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Men's Basketball
vs Texas
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Quotes: Duke 128, Pfeiffer 70
10/24/2009 9:15:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening statement:
“We are pleased with the game. We are a much more talented team, but playing against that style is one of the reasons we wanted to play against them. Especially for the first 20 minutes because they push the ball down the court so much and they can hit threes and they can dribble penetrate. That's something that's good for us to practice against and I thought for the 20 minutes we did an especially good job because they keep playing hard. We got a little sloppy in the second half, but overall I was really pleased and nobody got hurt. That's the big thing for me. I thought overall we looked good. All three of the freshmen did a great job.”
On football team's win:
“I want to congratulate our football team. It was so cool. I was recruiting so I couldn't go to the game, but we were getting updates. For Coach [Cutcliffe] and his whole program to win two in a row and be 4-3 and all that good stuff is so good. I'm really happy for them.”
Update on Lance Thomas:
“Lance has been really sick for the last few days. Today he feels really good and we just said we have tomorrow off so let's just start Monday and get going. The couple practices that he's missed we really have missed him because he gives us such energy.”
On playing an early exhibition game:
“One of the reasons we played such an early exhibition game was because of parents weekend so parents can come and sit where the students sit. They yell because of how high the tuition is. Our team just looked at is just cheering for them.”
On the play from the three freshmen:
“All three of them are good players. Mason [Plume] has a double double. When he learns to play with the physicality that you can play-and that's the biggest adjustment for a big guy- he could have a real monster game. He was 3-for-9 in the first half and four of them were close shots. Ryan [Kelly] is just a poised player. He's just a really good player. As well as he shoots the ball, he had five assists and no turnovers so he's a guy flashing against the press. And then we've been working on our high-low action. We haven't gone into the post for a few years, since Shelden [Williams]. And so I thought that was a good thing for us. Even though they're so small, just the fact that we got balance and made good passes in there. Andre [Dawkins] can be a very explosive player for us. They're three very good freshmen.”
On the chemistry of Miles and Mason Plumlee:
“I think as they grow and achieve together it will be even better. They're still young. Miles I thought played so strong. He's done that all preseason so far. A huge shot for him and for Ryan Kelly is four assists and no turnovers and five assists and no turnovers. Miles if you looked up last year at any practice that we had would have maybe no assists and six turnovers, one assist and five turnovers, that type of stuff. That's the kind of thing I look for because our big guys do touch the ball and they have to make plays, so that was very good.”
On Nolan Smith's aggressive play:
“I think it's a continuation of the end of last year. Nolan's a natural scorer and he's the one guy on our team who can break people down. And if he gets it early in the offense he can create some plays for us. He can definitely bring it up. He and Jon [Scheyer] are good ball handlers. They're no flashy ball handlers, but they're good ball handlers.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“It's a good first step. We have a lot to improve on, but overall I think we did a good job. Obviously we need to take care of the ball more, make a few extra passes, and defensively we need to get a lot better. But overall it was a good effort.”
“We really want to play solid throughout the whole game and really rebound and work on the things that we're going to do when the regular season starts. For us, coming out it was just about taking care of the ball and trying to get each other open shots. That was the main thing for us.”
“Since I've been here, I think [tonight's game] is the earliest game we've had. I think it's good though. It gives us a sense of where we are, and now we have eight practices where we can really get a lot better. I think it's good to get a taste of playing somebody else and seeing your strengths and weaknesses and what you need to improve on. That'll help us for the next week or so.”
On the freshmen:
“One thing I like about all of them – they're not tentative at all. They're really aggressive players, and they're not afraid. That's great, being their first game, they went out attacking. You could tell with Andre [Dawkins], Ryan [Kelly] and Mason [Plumlee], they all had really good games, and it was a good first step for them.”
Junior Nolan Smith
On tonight's performance:
“I think it looked good. We got to see [the freshmen], and all of them had double-digit rebounds. We have great rebounders now, adding Mason [Plumlee], and Miles [Plumlee] can rebound. And [Brian] Zoubek, he's been working his tail off to get in shape. I think he had a dunk today, so that shows he's getting off the ground a little better. We definitely have bigs that are going to play hard, rebound and can score inside.”
“Today was different because the team that we played was definitely speeding us up, and the bigs didn't really have the time to get to the block or to the foul line where they were going to set up. We've been really working on the high-low with those guys because we're going to have two or three big men in at one time. They were speeding us up, so we didn't really get a great look at it, but we did it a couple of times and it felt great.”
Freshman Mason Plumlee
On his rough start in the game:
“I was really frustrated, but you just have to play through it, get used to it and kind of let it keep happening. I don't want to say nervousness, just not concentrating and finishing.”
“Just because we don't have a speed demon doesn't mean we don't want to run. I think we'll be a really good fast break team, and we knew coming into the game that they were going to run. We aren't going to do it with our play off the dribble, but with just passing the ball ahead I think we'll be a good fast break team.”
“It was a lot of fun. It's crazy – we were just talking about how exciting it was to finally play someone else. We've been here since the summer, so it's nice to play someone else and kind of show what we've been working on.”
On the transition to college:
“It's been huge. Everything – the academic adjustment, the lifestyle is a lot different, but I think I've adjusted pretty well, and I'm going to be ready for this season. It's so much fun, but there's a lot of work to do.”
Opening statement:
“We are pleased with the game. We are a much more talented team, but playing against that style is one of the reasons we wanted to play against them. Especially for the first 20 minutes because they push the ball down the court so much and they can hit threes and they can dribble penetrate. That's something that's good for us to practice against and I thought for the 20 minutes we did an especially good job because they keep playing hard. We got a little sloppy in the second half, but overall I was really pleased and nobody got hurt. That's the big thing for me. I thought overall we looked good. All three of the freshmen did a great job.”
On football team's win:
“I want to congratulate our football team. It was so cool. I was recruiting so I couldn't go to the game, but we were getting updates. For Coach [Cutcliffe] and his whole program to win two in a row and be 4-3 and all that good stuff is so good. I'm really happy for them.”
Update on Lance Thomas:
“Lance has been really sick for the last few days. Today he feels really good and we just said we have tomorrow off so let's just start Monday and get going. The couple practices that he's missed we really have missed him because he gives us such energy.”
On playing an early exhibition game:
“One of the reasons we played such an early exhibition game was because of parents weekend so parents can come and sit where the students sit. They yell because of how high the tuition is. Our team just looked at is just cheering for them.”
On the play from the three freshmen:
“All three of them are good players. Mason [Plume] has a double double. When he learns to play with the physicality that you can play-and that's the biggest adjustment for a big guy- he could have a real monster game. He was 3-for-9 in the first half and four of them were close shots. Ryan [Kelly] is just a poised player. He's just a really good player. As well as he shoots the ball, he had five assists and no turnovers so he's a guy flashing against the press. And then we've been working on our high-low action. We haven't gone into the post for a few years, since Shelden [Williams]. And so I thought that was a good thing for us. Even though they're so small, just the fact that we got balance and made good passes in there. Andre [Dawkins] can be a very explosive player for us. They're three very good freshmen.”
On the chemistry of Miles and Mason Plumlee:
“I think as they grow and achieve together it will be even better. They're still young. Miles I thought played so strong. He's done that all preseason so far. A huge shot for him and for Ryan Kelly is four assists and no turnovers and five assists and no turnovers. Miles if you looked up last year at any practice that we had would have maybe no assists and six turnovers, one assist and five turnovers, that type of stuff. That's the kind of thing I look for because our big guys do touch the ball and they have to make plays, so that was very good.”
On Nolan Smith's aggressive play:
“I think it's a continuation of the end of last year. Nolan's a natural scorer and he's the one guy on our team who can break people down. And if he gets it early in the offense he can create some plays for us. He can definitely bring it up. He and Jon [Scheyer] are good ball handlers. They're no flashy ball handlers, but they're good ball handlers.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“It's a good first step. We have a lot to improve on, but overall I think we did a good job. Obviously we need to take care of the ball more, make a few extra passes, and defensively we need to get a lot better. But overall it was a good effort.”
“We really want to play solid throughout the whole game and really rebound and work on the things that we're going to do when the regular season starts. For us, coming out it was just about taking care of the ball and trying to get each other open shots. That was the main thing for us.”
“Since I've been here, I think [tonight's game] is the earliest game we've had. I think it's good though. It gives us a sense of where we are, and now we have eight practices where we can really get a lot better. I think it's good to get a taste of playing somebody else and seeing your strengths and weaknesses and what you need to improve on. That'll help us for the next week or so.”
On the freshmen:
“One thing I like about all of them – they're not tentative at all. They're really aggressive players, and they're not afraid. That's great, being their first game, they went out attacking. You could tell with Andre [Dawkins], Ryan [Kelly] and Mason [Plumlee], they all had really good games, and it was a good first step for them.”
Junior Nolan Smith
On tonight's performance:
“I think it looked good. We got to see [the freshmen], and all of them had double-digit rebounds. We have great rebounders now, adding Mason [Plumlee], and Miles [Plumlee] can rebound. And [Brian] Zoubek, he's been working his tail off to get in shape. I think he had a dunk today, so that shows he's getting off the ground a little better. We definitely have bigs that are going to play hard, rebound and can score inside.”
“Today was different because the team that we played was definitely speeding us up, and the bigs didn't really have the time to get to the block or to the foul line where they were going to set up. We've been really working on the high-low with those guys because we're going to have two or three big men in at one time. They were speeding us up, so we didn't really get a great look at it, but we did it a couple of times and it felt great.”
Freshman Mason Plumlee
On his rough start in the game:
“I was really frustrated, but you just have to play through it, get used to it and kind of let it keep happening. I don't want to say nervousness, just not concentrating and finishing.”
“Just because we don't have a speed demon doesn't mean we don't want to run. I think we'll be a really good fast break team, and we knew coming into the game that they were going to run. We aren't going to do it with our play off the dribble, but with just passing the ball ahead I think we'll be a good fast break team.”
“It was a lot of fun. It's crazy – we were just talking about how exciting it was to finally play someone else. We've been here since the summer, so it's nice to play someone else and kind of show what we've been working on.”
On the transition to college:
“It's been huge. Everything – the academic adjustment, the lifestyle is a lot different, but I think I've adjusted pretty well, and I'm going to be ready for this season. It's so much fun, but there's a lot of work to do.”
Players Mentioned
Coach Scheyer Media Availability
Wednesday, September 24
Jon Scheyer Press Conference: Summer 2025
Tuesday, July 08
Duke vs Houston: Press Conference
Sunday, April 06
Duke vs Alabama: East Region Champions Press Conference
Wednesday, April 02
