Quotes: Duke 86, Virginia 70

Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Opening Remarks:
“I was proud of our team tonight. They really prepared hard for this game, and we had a lot of energy even at the shootaround today because we knew that Virginia was playing it's best basketball of the season. To their credit, in the last two weeks they could be undefeated ? the games were close, one possession games. And they have missed Lars Mikalauskas for the major portion of the ACC season. It was a big win for our basketball team. Our kids have been terrific all year, and they came to play tonight. I thought we played our zone tonight real well in the first half, and that helped us. I thought in the last 10 minutes of the game we had a smaller line-up in there, and we were able to lengthen the lead. They would have been at a double-bonus so early because they had been putting so much pressure on us we had to try and manage the game and not let them shoot free-throws against us. Our kids did a great job of that and we have to be really pleased to come in here and win by double figures ? it is a huge win for us.”

On how Duke's offensive rebounding helped extend their lead:
“A couple kids really made big plays because we had our perimeter in. Jon Scheyer and Gerald Henderson made tremendous baskets on offensive boards. When you get offensive rebound baskets, it gives you energy and knocks some energy out of the other team, because you feel like you have played good defense, and we had, and then all of a sudden we get it and we score.”

On playing zone in this game:
“Practice experience is one thing, but to have game experience is another. They actually put four perimeter guys in, and were overloading with Adrian Joseph in the corner. So they did some nice things against it. And we were lucky they missed some shots, you have to be a little bit lucky when you are [playing zone]. I thought what they did was very well conceived, they just missed a few shots. We must have played around eight minutes of zone in the first half, and then in the second half I thought we should not have started with zone because that is not who we are.”

On three-point shooting and first half scoring:
“As much as we were scoring, they were. It was ?you score, we will score' and that is why I called the time-out right away to say we have to play defense because these guys can score. We were lucky that none of their other players got hot tonight. Their team can shoot the ball. Kids are emerging for them ? they have a number of guys that are capable of big nights ? we were fortunate none of them had that today. I was really concerned [about Sean Singletary's 9 points in the first 6 minutes]. That was one of the reasons we ended up going zone to try to stop him. He is so good, and so fast. I told him congratulations. This ACC tournament is going to be wide open. The separation record-wise between the top two or three teams and the bottom two or three is not much ? the least I have seen probably in my 28 years.”

Forward Kyle Singler

On Duke losing at Virginia last season:
“I think I was at high school practice when that happened last year. We knew that we had a fight from them last year, we just wanted to come in here and get a win and continue to play well and go after an ACC championship.”

Guard Jon Scheyer

On why Duke went to a zone with 5 minutes left in the first half:
“We just thought that we could switch it up with the guys we had on the court. (Sean) Singletary is a very good player, and one of the best guards in the country. It didn't really have anything to do with him driving and kicking it out, we just wanted (DeMarcus) Nelson do be able to shut him down.

Guard Greg Paulus

On going into the UNC game tied for first place in the ACC:
“I probably wont watch TV for the next few days. It's exciting and its March, a great time for basketball. It's a great opportunity to get a chance to play against a terrific team and a quality program with a great tradition.”

Virginia Coach Dave Leitao

Opening remarks:
“I thought coming in that when you play not a good, but an excellent, team that you have to play virtually possession for possession and mistake free. Which for every team is very hard to do. I thought we came out with the right kind of attitude, that we needed to attack and play aggressively on defense. Obviously once they switched to a zone and kept Sean Singletary from penetrating up top, it put the onus on everybody else to be more aggressive and what has happened to us on different occasions is we get a little bit passive on that side of the floor, stop attacking the middle of the zone and get back on our heels which is what happened and gave them a double figure lead before halftime. I think what we do and do not do, it is always on the defensive end. For about 30 minutes I do not think we had the kind of defensive aggression to make the proper rotations quicker, and switch better. We got caught not communicating and that is a byproduct of a lack of aggression on our part from an attitude standpoind. Good teams like Duke exploit it, they would not let us come back ? they spread us out and attacked us on the dribble. They are one of the best drive-and-kick teams in college basketball that I have seen in a real long time. With a small line-up ? five guys that think as perimeter players and really share the basketball. That is kind of the story of it is disappointing, and we have to be able to regroup.”

On Duke as one the best offensive teams in the country:
“As part of our pregame preparation we talked about taking it from TV timeout to TV timeout. Their mindset never changes. If you watch them during the year, they could be down 18 to Miami, they could be up 20 at home to St. John's, they play the same way mentally. It becomes harder for us to make that fourth and fifth stop because they just keep playing through it. The only way that teams have been able to be successful is they play the same kind of aggressive offense and try to keep the games as close as you can.”

On Duke's zone defense:
“It is a little unconventional, they went to it with seven or eight minutes to go to spread us out and obviously we had four or five straight possessions we did not rebound. When you have a window of opportunity, you have to be darn near perfect with it. You might, against another team in another instance get through a stretch where you do not rebound the basketball and still be OK, but not with this team. They are too good.”