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Men's Basketball
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Quotes: Duke 114, Penn 55
12/31/2009 8:30:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“I thought we played really hard and unselfishly tonight. They [Penn] played very hard, too. They're in the process of trying to build their program with a new coach. I just told our team before the game, let's just try to play as hard as they're going to play against us, and I thought we did. Our talent level is obviously greater than theirs. If we're playing hard and they're playing hard, we should win and we should win by a significant margin. But I was happy with the way our kids played.”
On the play of freshman Mason Plumlee:
“He's getting further removed from that wrist injury. And to play this many minutes, I think he played 21 minutes tonight, that was very good. We got significant playing time for all our bench and freshmen. That helps and he missed out on that when he was hurt. He'll keep getting better because he's a talented player and a good player and he's working really hard. We had a really good practice (yesterday). We had a team practice and then we had an extra practice; we try not to wear out Jon, Kyle and Nolan. We were really about an hour of really intense work. I think going through that, some of the things we did, he [Mason Plumlee] got more confidence in his wrist because it was a physical practice. There's just a confidence level that you have to get when you're coming back from an injury. I thought that helped.”
On preparing for the conference opener on Sunday against Clemson:
“I'm a coach, so I think we need to improve on everything. We're ready to start. I'm not saying we're this perfect machine, but we're anxious to start. The nine kids that we have that are going to play, are healthy enough to play. We have bruises and knees and all that stuff. When you have nine guys that can play, and they have great attitudes and they're hungry to play, it's time to get going. The conference exposes you, your good stuff and your bad stuff. So we're excited about getting going and we obviously play one of the top teams in the conference in Clemson and one of the top players, I think, in the country in Trevor Booker.”
On the play of the ACC thus far:
“I don't watch our conference. I watch who we're playing. I don't analyze the whole conference. We just don't have time to do that. If you're doing the job that you're supposed to be doing with your team in preparation, you don't have time to be a fan. I've watched a little bit of Clemson, and in the next 24 hours, I'll watch a lot of Clemson and my staff has already done that. So we just try to get ready one game at a time. It really doesn't make any difference how everyone else is playing. To us, it's how we're playing against the next opponent we're playing against.”
On how the 2009-10 team compares to last season's team:
“We're a different team. We're older. We're not as explosive athletically because you had G [Gerald Henderson] and Elliot [Williams] and Kyle [Singler] at the four. We're bigger and stronger. I think that the system we play with this team fits this team and the system we played with last year's team fit that team. We won 30 games last year. I don't know if we'll win 30 games this year. We have a good team that can become better. Kyle's adjustment to playing the perimeter is going well and he'll keep getting better in it. As he gets better, we'll get better. [Last year] we had more one-on-one players. We're setting more screens this year and not spreading the court as much. The guys are really unselfish. They look for one another. We're still a very good shooting team. We share the ball well.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
On Mason Plumlee:
“He's been practicing really well the last couple of days, just really hard, and his energy has gone up. I think it's just indicative of how he's been practicing. He played the way he's been practicing, and, if he continues to do that, he'll continue to play great in games. He hasn't been himself, just because of the injury, and you could see he's getting back to being himself. That was the best thing for me tonight, seeing Mason play well.”
On the start of ACC conference play:
“I think we're in a really good position. We have to get two really good days of practice in the next couple of days, and we'll be ready to go. There are obviously things we can improve on, but we're in a good place right now and we feel very confident going into the ACC season.
On Duke's chances to win the ACC regular season:
“I feel very confident going into the ACC season. We've been really close [to winning the regular season] the last couple of years, and this group of juniors and seniors, we really want to win it bad. We're going to work our butts off. We know how you can't take any games off in the ACC, and it starts Sunday [vs. Clemson]. We feel confident and good going in. I think we need to get more consistent on our rebounding. Obviously, we've done a really good job as a team taking care of the ball. Those two things for our team will be two keys for us in this season.”
On his 11 assists and four turnovers:
“It was frustrating with some of those turnovers. I know it will happen, but it was just kind of frustrating because they were just silly mistakes. Hopefully I'll clean that up for Sunday [vs. Clemson].”
Junior Nolan Smith
“You don't sleep on anybody, but you want to go out there and play a full 40 minutes of hard defense and aggressive basketball. That's what we did and didn't really give them any confidence from the start.”
On Mason Plumlee:
“Mason is terrific. The injury knocked him back a little bit, but now he's coming along. As a freshman, to miss your first couple of games, it's tough. Now he's back in the flow of things, and we're excited for what he has to bring to us going into the ACC [regular season]. He knows his ability, and he's a very cocky and confident player. He knows when he gets the ball he can make things happen, and he draws a lot of fouls because he's so quick and athletic with the ball.”
Penn Head Coach Jerome Allen
Opening Statement:
“I think Duke is a very good, and very balanced, well coached team, that plays good basketball. Having said that, I think we could have played better and could have worked a little harder to get shots off and on the defensive end.”
On the biggest positive to take from the game:
“I think the biggest thing we can take away from this game is that there was a stretch there in the first half where we were doing the right things, and we had a stretch where were able to get off the shots we wanted to get off, and if we can continue doing that for 40 minutes, we can compete a little more.”
On dealing with Duke's size:
“Sometimes, it felt like we were standing in the trees. Duke's size is one of their strengths and their starting lineup shows it. You know, sometimes their starting forwards are 6'8”, 6'9”, and 6'10”, and then other times it can be 6'9”, 6'9”, 7'1”, so it was definitely an area where we aren't as big and it was a challenge for us to compete with that size.”
On entering Ivy League play:
“Well, right now we are in first place. We are tied for first in the conference. Over the first part of this season we've just been trying to get better and work on the things that we need to get better at. I think that we are getting better as a team and if we keep on working, we can be competitive in conference.”
On injured players affecting the team's play:
“I would like to have everyone out there contributing, but as a coach I can only look at what is there in front of me.”
Opening Statement:
“I thought we played really hard and unselfishly tonight. They [Penn] played very hard, too. They're in the process of trying to build their program with a new coach. I just told our team before the game, let's just try to play as hard as they're going to play against us, and I thought we did. Our talent level is obviously greater than theirs. If we're playing hard and they're playing hard, we should win and we should win by a significant margin. But I was happy with the way our kids played.”
On the play of freshman Mason Plumlee:
“He's getting further removed from that wrist injury. And to play this many minutes, I think he played 21 minutes tonight, that was very good. We got significant playing time for all our bench and freshmen. That helps and he missed out on that when he was hurt. He'll keep getting better because he's a talented player and a good player and he's working really hard. We had a really good practice (yesterday). We had a team practice and then we had an extra practice; we try not to wear out Jon, Kyle and Nolan. We were really about an hour of really intense work. I think going through that, some of the things we did, he [Mason Plumlee] got more confidence in his wrist because it was a physical practice. There's just a confidence level that you have to get when you're coming back from an injury. I thought that helped.”
On preparing for the conference opener on Sunday against Clemson:
“I'm a coach, so I think we need to improve on everything. We're ready to start. I'm not saying we're this perfect machine, but we're anxious to start. The nine kids that we have that are going to play, are healthy enough to play. We have bruises and knees and all that stuff. When you have nine guys that can play, and they have great attitudes and they're hungry to play, it's time to get going. The conference exposes you, your good stuff and your bad stuff. So we're excited about getting going and we obviously play one of the top teams in the conference in Clemson and one of the top players, I think, in the country in Trevor Booker.”
On the play of the ACC thus far:
“I don't watch our conference. I watch who we're playing. I don't analyze the whole conference. We just don't have time to do that. If you're doing the job that you're supposed to be doing with your team in preparation, you don't have time to be a fan. I've watched a little bit of Clemson, and in the next 24 hours, I'll watch a lot of Clemson and my staff has already done that. So we just try to get ready one game at a time. It really doesn't make any difference how everyone else is playing. To us, it's how we're playing against the next opponent we're playing against.”
On how the 2009-10 team compares to last season's team:
“We're a different team. We're older. We're not as explosive athletically because you had G [Gerald Henderson] and Elliot [Williams] and Kyle [Singler] at the four. We're bigger and stronger. I think that the system we play with this team fits this team and the system we played with last year's team fit that team. We won 30 games last year. I don't know if we'll win 30 games this year. We have a good team that can become better. Kyle's adjustment to playing the perimeter is going well and he'll keep getting better in it. As he gets better, we'll get better. [Last year] we had more one-on-one players. We're setting more screens this year and not spreading the court as much. The guys are really unselfish. They look for one another. We're still a very good shooting team. We share the ball well.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
On Mason Plumlee:
“He's been practicing really well the last couple of days, just really hard, and his energy has gone up. I think it's just indicative of how he's been practicing. He played the way he's been practicing, and, if he continues to do that, he'll continue to play great in games. He hasn't been himself, just because of the injury, and you could see he's getting back to being himself. That was the best thing for me tonight, seeing Mason play well.”
On the start of ACC conference play:
“I think we're in a really good position. We have to get two really good days of practice in the next couple of days, and we'll be ready to go. There are obviously things we can improve on, but we're in a good place right now and we feel very confident going into the ACC season.
On Duke's chances to win the ACC regular season:
“I feel very confident going into the ACC season. We've been really close [to winning the regular season] the last couple of years, and this group of juniors and seniors, we really want to win it bad. We're going to work our butts off. We know how you can't take any games off in the ACC, and it starts Sunday [vs. Clemson]. We feel confident and good going in. I think we need to get more consistent on our rebounding. Obviously, we've done a really good job as a team taking care of the ball. Those two things for our team will be two keys for us in this season.”
On his 11 assists and four turnovers:
“It was frustrating with some of those turnovers. I know it will happen, but it was just kind of frustrating because they were just silly mistakes. Hopefully I'll clean that up for Sunday [vs. Clemson].”
Junior Nolan Smith
“You don't sleep on anybody, but you want to go out there and play a full 40 minutes of hard defense and aggressive basketball. That's what we did and didn't really give them any confidence from the start.”
On Mason Plumlee:
“Mason is terrific. The injury knocked him back a little bit, but now he's coming along. As a freshman, to miss your first couple of games, it's tough. Now he's back in the flow of things, and we're excited for what he has to bring to us going into the ACC [regular season]. He knows his ability, and he's a very cocky and confident player. He knows when he gets the ball he can make things happen, and he draws a lot of fouls because he's so quick and athletic with the ball.”
Penn Head Coach Jerome Allen
Opening Statement:
“I think Duke is a very good, and very balanced, well coached team, that plays good basketball. Having said that, I think we could have played better and could have worked a little harder to get shots off and on the defensive end.”
On the biggest positive to take from the game:
“I think the biggest thing we can take away from this game is that there was a stretch there in the first half where we were doing the right things, and we had a stretch where were able to get off the shots we wanted to get off, and if we can continue doing that for 40 minutes, we can compete a little more.”
On dealing with Duke's size:
“Sometimes, it felt like we were standing in the trees. Duke's size is one of their strengths and their starting lineup shows it. You know, sometimes their starting forwards are 6'8”, 6'9”, and 6'10”, and then other times it can be 6'9”, 6'9”, 7'1”, so it was definitely an area where we aren't as big and it was a challenge for us to compete with that size.”
On entering Ivy League play:
“Well, right now we are in first place. We are tied for first in the conference. Over the first part of this season we've just been trying to get better and work on the things that we need to get better at. I think that we are getting better as a team and if we keep on working, we can be competitive in conference.”
On injured players affecting the team's play:
“I would like to have everyone out there contributing, but as a coach I can only look at what is there in front of me.”
Players Mentioned
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