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Quotes: Michigan 81, Duke 73
12/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Quotes
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On the game in general
"The crowd was fantastic. It was a game we were really worried about. Coming off Purdue late, it's a tough week for us and we didn't handle it in a mature way. We didn't have energy. For us, it's a tough academic week, it's not an excuse, we should be better. We didn't talk, we didn't have expressions on our faces, and the kids from Michigan were very animated and were good. They were really, really good, they deserve to win. We have to play better than that no matter what's happening. So again, congratulations to them.
"I don't want to take away from their great effort. They played a fabulous game, they made pressure shots, those kids played their hearts out. I think they played harder than we did, we wanted it, I'm not saying our kids didn't want it but they really played hard and well and they deserved the victory."
On not handling a tough week maturely with a veteran team
"This is an unusual situation in that you have two really tough road games in that week before exams. The week before exams for us is harder than exam week just because of all the stuff they have to do with their papers and projects and we talked about that. We limited practice time and things like that. We were tired ... this is not the Duke team that we've had and Michigan had a lot do with that because they were ready to play. If the other team doesn't come ready to play you can get by, but those kids from Michigan played really hard. (DeShawn) Sims had a heck of a game, and (Kelvin) Grady in the second half was very good with the ball. They have good players, they're well-coached. You gotta play well to win and we didn't play as well as we think we could have."
On their second half runs
"Playing at home helps I really think. We're up 44-40, and we missed the defensive assignments and threw the ball away. And we were up 53-50. We did switch twice in the first half and we scored six points and at that point it was an easy switch and we didn't switch becasue we didn't talk. And (Zack) Novak hit a three and we lost in the transition. To me, those two three's really turned. When you're playing like we are, when you get a lead, that's where I'm talking about maturity, no matter what's happened you say, 'That's it, we got it, we got the lead, we need a stop.' There wasn't that type of energy in our group. This was a team effort by Michigan with their coaching staff, their players and their fans, they combined to have a great afternoon."
On DeShawn Sims' game
"He just played really well. He played with a lot of maturity. I thought a couple of his rebounds in the first half were huge for them. He scored, and that was obvious, but he came up with some big-time rebounds and a couple really nice passes which is not something he's been doing as well. He played a heck of a game."
On their 7-of-33 three-point shooting
"I just think it's nine games into the season, it's December 6 and overall we've played really well, but we didn't play well today. So let's take exams, come back in about 10 days, play two more games. This is a long season, it's a long, long season and these games help, win or lose. These two games we played this week really helped us."
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