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Quotes: Duke 113, Gardner-Webb 68
12/15/2009 9:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“I was pleased with our team. I thought we played very hard and I though [Gardner-Webb] played very hard. I was pleased, coming off this break, with the enthusiasm and some of the sharpness we had offensively. In the time that we have had to practice we've been working on a little bit more offense than defense to get into a better flow. I thought we had that today. Jon [Scheyer's] performance was spectacular. To get 36 points with 13 shots is about as good as you can get. Plus he had nine assists so that means he passed up shots to get his teammates shots. And then he got eight rebounds. He had a great game. I was really pleased with Andre [Dawkins], going through the week he's going through and being away and coming back Saturday night. Dealing with the tragic death of his sister, I thought his performance was outstanding and he's been that way in the two practices we've had. The big guys did well. Brian [Zoubek] really asserted himself and was strong. Overall I thought it was good. We got a few guys banged up so we have to deal with that, but everyone was able to play so that's a good thing.”
On the offense:
“We're still running motion. It's just that if you run it gives you more opportunities to drive. If you are running just plays then you don't move the defense. What we did tonight was we moved the defense a little bit. Therefore some opportunities to drive and then kick were there. We had more people involved in an easier manner than we have in the first eight games.”
On Jon Scheyer's defense tonight:
“I think [Grayson Flittner] hit two threes and when he hit them Jon wasn't on him. Jon I guess he knows he should cover shooter. He has the most empathy as far as covering the shooter. Jon's played really well, I mean really really well.”
On the entire team getting involved and not just watching Jon Scheyer's performance:
“[Jon] passed the ball. That one pass to Kyle [Singler] was a sensational play. He also made easy passes. When you're passing the ball like that even as many points as he was scoring you still feel like we're scoring and not just he's scoring. The last four games if we would have done that we would have watched. Now I think we have a little bit more movement in what we're doing.”
On Andre Dawkins return:
“First of all, Andre has a beautiful family and we're part of that family. I think over the last eight or nine days we've kind of all worked as a team to try to deal with the tragedy. Saturday, I went up with Nate [James] and Kevin White, our Athletic Director, went up to the funeral. It was a beautiful service in celebrating Lacey's life and we got to be with the family there. We brought Andre back with us and then his teammates have been there for him. We just try to do that.”
On how well Andre Dawkins has blended into the team:
“It's surprised me because he didn't have the summer. He had the adjustment of conditioning, college and school besides basketball. Usually those other things are taken care of during the summer and when you get into individual work then you just worry about basketball. He's a good player, a really good player.”
On Mason Plumlee's play since coming off his wrist injury:
“He lost a month. Especially as a freshman where you don't have a reference point of how to play at this level. Then you're kind of thrown into it. He'll come around. He did okay tonight. He'll do a lot better.”
On Gardner-Webb:
“They played hard. They spread you out. We played really well against them. I thought they played pretty hard. When you try to take [Grayson] Flittner away it does open things up for other people. Like I would tell my team, keep playing hard. Good things happen if you play hard and together and it looks like that's what they're doing.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“It was a fun night. We haven't played for awhile, so I was just excited to get out there and play. I guess for all the ones that went in and out [in prior games], tonight those replaced those shots. I've been working really hard on my shot. The last ten days, since we haven't had a game, it's given us a lot of time to work on our individual games and some shooting and getting in better shape.”
“That's what's great about our team. If one guy's hot, we're like, 'Let's run that play again for you.' I could tell the guys were looking for me a little bit. We have a really unselfish team, and they got me some good looks.”
“I can't say enough about Andre [Dawkins], coming back the way he has. He's had a great attitude, and I think it was good for him to just get around the guys again and get back into the flow. He played great tonight. Obviously that was a tough situation he was in, and I'm proud of him for the way he's handled it.”
“I felt good before the game. I haven't been playing very well – not that I haven't been shooting it well. It's not just about my shot, just in terms of playing. I don't feel I've been playing as well as I could be, so tonight I was just excited to get out there and play. My stroke did feel really good though.”
On his behind-the-back pass to Kyle Singler:
“In some games, opportunities are there. I saw Kyle [Singler] and hit him with the pass. We have a lot of guys on our team that you can pass the ball to and can really finish, so they make me look good.”
Senior Brian Zoubek
“Obviously Jon [Scheyer] got us started and I think everybody fed off his energy and his poise out there. We're really coming together offensively. Obviously we could've played a little better on defense, plugged some holes a little better and gotten some rebounds, but Jon [Scheyer] did a heck of a job tonight and I'm really happy for him.”
“It took a little time to get into it today. They're a little smaller team and obviously packed it in inside a little bit. You've got to be patient and just let the game come to you. I think that's what happened in the second half … I was just waiting for my opportunity.”
Freshman Andre Dawkins
On being able to focus this week and tonight:
“I don't think it's tough to focus. Once I get in here, it's so intense, you have no choice but to focus. I think it's a lot easier to focus on basketball rather than to be down in the dumps. It felt great. I couldn't wait to get back with my teammates, just to kind of distract myself from all of this. It felt great, especially to come out and have a successful game.”
On the closeness of this team:
“We're unbelievably tight. This is definitely the most close-knit group of guys that I've ever played with. We can all hang out with each other. It doesn't matter … there are no cliques or groups or anything like that. We're just one big family.”
On the contributions of the whole team tonight:
“That's something that we preach in practice. We can't just stand around and watch other guys play basketball. All of us are good players … that's why we're all here. We all can do good things on the offensive end. Although Jon [Scheyer] had a great night, he also had a lot of assists, so that just goes to show that he wasn't playing selfishly at all. He was taking good shots and I think the rest of the team did as well.”
Gardner-Webb Head Coach Rick Scruggs
On team's performance:
“Well, it was a night where we sort of knew what was coming. We warned the kids that if we made mistakes, exactly what would happen, how they would magnify it. When you turn the ball over, they'd hit a big shot or when you didn't block out, they'd get a dunk. Any mistake you make would be magnified tonight. I thought for the first 20-25 minutes, we played exceptional and probably played as well as we could play. I think we gave out of gas about halfway through the second half. Obviously there were too many shooters and too much athleticism for us to handle. But it was a great experience to come in here. It's a privilege to be here and we're glad we had the chance to do this. We'll do it again; it was a lot of fun. You never know when lightening will strike twice like the Kentucky game a couple years ago. You never know when it's going to happen again. We thought maybe tonight since it was a blue and white team and on television again. We were hoping tonight was the night, but it didn't turn out that way.”
On Duke senior Jon Scheyer:
“He was unbelievable. Anybody that says there's any weakness there is out of their minds. He shot it, he controlled the game, he doesn't turn the ball over. He does everything you could ask of him at his position. I thought he was fantastic. I thought we did a decent job on him, then I look at the stat sheet and see what he's done and it's just amazing how productive he is. He never gets rattled, never gets shook. You can't shake him at all. I thought he played a great game.”
On team's ability to rebound offensively:
“What we try to tell our guys, and they listen to an extent, cause we don't have any way to emulate [Duke's size] in practice, all we can do is tell them we thought we could get penetration tonight, on and off the dribble. Whoever's doing the penetrating is not going to be the shooter because they're going to collapse on us with 6'10”, 6'11” kids, and we tried to tell them that and to find the shooters to the outside. I think that's why we got a lot of offensive rebounds though because they were changing parts of our shots and didn't have a chance to go after them because they were flooding the lane. I wish we would have kicked it out a little bit more, and we probably would've gotten a lot more shots off.”
On senior Brandon Jackson:
“I thought he did pretty good. We would like to see him push the ball a little more. Our plan tonight was to get in the style we want to play the rest of the year and see how it would work against a top 10 team in the country. We like to run and get up and down and shoot a lot of threes and that sort of thing. I didn't think Brandon [Jackson] pushed the ball well enough tonight. I think that's something he's got to work on. I think he was trying to settle us down in one aspect, but in the other aspect, he was slowing us down because we were playing out of character. But I thought he did a pretty good job of controlling himself and playing defense and getting us in the offense; he did a good job. I would just like to see him push the ball a little bit more.”
Opening Statement:
“I was pleased with our team. I thought we played very hard and I though [Gardner-Webb] played very hard. I was pleased, coming off this break, with the enthusiasm and some of the sharpness we had offensively. In the time that we have had to practice we've been working on a little bit more offense than defense to get into a better flow. I thought we had that today. Jon [Scheyer's] performance was spectacular. To get 36 points with 13 shots is about as good as you can get. Plus he had nine assists so that means he passed up shots to get his teammates shots. And then he got eight rebounds. He had a great game. I was really pleased with Andre [Dawkins], going through the week he's going through and being away and coming back Saturday night. Dealing with the tragic death of his sister, I thought his performance was outstanding and he's been that way in the two practices we've had. The big guys did well. Brian [Zoubek] really asserted himself and was strong. Overall I thought it was good. We got a few guys banged up so we have to deal with that, but everyone was able to play so that's a good thing.”
On the offense:
“We're still running motion. It's just that if you run it gives you more opportunities to drive. If you are running just plays then you don't move the defense. What we did tonight was we moved the defense a little bit. Therefore some opportunities to drive and then kick were there. We had more people involved in an easier manner than we have in the first eight games.”
On Jon Scheyer's defense tonight:
“I think [Grayson Flittner] hit two threes and when he hit them Jon wasn't on him. Jon I guess he knows he should cover shooter. He has the most empathy as far as covering the shooter. Jon's played really well, I mean really really well.”
On the entire team getting involved and not just watching Jon Scheyer's performance:
“[Jon] passed the ball. That one pass to Kyle [Singler] was a sensational play. He also made easy passes. When you're passing the ball like that even as many points as he was scoring you still feel like we're scoring and not just he's scoring. The last four games if we would have done that we would have watched. Now I think we have a little bit more movement in what we're doing.”
On Andre Dawkins return:
“First of all, Andre has a beautiful family and we're part of that family. I think over the last eight or nine days we've kind of all worked as a team to try to deal with the tragedy. Saturday, I went up with Nate [James] and Kevin White, our Athletic Director, went up to the funeral. It was a beautiful service in celebrating Lacey's life and we got to be with the family there. We brought Andre back with us and then his teammates have been there for him. We just try to do that.”
On how well Andre Dawkins has blended into the team:
“It's surprised me because he didn't have the summer. He had the adjustment of conditioning, college and school besides basketball. Usually those other things are taken care of during the summer and when you get into individual work then you just worry about basketball. He's a good player, a really good player.”
On Mason Plumlee's play since coming off his wrist injury:
“He lost a month. Especially as a freshman where you don't have a reference point of how to play at this level. Then you're kind of thrown into it. He'll come around. He did okay tonight. He'll do a lot better.”
On Gardner-Webb:
“They played hard. They spread you out. We played really well against them. I thought they played pretty hard. When you try to take [Grayson] Flittner away it does open things up for other people. Like I would tell my team, keep playing hard. Good things happen if you play hard and together and it looks like that's what they're doing.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“It was a fun night. We haven't played for awhile, so I was just excited to get out there and play. I guess for all the ones that went in and out [in prior games], tonight those replaced those shots. I've been working really hard on my shot. The last ten days, since we haven't had a game, it's given us a lot of time to work on our individual games and some shooting and getting in better shape.”
“That's what's great about our team. If one guy's hot, we're like, 'Let's run that play again for you.' I could tell the guys were looking for me a little bit. We have a really unselfish team, and they got me some good looks.”
“I can't say enough about Andre [Dawkins], coming back the way he has. He's had a great attitude, and I think it was good for him to just get around the guys again and get back into the flow. He played great tonight. Obviously that was a tough situation he was in, and I'm proud of him for the way he's handled it.”
“I felt good before the game. I haven't been playing very well – not that I haven't been shooting it well. It's not just about my shot, just in terms of playing. I don't feel I've been playing as well as I could be, so tonight I was just excited to get out there and play. My stroke did feel really good though.”
On his behind-the-back pass to Kyle Singler:
“In some games, opportunities are there. I saw Kyle [Singler] and hit him with the pass. We have a lot of guys on our team that you can pass the ball to and can really finish, so they make me look good.”
Senior Brian Zoubek
“Obviously Jon [Scheyer] got us started and I think everybody fed off his energy and his poise out there. We're really coming together offensively. Obviously we could've played a little better on defense, plugged some holes a little better and gotten some rebounds, but Jon [Scheyer] did a heck of a job tonight and I'm really happy for him.”
“It took a little time to get into it today. They're a little smaller team and obviously packed it in inside a little bit. You've got to be patient and just let the game come to you. I think that's what happened in the second half … I was just waiting for my opportunity.”
Freshman Andre Dawkins
On being able to focus this week and tonight:
“I don't think it's tough to focus. Once I get in here, it's so intense, you have no choice but to focus. I think it's a lot easier to focus on basketball rather than to be down in the dumps. It felt great. I couldn't wait to get back with my teammates, just to kind of distract myself from all of this. It felt great, especially to come out and have a successful game.”
On the closeness of this team:
“We're unbelievably tight. This is definitely the most close-knit group of guys that I've ever played with. We can all hang out with each other. It doesn't matter … there are no cliques or groups or anything like that. We're just one big family.”
On the contributions of the whole team tonight:
“That's something that we preach in practice. We can't just stand around and watch other guys play basketball. All of us are good players … that's why we're all here. We all can do good things on the offensive end. Although Jon [Scheyer] had a great night, he also had a lot of assists, so that just goes to show that he wasn't playing selfishly at all. He was taking good shots and I think the rest of the team did as well.”
Gardner-Webb Head Coach Rick Scruggs
On team's performance:
“Well, it was a night where we sort of knew what was coming. We warned the kids that if we made mistakes, exactly what would happen, how they would magnify it. When you turn the ball over, they'd hit a big shot or when you didn't block out, they'd get a dunk. Any mistake you make would be magnified tonight. I thought for the first 20-25 minutes, we played exceptional and probably played as well as we could play. I think we gave out of gas about halfway through the second half. Obviously there were too many shooters and too much athleticism for us to handle. But it was a great experience to come in here. It's a privilege to be here and we're glad we had the chance to do this. We'll do it again; it was a lot of fun. You never know when lightening will strike twice like the Kentucky game a couple years ago. You never know when it's going to happen again. We thought maybe tonight since it was a blue and white team and on television again. We were hoping tonight was the night, but it didn't turn out that way.”
On Duke senior Jon Scheyer:
“He was unbelievable. Anybody that says there's any weakness there is out of their minds. He shot it, he controlled the game, he doesn't turn the ball over. He does everything you could ask of him at his position. I thought he was fantastic. I thought we did a decent job on him, then I look at the stat sheet and see what he's done and it's just amazing how productive he is. He never gets rattled, never gets shook. You can't shake him at all. I thought he played a great game.”
On team's ability to rebound offensively:
“What we try to tell our guys, and they listen to an extent, cause we don't have any way to emulate [Duke's size] in practice, all we can do is tell them we thought we could get penetration tonight, on and off the dribble. Whoever's doing the penetrating is not going to be the shooter because they're going to collapse on us with 6'10”, 6'11” kids, and we tried to tell them that and to find the shooters to the outside. I think that's why we got a lot of offensive rebounds though because they were changing parts of our shots and didn't have a chance to go after them because they were flooding the lane. I wish we would have kicked it out a little bit more, and we probably would've gotten a lot more shots off.”
On senior Brandon Jackson:
“I thought he did pretty good. We would like to see him push the ball a little more. Our plan tonight was to get in the style we want to play the rest of the year and see how it would work against a top 10 team in the country. We like to run and get up and down and shoot a lot of threes and that sort of thing. I didn't think Brandon [Jackson] pushed the ball well enough tonight. I think that's something he's got to work on. I think he was trying to settle us down in one aspect, but in the other aspect, he was slowing us down because we were playing out of character. But I thought he did a pretty good job of controlling himself and playing defense and getting us in the offense; he did a good job. I would just like to see him push the ball a little bit more.”
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