
“I thought we were making the extra pass very well today. Our lead is a result of Duke scoring, and not a certain player scoring, and that's when it's always the best. It's when you don't even know who scored, just that we scored. We had 21 assists so we obviously shared the ball very well, which is something we've been working on.”
On the Duke defense:
“We did a good job once we stopped their initial thrust and guys started anticipating the passing lanes better. You could almost hear us talking well and playing as one on defense, where a couple of our breakaways were a result of our defense. Although we had about a 20 point lead at one point, our defense gave us the bigger lead and made it difficult for them to score. I thought our guys played real hard, because Duquesne is going to play hard.”
On the play of Duquesne:
“They came in 4-0, and Ron [Everhart] does a great job. He's building a program there, and they have high standards of how hard they play. It was a real pleasure to play against them. We were ready to play, which shows ultimate respect for your opponent.”
On the play thus far of Kyle Singler:
“I think he is playing great. I'm not sure there's a kid playing in the country who loves to play more than that kid. He has so much fun playing, and he made a play at the start of the second half that was one of the best plays I've seen in years. There was a scrum of a few rebounds, and all of a sudden he came in there with two hands, got the rebound and was fouled. It was a big-time play. You don't see a play like that. And the kid loves to play. It's such an honor to coach that kid.”
On the upcoming road games against Purdue and
“It's a great week for us, to go to two established programs on their home courts. Purdue is, I think, the best in the Big Ten, and probably one of the five or six top teams in the country. You know their crowd will make a great setting for us. We have such an opportunity to grow.
Duke Junior Gerald Henderson
On where Duke is heading into their first real road game of the season at Purdue on Dec. 2:
“I think we're in a good spot. Guys are ready to play in big games. Up to this point, different guys have contributed in a whole bunch of different ways. I think we're ready to take on bigger challenges.”
On Lance Thomas' ability to work his way into open passing lanes:
“In our offense, a lot of opponents like to stop what we're doing on the perimeter, and [Lance Thomas] just plays off what we're doing. A lot of times, our bigs are going to be open, and with his ability to run and beat his man down the court, he was able to get a few open layups. He embraces that role; he knows that's how he's going to score, and he does that every night.”
On Brian Zoubek's coast-to-coast steal and layup:
“That was the funniest thing I've ever seen in my life. First off, you don't see Zoubs [Brian Zoubek] all the way out there contesting a whole lot, but then he got the steal and he finished it with the butter roll, and that was nice. I've never seen that from Zoubs. It was pretty impressive.”
On Duquesne's ability to outrebound Duke:
“With their offense, they're really spread, which means equal opportunity rebounds. Everybody's not directly in the lane ready to grab it, so you've got to go get it. We didn't do as great of a job of boxing them out and pursuing the basketball as we would have liked.”
Duke Junior Martynas Pocius
On what's factored in to Brian Zoubek's development:
“It's definitely working extra, whether it's in practice or after practice, and it's really helped him. Having a couple good games gives them a lot of confidence, especially Brian. He's at the top of his game right now, and he's playing his basketball.”
On how the improved play of Lance Thomas and Brian Zoubek on the inside has helped Duke on the perimeter:
“When big guys like Lance [Thomas] run the floor really hard, it spreads the offense and it makes it easier for guards on the perimeter to drive. Whether it's driving, or driving and kicking, it really helps our offense by spreading everyone out.”
On having senior captain Greg Paulus back on the floor after missing the last game with an injury:
“Absolutely, he's our leader. When he's out there, you can really tell the difference. We need him, whether he's 100 percent or 50 percent. He's just that guy who's been around, and I think we really need him.”
On how the Blue Devils feel about where they are at this point in the season:
“I think we're definitely happy with being 7-0, but now we've got a couple really big games coming up. We just want to keep building on what we have and not let up. Hopefully we can bring our best basketball next week, and then just go from there.”
Duke Sophomore Nolan Smith
On Duke's play against Duquesne today:
“We came out today and played with excitement from the jump. We knew today was going to be a big game going into next week's game, so we just wanted to set the momentum going into next week. I'm proud of our effort today.”
On the play of Lance Thomas and Kyle Singler:
“Lance [Thomas] is just doing whatever he can to get his hands on rebounds. The way he's running the floor, he's probably one of our best athletes on the team. He and Kyle [Singler], you put them with any point guard in the country and I'm sure they can run with them. Both of them can run, and they can run with the guards all day. They're both athletic and can give other big men problems running the floor.”
On how he feels running the point this year:
“I'm very comfortable now. Having the ball in my hands now is something I'm used to. Last year, I was learning the position, and this year, I feel like I know the position and the offense like the back of my hand. I know what to call and who to get the ball to, and I feel good when I'm out there.”
Duquesne Sophomore Damian Sanders
On playing in the atmosphere at Duke:
“It was a great learning experience as far as competition. We're still young so we still have to work on a lot of things like going to get the ball on the rebound, working under pressure on offense and little stuff like that in practice. It's a great experience for us for teams that we have coming up.”
On teammates' poise during the game:
“I think they handled it real well. Towards the beginning I think the pressure really got to them with playing Duke. But when we got to the locker room and coach talked to us and settled us down a little bit, I really think they handled it well.
Duquesne Head Coach Ron Everhart
Opening comments on game:
“I guess my only thought coming in was that this game would be great for us one way or the other. Coach K and I got a chance to talk briefly before the game and I thanked him for giving us the opportunity to come here and play because I think for our team with only one upperclassman we have to be almost the youngest team in the country or something like that. I thought it would be really good for us to come here and have to handle this type of adversity. I don't mean the environment and all that, I just mean the way Duke plays defense. It's amazing to me, and has been over the years, how the Duke kids understand how to play so hard. We've always tried to hang our hat on that at Duquesne and just from an effort perspective it's amazing to see in person what you see on television in terms of intensity level of the Duke basketball team. I just hope one day before the season's over with the youth that we have on our club that we can get close to that in terms of effort on every play. In saying that, I think it's great for our team to see that first hand because that can't do anything but get us better down the stretch this year. We talked before we left the locker room about trying to win a game like this in our league in February and hopefully a game like this right now can help us do that.”
On Duquesne's level of intensity:
“We played hard. I don't think there was a situation where we didn't give effort, I just think it was the fact that for the first time this year we didn't shoot the ball well from the three and we missed some pretty good looks, especially early in the game. But at the same time [Greg] Paulus, [Kyle] Singler and [Jon]Scheyer, all three of those guys, in that run in the first half knocked down some big key shots and [Nolan] Smith did as well. I don't know whether it was 14-1 or 14-2 but that big run in the first half really bothered us. They shot the ball well and you have to give those kids credit.”
On the offensive rebounding of his team:
“I thought that our guys listened a little bit at halftime because I thought early in the game the Duke kids went after us instead of the ball like they're taught to do and they did it with a ferociousness that we hadn't seen before. I was very excited by the fact that our kids saw that and maybe learned from it and came out and tried to match that type of intensity in the second half. We really didn't have a choice. We were missing some open shots and we had to find a way to go get it and I was excited about the way our guys responded in that area, especially late in the game.”
On having Damian Sanders bring the ball up the court:
“We thought that they might take away our guard to guard entry on our fast break because we like to run the fast break on a made basket. Unfortunately there were a lot of makes on Duke's end today so we got a lot of practice with it. We thought that if they took that away we'd give it to Damian and allow him to handle it against one of the bigger guys. Duke though really gave us problems in the half court defensively. Those guys really got out and guarded the ball and they locked us up early and I don't think our kids responded real well. That's just a real credit to the defensive intensity they bring to the game every day.”
Players Mentioned
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