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Quotes: Duke 76, St. John's 69
2/1/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
St. John's vs. Duke
February 19, 2009
Madison Square Garden
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On tonight's game:
“We feel very good about the win. It was a workmanlike win. Anytime we play in the Garden against St. John's it's always a concern because there are ghosts in this building and they are not Duke ghosts. St. John's always plays with great effort. I knew that when I was a player at Army, a coach at Army and now as the coach at Duke. I thought our kids handled some adversity tonight. (David) McClure has been really sick. He was good yesterday in practice, but he was throwing up all night and all day. We kept him in the hotel with an IV. Hopefully we'll have him back, but I don't know. I don't know what his status will be. And then Singler's foul trouble throughout the game, with Dave not being here was sometimes problematic.
On play of freshmen Elliot Williams and Miles Plumlee:
“I thought our two freshmen really gave us a huge boost. We inserted (Elliot) into the starting lineup. His ball pressure was outstanding and he came up with 11 points. Even though Plumlee got four fouls, he got two blocks and he made a really big play to keep a double digit lead for us when he stole that ball right under our bucket and put it in. That was a big play.”
On playing in difficult conference:
“This has been a tough time for us these past couple weeks. And what the ACC and the BIG EAST does to its members is beat the hell out of them with the competition. So we've got knocked back a little bit and we're trying to right the ship, trying to get better. We found out two new things today, which were good and we've got to get the other guys playing at the level that we know we can play at. But this was definitely a big step in the right direction.”
On season's ups-and-downs:
“Not everybody plays great individually or collectively all the time. Whether you're a 20-game winner in pitching, sometimes you get hammered. It's a long season and you're judged by the full body of your work. We're going through a time when we got knocked back and some of our weaknesses were exposed. But you've got to get better from it.”
On St. John's:
“I've actually watched about eight of their games. I think one thing they've been is very injured. (Malik) Boothe being out and (Anthony) Mason Jr. not being here (really hurts them). They've been hurt, but in the eight games I've watched them play, they play their butts off every second. (We knew we couldn't) let them outwork us. They have everybody coming back. Burrell had a serious injury and that kind of thing has an impact on you. I don't care what you say that still has an impact. But they play hard and they play to win. I thought they gave us a heck of an effort tonight, which is what we've seen on tape.”
On continuing the series with St. John's:
“We love the St. John's series. I think where we're at right now is to try to define what we do (with our) non-conference (schedule); if we do a non-conference (game) during a week when we get off. We'll end up this year having the toughest conference schedule and one of the top two or three schedules in the country. We've got to be careful how we use this week. Would it be better served to have a couple days off or go back to practicing some basics and maybe playing that game at another time of year? You have two of the top five, six or seven programs in the history of (college) basketball. And I think they're going to be really good. Look, they almost beat us tonight.”
St. John's Head Coach Norm Roberts
On tonight's game:
“I thought we competed very hard. I thought it was a good game. Duke is obviously a very good basketball team. Gerald Henderson made some big plays when they needed them. We got in some foul trouble, but I thought our guys stayed strong and played hard throughout the entire game.”
On not taking care of the ball:
“It's difficult, but I know that they're going hard and they're trying to make the right play. We just didn't get some shots down. Youth and inexperience and trying to make something happen when it's not there (is what caused the turnovers). A couple of times we were trying to go away from the ball screen when sometimes you just have to use the ball screen and let the play flow. I think we tried to make something happen too quickly.
On play of Justin Burrell:
“He's probably a little out of rhythm, but he'll get it back. He's got to fight through it. Sometimes things don't go your way and you've got to fight through it. It's part of being a player. He'll be fine; we need him. I thought the other guys did a good job of stepping up and playing well. “
On tonight's game plan:
“We wanted to attack the basket. They're not a shot blocking team. They're not very, very big inside. We play against a lot of teams in our league who are huge inside. They're not, so we felt that it would be better for us to get closer to the basket. They do a good job of pressuring you on the outside and our guards did a much better job in the second half than they did in the first half (with their pressure)... I thought in the second half we did a better job of taking care of the basketball and making simple plays.”
On Duke:
“They're a great team. They come at you. They're going to play every possession hard. They dive after every loose ball. Coach K is a Hall of Famer; he's a great coach. They play that way. Everybody wants to play like that. I thought our guys really competed hard with them. I thought we competed with them on every play. “
On winning:
“It's always important to win. We want to win every single game we play. Our guys just have to continue to fight through it. We're not playing in a weak league. We just had three of our last four against the top-12 in America. But that's the reason you come to St. John's, to place against the best in the country.”
On Sophomore Guard/ Forward D.J. Kennedy:
“I think he's tough. I think he's tough every single night. Even when he's not making shots, he's tough. That's the reason why he's getting better and better. He's the same way every single day. Whether it be going to class, be it in the weight room, be it in the gym. He's the same way every day. He and (Paris) Horne are the same every day. They give you their best every day. And Malik (Boothe), all three of those guys.”
Sophomore guard Malik Boothe
“We just went out there and played hard. If guys want to take it as that it's fine by me, but we've got to come out every game to win.”
Sophomore guard/forward D.J. Kennedy
“You can always look back and say (what if), but you've got to realize who you're playing against. You're playing against some of the best teams in the country. One mistake or two mistakes can open it right up.”
Players Mentioned
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