Quotes: West Virginia 73, Duke 67

Duke Podium

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Well, I want to congratulate West Virginia. Bob's been a great friend and he's one of the terrific coaches in our profession. His team played an outstanding game, especially on the boards.

I thought our team played really hard, but we did not especially defensively, but we didn't complete the defensive exchange. They got, what, 19 offensive rebounds. To me that was the story of the game is second and third chances.

The MVP of the game was Mazzulla. He nearly had a triple-double and played really strong and got them multiple exchanges on the offensive end.

In saying that, I'm proud of my guys. I love coaching these guys. I have great kids and they gave us a great season. It's tough to end on a loss, but the season was a really rewarding one and a happy one for me. I really loved working with these kids.

Q. Can you expound on the offensive rebounding, especially the undersized players were able to work hard and get those boards. Talk about what it is that makes them so good at that.

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: As opposed to the oversized players we have? It's two small teams. If we rebounded, we would have been the undersized that rebounded. We're both undersized.

GERALD HENDERSON: Like coach said, really it didn't come down to size, just about checking your guy out. We didn't do a good job of that tonight.

Q. Can you talk about what was going on the second half that seemed to be different than the first half. You seemed to have it going. From your viewpoint on the court what was going on as you were falling behind?

JON SCHEYER: You know, I think they came out really strong. Actually, I think both teams came out really strong in the second half. We had some good opportunities. We had some good looks in the beginning of the second half and they just didn't fall in.

There were a couple of plays where they ended up getting scores off of it and you could see their confidence built up a little bit. On the other hand, I think we weren't as patient as we were in the first half. We maybe forced some shots or went a little too quickly, but I think that's what happened.

Q. A lot have been calling Joe Alexander the best in the nation over the past couple of weeks. Can you expand on that, how hard was the match up against him today?

GERALD HENDERSON: Definitely, he's a heck of a player. In our preparation there was a lot of emphasis on keeping him from scoring. He ended up with 22 off of 22 shots, which that's not bad defense for us. That's how we look at that. But he can definitely score the ball.

Q. The second half they shot four of five from a long range. How were they able to get so many open looks from you guys?

JON SCHEYER: I think they got a lead on us, and at that point we started really trying to make something happen. They got into the lane. They had two or three guys on the perimeter that you pretty much can't leave, because if you do they'll knock down 3's.

For us, I think they got for the most part in the half court we did a pretty good job. But once we got behind we tried to gamble a little bit and they got in the lane and we over helped a little bit and they got some open looks.

Q. What was DeMarcus's physical state, he seemed sick the last couple of days, and what do you think he struggled with?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: I think he probably struggled with trying too hard. He's the only senior on our team and really one of the main reasons we've won 28 games this year. I think sometimes at the end a person who cares sometimes puts too much on themselves. I think the last couple of weeks I think he's done that.

It's just the fact that he's had a great year and he didn't have a real good game tonight or this afternoon. But the kid cares as much as he can. It's one of those things. I feel badly for him.

Q. Will you think about this one awhile; did you see this one coming? Was there any holdover from the Belmont game in the tournament earlier?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, I think you could see from our team starting the ballgame. We had a great day of practice yesterday, good meetings. We didn't put the ball in the basket. Like I thought we played better than a five point lead in the first half. And then we started the second half and we scored we had a break and we didn't get we missed an open three, could have gone up 12.

No matter how well or how hard you're playing, you've got to put the ball in the basket, and we didn't do that today. We had, I think, good looks, good things right around the basket. We didn't have real good finishes.

Our kids were really ready to play, the bench, the locker room. They're just real disappointed because it didn't translate into that type of into a winning performance. So I feel badly for them because they care a lot.

Q. From what you've seen of West Virginia early in the year, how much do you think they improved in the last few games?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: First of all, Bob, this is his first year there. I just think they know each other well now. Bob's system, he's got good players. They just looked very comfortable with one another.

Alexander, even though he took 22 shots to make 22 points, he puts a lot of pressure on you. He has that star quality that in certain exchange where you need to score, you need to get fouled or whatever, he can get you a shot and wants to do that.
And the rest of the guys are really good players. Ruoff hits open shots. The real story, though, is Mazzulla. That kid was fabulous. He looked like a mini Jason Kidd out there, getting rebounds and assists and points and toughness, not to overshadow other kids on their team. But the star on that court today was No. 3.

I told him that when we shook hands. To see a kid who doesn't start give that kind of performance in the NCAA Tournament is remarkable. That's what makes the tournament so good, too, you get to see these kids do that.

Q. From your point of view what was the difference between the first half and the second half going down the stretch?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: Not so much going down the stretch. They had two big 3's at the end of the shot clock when we had a six point lead. When we had the lead we had good opportunities to score and increase the lead. And if you don't, the other team feels like we've got a chance. You don't put that game pressure on them.

Ruoff's three at the end of the clock, there was a question of open looks, we didn't give hardly any open looks. They only hit four 3's, and one was falling away at the end of the shot clock. Our three point defense was great. But those two 3's were huge. It seemed to change the game, those two 3's changed the game. And we had open looks.

We rely on three point shooting, we're five for 22. Glad my guys took them and I didn't think they were bad, but we needed to shoot a better percentage and finish a little bit better.

Q. Did Mazzulla show up on tape; did you know what he was capable of and was he better than you thought?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, he's better than Bobby thought. Not to put words in his mouth or whatever.

No, we knew he was good, being more of a driver, tough, really good athlete, tough kid. But it seemed for awhile there he just got so many rebounds. Like if they played lacrosse, he'd be the guy on the faceoff, and whenever there was a loose ball or a scrum, all of a sudden, look, No. 3. And he was just the story. I think he's the difference maker in this game, there's no question about it.

Q. For all the disappointment today at losing, when you look back on the season will you think 28 and 6, that's a pretty good year for this team?

COACH KRZYZEWSKI: No, that's a great season. I told our kids afterwards, the last game, you always have to look at the full body of work. And this team was a lot of fun and great to work with, a young group. A little bit undersized sorry I know we look bigger than we actually are, but we had a great year. I'm proud of our guys. And we lost to a team that's playing really good basketball and is a good group of kids and played their butts off.

Duke Lockerroom

Dave McClure-Jr.?Guard/Forward

On the loss...
“They're a tough team, a strong team. You have to give them a lot of credit. I think at some point we stopped fighting and that is the most disappointing.”

On the play of Joe Alexander...
“He's a tough kid. He wants the ball and he wants to score. When you have a player like that he has the ultimate green light as well. Whenever he touches the ball you gotta expect him to shoot. I think overall we did a pretty good job on him. We got him to take some tough shots but we got dominated on the boards. “

Greg Paulus-Jr.-Guard

On the game today...
“It was tough. They deserve a lot of credit for it. They played good defense. Whenever we had a good look it just didn't seem to go down. Defensive rebounds played a part too. We didn't do a good job keeping them off the boards.”

On the closeness of the team...
“It's been a really tight team, a close team. The closest team I've been on in the years I've been here. We wanted to keep it going. We wanted to keep practicing and keep playing. We didn't want to go out this way. I'm going to miss DeMarcus. He has been great for us all year. A lot of guys coming back so hopefully we can remember this and not make it happen again.”

Nolan Smith-Fr.-Guard

On the future of this Duke team...
“The future looks bright. It'll be Greg's senior year. People really hit him hard his sophomore season so me and him are going to continue to work and make each other better. We're a young team so hopefully next year we'll definitely go further than we did this year.

On what Coach K said after the game...
“He told us we were a great team all year. To finish up 28-6 is great. He's proud of us, the coaching staff is proud of us. We worked hard all season long so it's tough for our coach to see his team go out like this. He told us to keep our heads up and look past this and get ready for another season next year.”

West Virginia Podium

Q. Can you talk about how you guys withstood the first run in the first half where you guys got in foul trouble and they were up 14-4.

JOE MAZZULLA: We knew Duke was a great team and we knew they were going to make great runs. We wanted to sustain their runs and answer back.

Going into halftime we were only down five, and we knew we could play a lot better than we did. We wanted to play our style of basketball the second half.

Q. Can you talk about the contribution that Cam gave to you guys there in the second half getting some rebounds and points?

ALEX RUOFF: I think it speaks for itself. You can tell he's a blue collar player. He doesn't mind getting in there and mixing it up. He had huge rebounds for us tonight which helped us. I think it speaks for itself.

Q. Alex's big 3 early in the second and then you came back with four. Talk about Alex's shot and what it did for you offensively.

JOE ALEXANDER: Well, that shot in particular was part of a run that helped give us a lot of momentum and a lot of confidence. But Alex's shooting all night was pretty much on point. He was really giving Duke a tough time. It made it easier for the rest of us to get in the lanes and get layups.

Q. Did you have any idea that you'd be coming in and contributing to such a big victory?

CAM THOROUGHMAN: No, not really. I really wanted to get the chance to go in. I'm just always ready.

Q. I know you were making a concerted effort to rebound the ball. Can you address how you hit the boards today.

Da'SEAN BUTLER: We noticed that Duke was, I can't say bad rebounding, but they gave a lot of offensive rebounds. And we kind of took advantage of it and Coach kind of talked to us about it yesterday and he said it's easy to offensive rebound against them. If we get there we should get the ball and score. All we have to do is take care of the ball and get the rebounds and score. Joe and Cam had really good minutes and Alexander was there all night. We just did it very well as a team, that's all I can say.

JOE ALEXANDER: If you want to understand how we are out rebounding people, just look at Joe Mazzulla and Cam Thoroughman, as examples, both undersized, both getting a lot of rebounds. The way we rebound is by outworking people.

Q. I don't know if you had a chance to follow the tournament, just curious of playing in the conference, did that help the team get ready for this time of year?

JOE ALEXANDER: Playing in the Big East tournament makes every tournament seem like nothing to you, really. Playing in the Big East every day gets you tougher and you play the best competition in the country. There's really nothing that you're afraid of and nothing that you're not ready to face.

And everybody saw that tonight as we played an ACC school, and not only held our own but went well beyond that.

Q. For any of you guys, did getting in foul trouble early affect the way you guys played the game throughout both halves?

ALEX RUOFF: I don't think our offense takes a step back. I know Darris got two quick fouls. When Joe comes in, even though he's a sophomore, he plays like an upperclassman. And towards the end of the first half most of us had two fouls and we were trying to play smart.

Q. Can you talk about the difference in your attack when you guys went to the three guards in the second half.

JOE MAZZULLA: We're a very dynamic team. I know they were keying on Alex, because he was a great shooter, so the lanes were open for penetration as well as kickouts. So when you have three guys in the game it gives us a different attack.

Q. Were you making any extra effort to be more aggressive, you took more shots in the first was it something you worked on?

JOE ALEXANDER: It was just kind of the mindset I was in. In a big game you always want to step up and be aggressive, and that's what I wanted to do. I didn't think I was taking bad shots, but it was a huge game and I wanted to win, I wanted to step up and be more aggressive than usual.

Q. The way Duke plays stylistically, did you feel in some ways you were playing your old selves, a perimeter oriented team, likes to shoot the three, more of an outside in team?

ALEX RUOFF: We matched up well. We started off the game with Wellington, and had good match ups. We wanted to get to I think our attack, if it differs in any way, we like to go inside first with Joe's presence inside.

Q. Playing in the Big East you guys have obviously played a lot of quality opponents. Where does this Duke team rank in the quality of opponents you played this year?

JOE ALEXANDER: Duke's a great team, but I think they fit in well in the Big East, but they definitely wouldn't dominate the Big East. We had a lot of great teams, I think the top six or seven teams are definitely right on par with Duke in the Big East. And the rest of them are right up there, too.

Q. The shot that you hit, the three pointer as the shot clock was expiring, what did that do for you, for your confidence and for your teammates' confidence?

ALEX RUOFF: It was just an answer to a prayer. I knew the clock was going down. Joe lost his dribble. That's all it was was just an answer to a prayer. It just happened to be my first three, but I'm very thankful it went in.

Q. Could you address the success of the Big East in the tournament. Also there was a moment where you hugged Mike, what did you say to each other?

COACH HUGGINS: I don't remember what we said. The Big East is a great league. When you've got schools with the tradition that schools have and schools with the players that there are in the Big East, it's a great, great league. I think it probably does help you prepare for NCAA Tournament, and NCAA Tournament runs.

Q. Coach, did you have any sense before the game that Joe Mazzulla was going to have the impact he did, and was capable of having the kind of impact he did?

COACH HUGGINS: I knew they were. I think Duke does as good a job of putting pressure on the ball as anybody does. They try to take you out of what you want to run. Joe's our best guy at just straight lining, driving the ball to the goal.
So I didn't know he would play as well as he played, but I thought that he had a chance to relieve some of the pressure and drive it at the basket just because of his style of play.

Q. You've had a lot of big wins, but coming back to your alma mater, taking them to the Sweet 16 and beating Duke, I wonder where this ranks among your victories?

COACH HUGGINS: I don't know. I'm really happy for our guys. Two weeks ago Cam Thoroughman really thought about having surgery. And I said to him, If you can go, man, we need you. And that's the kind of guys that they have. I'm happy for them. I'm happy for Darris and happy for Jamie. Jamie texted me last night and said, Coach, he said, it's a better match up if I don't start.

How many teams have guys like that? Here's a senior guy who said basically, Coach, I just know it's a bad match up for me. And he started every game of the year. So I'm happy for them. I'm really, really happy for them. Certainly I'm happy for the University and you know more than most people how much this means to our state.

Q. What was the difference in the first half and the second half in keeping Duke out of the lane and cutting the penetration down a little bit?

COACH HUGGINS: We changed some things defensively. We didn't do a very good job keeping them out of the lane either half. That's what they do to everybody. That's why they're so good. But we made some subtle changes, but really, not that much.

I think it was just a matter of we maybe did a little bit better job of trying to guard the ball than what we did the first half.

Q. You held them to five and 22 from the three point range. Talk about containing them.

COACH HUGGINS: Larry Harrison and our scout and four of their five losses they held under eight 3's, and we thought that was key. One loss they had 15. We thought it was the key how many 3's they get off.
The thing they do so great, and Mike has done such a great job over the years and they do make 3's, and they get to the foul line more than their opposition does. When you make the 3's and you get people spread, then their drivers can drive the ball at the basket. You have to pick your boys, and we really wanted to do a better job not letting them score from behind the three.

Q. Coach, watching the Belmont game the other night did you get the sense that if you wanted a back door player at some point in the game it might be there for you because of what Belmont was able to do against them?

COACH HUGGINS: It's what they are able to do. It's not backcutting them, it's handling the ball pressure. They have great ball pressure. They have better ball pressure, probably than anybody in the country. We just tried to stress having ball toughness.

But honestly, I think it helps because that's what we do in practice every day. So we kind of face it probably a little bit more than what some other people do. Darris Nichols is used to having Joe Mazzulla up in his grill in practice. That's why they're so good. That's why Mike's probably the best modern day coach that we have is they do a great job.

Q. Really a great story, you talked about it a little bit. Can you expand on the Cam Thoroughman thing? He'd only played 14 ballgames for you, he had foul trouble, talk about your decision to utilize him and the major minutes he gave you.

COACH HUGGINS: I was out of options. It's not very smart, I was just out of options. Cam's knee has popped out two or three times. He's going to have to have surgery to get it fixed. But we felt like there may be a time when we could use him because he is physical and he's aggressive and he does, for being such a short guy that can't jump, he does rebound the ball pretty well.

We had Da'Sean and Wellington on the bench with four fouls. We were already small, we were already playing three guards. We thought Cam Cam's smart. He really, really understands how to play. I think that's his greatest asset, is he really has good basketball knowledge. You can tell him things, you can make adjustments with him because he really does understand how to play.

West Virginia Lockerroom

Wellington Smith-So.-Forward

On what it means to beat programs like Duke and Arizona...
“It's just a whole bunch of confidence for our team. Guys didn't play well but at least we won the game. Just confidence wise, if we can beat Duke and Arizona...teams we were supposed to not beat according to SportsCenter and all those other places. I think we can beat anybody. We are a team to be reckoned with.

On going to Phoenix and knowing there is more basketball ahead...
“Oh yeah, it feels great. Obviously, we love the sport and our team loves the sport. We're just shocking the world. We love doing stuff like that obviously.

On conditioning being a factor in the game...
“We go three hours a day no matter what before a game, after a game it obviously shows. Joe Mazzulla and Cam (Cameron Price), their names were going to be called today and those guys really stepped up. Mazzulla had a triple-double...just being aggressive knowing what's ahead of you and having a goal and trying to accomplish it.”

Quotes: West Virginia 73, Duke 67

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Quotes: West Virginia 73, Duke 67

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