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Quotes: Duke 70, Florida State 56
1/27/2010 11:00:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“I'm proud of my team. I thought we showed great resolve tonight because Florida State is really good and they're tough to score on. They're huge and wide and they can move their feet, so the halfcourt is small. When [Chris] Singleton is your third smallest guy on the court and [Solomon] Alabi is a load inside. They're just a really good basketball team. Our team had to show great resolve. When it got down to 51-47 and they're shooting free throws, it's a game that when you're playing at home, there is almost more pressure on you because you can be a little bit hesitant. I thought that after that our guys played with great character, I mean really great character. For Kyle [Singler] to play with four fouls, we had confidence in him not fouling and I also felt that the game was going to be won from the eight-minute mark to the four-minute mark, not the four-minute mark to the end of the game and we needed him in there. We went orange for about four or five exchanges and we got four stops in a row. [Deividas] Dulkys was out of the ball game and we went to it. For this game, for that moment it worked and we closed out the game. I'm proud of my guys. It's been two really difficult tough wins since last Wednesday. Very workmanlike performances in these last two games.”
On the luxury of being able to have Jon Scheyer stepping up on an off night for Nolan Smith:
“Well the luxury would be if both of them were doing it. We haven't been luxurious yet this year. And actually you become really luxurious if all three of the guys are hitting. I do think that Kyle [Singler] played really well and hopefully his scoring is coming out of it. That's the makeup of our team. In the second half Miles [Plumlee] and Brian [Zoubek] were huge factors in this game. They played really well for us. And Lance [Thomas] plays well all of the time. Whatever his stats are, Lance plays well all the time.”
On what made the defense click particularly the zone:
“I thought they scored on us more in transition in the first half. In the second half we got back a little bit better. We went orange after a make so that gives us time to set it up. So it worked for a little bit and when [Deividas] Dulkys came back in we went man.”
On the opportunity to play a good non-conference team in Georgetown:
“The only thing is is that they haven't played since Monday. We're out of here at 1:00 in the morning and traveling. So I have to be careful with my team. Their preparation is going to be much better than ours, that's just a fact. But we're looking forward to it, don't get me wrong. It's just that it's not going to be an easy game and I'm not sure what it will tell. We're playing at 1:00 in the afternoon so we have a really quick turnaround. It's a good game for our young guys to step forward and have an opportunity to be more of a part of the actual win and not just the preparation of a win.”
On what Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III has done to revive Georgetown:
“I'd rather have Coach Thompson talk about that because I don't follow their program, I follow Duke's program. I have a lot of respect for John and the Georgetown program. His dad and I are great great friends, but really I haven't watched Georgetown. I'm in the ACC, I watch Clemson and I watch Florida State. When we get through with this, I'm going to start watching Georgetown. They're obviously one of the storied programs in basketball, but I don't know much about their team right now, except I know that they're really good.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“They made a big run, and they had some big rebounds and key plays. Everything's not going to go our way, so when it doesn't we just try and respond, and I thought we came out with a couple of big shots and we got some stops. Our team showed great resiliency there.”
“They're a physical team. They're a big team and they're a long team. They have so many bodies that they throw at you, but I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part, just handling that and trying to use it against them.”
“We just focus on 'keep winning'. That's what we want to focus on. We can't control what everyone else is doing, so we just want to keep winning.”
On the upcoming matchup with Georgetown:
“Right now, we still have a lot of preparation to do, but we obviously know they're a great team. It's obviously a big-time environment playing there. We need to go in there like it's a big-time game toward the end of March – it could be like that. We just want to try and simulate that and come out with a win.”
Junior Kyle Singler
“We got out to a good lead and they came back, so it was just kind of a grind-it-out kind of game. We just wanted to use some clock at the end of the game and we were able to get that drag and get kind of a mismatch for Nolan and Jon. They finished the game for us and that's basically what happened.”
“They're the type of team where their best shot is a missed shot where they can rebound it and put it back in. And they're also a big team, so they're tough to box out. When we were able to limit them to just one shot, we were able to get the rebound, get it out in transition and go back down on offense.”
“Especially in the second half when we got out to a big lead and they came back, we had to find a way to kind of push the lead back up, and I thought when we were able to turn them over and make stops on defense, that's when it happened. We were able to go back on offense and execute – I thought we executed well with five minutes left.”
On the upcoming matchup with Georgetown:
“They're very good. Being away from home in a tough environment, it's going to be a big game, and it's a good measuring game to see where we are as a team.”
Senior Lance Thomas
“They were relentless. You talk about sending guys to the boards – I think they sent everybody every time. They send five guys to the boards every time. Those guys were physical, and, on top of that, they were tall and long. That was just an adjustment. We haven't really played a team that tall before, and there was a stretch where they got four or five rebounds in a row. That can't happen. It's a mindset – we just have to go for it. That was great preparation for this game coming up [against Georgetown], but I'm not taking anything from [Florida State]. That team was good.”
“We haven't accomplished anything yet. We have a couple of losses, but my experience in the ACC, as a senior now, is you can lose any game any given night. Having that mindset and making sure you kill a team is the mentality we have to have for the rest of our games. Teams have our game on their calendar circled. When we play them, teams make shots they don't usually make, they have extra momentum, and they're really psyched up to play that game. Just making sure we're sharp and making sure we're ready – that's how we have to do things. We haven't accomplished anything yet.”
Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
Opening Statement:
“I thought Duke did an excellent job of putting us on defense and executing their offense until we broke down and made a mistake and every time we made a mistake, they made us pay. On our offensive end, I thought we were extremely impatient. We had three post-up fouls and two or three walking violations, a moving violation, dribbled the ball to the baseline and picked our dribble up with nowhere to go, being extremely anxious. You're not going to go on the road and beat a well-coached, well-disciplined team like Duke unless you play the game that gives you the best chance to win. Give Duke credit; I thought their execution was flawless and hopefully our kids will learn from that. Unfortunately, that was part of our game plan and we realized that in order to be successful against them, their defense was solid enough that we had to be extremely patient and move the ball and at least reverse it once or twice to give ourselves the best opportunity. When we did that, in the first half we shot 52 percent, but when we turn the ball over 14 times, against a really good basketball team we were really fortunate to only be down 10. And cutting it to four late in the half, we were extremely fortunate but then we missed two opportunities at the free throw line and I think we cut it to six or maybe five and we turned the ball over twice. And you just can't do that against a really good basketball team. They made us pay every time we faulted. I think [Duke] is playing the best basketball in the ACC, I think a lot because their players are disciplined. They're playing well together with a level of maturity that we have not grown to yet. They deserved to win the game; we got beat by a team that did all the little things a lot better than we did tonight.”
On Duke pulling away late in the second half:
“It was one of those games where we had two probably wide-open dunks where we picked our dribble up and had to take small shots. Then we had about four or five point-blank lay-ups that we couldn't seem to finish and you can't have those types of miscues against a really good basketball team. Hopefully we'll learn. They played like a very mature junior/senior team and, at times, we played like a freshmen/sophomore team. You have to give them credit for that. If they keep playing that way, they're going to finish having a great year. I think they're playing within themselves and doing the things they have to do with their talent. I think we just came up a little short tonight in our execution.”
On the play of freshman Michael Snaer:
“Snaer gave us a lot of energy when he came in the game. I thought he was extremely aggressive, sometimes a little over-aggressive, but that's part of being a freshman. His future's very bright. He's playing starter's minutes; his minutes are equal to our starters. We feel that he's come along just fine and he showed a little bit of what he's capable of tonight. We expect him, before too long, to have a break-out game and gain more and more confidence.”
On Duke's defense:
“No question that Duke's defense was good. Once again, we had four or five point-blank lay-ups that we just couldn't figure out. Then we had two or three opportunities where we had the ball, took our dribble and didn't realize we were by ourselves and missed a couple of short shots. Our inexperience showed up during that stretch. I was pleased that we were able to fight back and showed a lot of toughness and determination. We very easily could've backed away, but with the smaller line-up we picked up our energy a little bit and put ourselves in a pretty good position. They went to the zone and I think we went one-of-three or one-of-four during that stretch. They got a couple run-outs and extended the lead, two three's I think there. It took a lot out of us coming back over that hump. We got right there and they put the dagger in and we felt we were back climbing over that hill again.”
Opening Statement:
“I'm proud of my team. I thought we showed great resolve tonight because Florida State is really good and they're tough to score on. They're huge and wide and they can move their feet, so the halfcourt is small. When [Chris] Singleton is your third smallest guy on the court and [Solomon] Alabi is a load inside. They're just a really good basketball team. Our team had to show great resolve. When it got down to 51-47 and they're shooting free throws, it's a game that when you're playing at home, there is almost more pressure on you because you can be a little bit hesitant. I thought that after that our guys played with great character, I mean really great character. For Kyle [Singler] to play with four fouls, we had confidence in him not fouling and I also felt that the game was going to be won from the eight-minute mark to the four-minute mark, not the four-minute mark to the end of the game and we needed him in there. We went orange for about four or five exchanges and we got four stops in a row. [Deividas] Dulkys was out of the ball game and we went to it. For this game, for that moment it worked and we closed out the game. I'm proud of my guys. It's been two really difficult tough wins since last Wednesday. Very workmanlike performances in these last two games.”
On the luxury of being able to have Jon Scheyer stepping up on an off night for Nolan Smith:
“Well the luxury would be if both of them were doing it. We haven't been luxurious yet this year. And actually you become really luxurious if all three of the guys are hitting. I do think that Kyle [Singler] played really well and hopefully his scoring is coming out of it. That's the makeup of our team. In the second half Miles [Plumlee] and Brian [Zoubek] were huge factors in this game. They played really well for us. And Lance [Thomas] plays well all of the time. Whatever his stats are, Lance plays well all the time.”
On what made the defense click particularly the zone:
“I thought they scored on us more in transition in the first half. In the second half we got back a little bit better. We went orange after a make so that gives us time to set it up. So it worked for a little bit and when [Deividas] Dulkys came back in we went man.”
On the opportunity to play a good non-conference team in Georgetown:
“The only thing is is that they haven't played since Monday. We're out of here at 1:00 in the morning and traveling. So I have to be careful with my team. Their preparation is going to be much better than ours, that's just a fact. But we're looking forward to it, don't get me wrong. It's just that it's not going to be an easy game and I'm not sure what it will tell. We're playing at 1:00 in the afternoon so we have a really quick turnaround. It's a good game for our young guys to step forward and have an opportunity to be more of a part of the actual win and not just the preparation of a win.”
On what Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III has done to revive Georgetown:
“I'd rather have Coach Thompson talk about that because I don't follow their program, I follow Duke's program. I have a lot of respect for John and the Georgetown program. His dad and I are great great friends, but really I haven't watched Georgetown. I'm in the ACC, I watch Clemson and I watch Florida State. When we get through with this, I'm going to start watching Georgetown. They're obviously one of the storied programs in basketball, but I don't know much about their team right now, except I know that they're really good.”
Senior Jon Scheyer
“They made a big run, and they had some big rebounds and key plays. Everything's not going to go our way, so when it doesn't we just try and respond, and I thought we came out with a couple of big shots and we got some stops. Our team showed great resiliency there.”
“They're a physical team. They're a big team and they're a long team. They have so many bodies that they throw at you, but I thought we did a pretty good job for the most part, just handling that and trying to use it against them.”
“We just focus on 'keep winning'. That's what we want to focus on. We can't control what everyone else is doing, so we just want to keep winning.”
On the upcoming matchup with Georgetown:
“Right now, we still have a lot of preparation to do, but we obviously know they're a great team. It's obviously a big-time environment playing there. We need to go in there like it's a big-time game toward the end of March – it could be like that. We just want to try and simulate that and come out with a win.”
Junior Kyle Singler
“We got out to a good lead and they came back, so it was just kind of a grind-it-out kind of game. We just wanted to use some clock at the end of the game and we were able to get that drag and get kind of a mismatch for Nolan and Jon. They finished the game for us and that's basically what happened.”
“They're the type of team where their best shot is a missed shot where they can rebound it and put it back in. And they're also a big team, so they're tough to box out. When we were able to limit them to just one shot, we were able to get the rebound, get it out in transition and go back down on offense.”
“Especially in the second half when we got out to a big lead and they came back, we had to find a way to kind of push the lead back up, and I thought when we were able to turn them over and make stops on defense, that's when it happened. We were able to go back on offense and execute – I thought we executed well with five minutes left.”
On the upcoming matchup with Georgetown:
“They're very good. Being away from home in a tough environment, it's going to be a big game, and it's a good measuring game to see where we are as a team.”
Senior Lance Thomas
“They were relentless. You talk about sending guys to the boards – I think they sent everybody every time. They send five guys to the boards every time. Those guys were physical, and, on top of that, they were tall and long. That was just an adjustment. We haven't really played a team that tall before, and there was a stretch where they got four or five rebounds in a row. That can't happen. It's a mindset – we just have to go for it. That was great preparation for this game coming up [against Georgetown], but I'm not taking anything from [Florida State]. That team was good.”
“We haven't accomplished anything yet. We have a couple of losses, but my experience in the ACC, as a senior now, is you can lose any game any given night. Having that mindset and making sure you kill a team is the mentality we have to have for the rest of our games. Teams have our game on their calendar circled. When we play them, teams make shots they don't usually make, they have extra momentum, and they're really psyched up to play that game. Just making sure we're sharp and making sure we're ready – that's how we have to do things. We haven't accomplished anything yet.”
Florida State Head Coach Leonard Hamilton
Opening Statement:
“I thought Duke did an excellent job of putting us on defense and executing their offense until we broke down and made a mistake and every time we made a mistake, they made us pay. On our offensive end, I thought we were extremely impatient. We had three post-up fouls and two or three walking violations, a moving violation, dribbled the ball to the baseline and picked our dribble up with nowhere to go, being extremely anxious. You're not going to go on the road and beat a well-coached, well-disciplined team like Duke unless you play the game that gives you the best chance to win. Give Duke credit; I thought their execution was flawless and hopefully our kids will learn from that. Unfortunately, that was part of our game plan and we realized that in order to be successful against them, their defense was solid enough that we had to be extremely patient and move the ball and at least reverse it once or twice to give ourselves the best opportunity. When we did that, in the first half we shot 52 percent, but when we turn the ball over 14 times, against a really good basketball team we were really fortunate to only be down 10. And cutting it to four late in the half, we were extremely fortunate but then we missed two opportunities at the free throw line and I think we cut it to six or maybe five and we turned the ball over twice. And you just can't do that against a really good basketball team. They made us pay every time we faulted. I think [Duke] is playing the best basketball in the ACC, I think a lot because their players are disciplined. They're playing well together with a level of maturity that we have not grown to yet. They deserved to win the game; we got beat by a team that did all the little things a lot better than we did tonight.”
On Duke pulling away late in the second half:
“It was one of those games where we had two probably wide-open dunks where we picked our dribble up and had to take small shots. Then we had about four or five point-blank lay-ups that we couldn't seem to finish and you can't have those types of miscues against a really good basketball team. Hopefully we'll learn. They played like a very mature junior/senior team and, at times, we played like a freshmen/sophomore team. You have to give them credit for that. If they keep playing that way, they're going to finish having a great year. I think they're playing within themselves and doing the things they have to do with their talent. I think we just came up a little short tonight in our execution.”
On the play of freshman Michael Snaer:
“Snaer gave us a lot of energy when he came in the game. I thought he was extremely aggressive, sometimes a little over-aggressive, but that's part of being a freshman. His future's very bright. He's playing starter's minutes; his minutes are equal to our starters. We feel that he's come along just fine and he showed a little bit of what he's capable of tonight. We expect him, before too long, to have a break-out game and gain more and more confidence.”
On Duke's defense:
“No question that Duke's defense was good. Once again, we had four or five point-blank lay-ups that we just couldn't figure out. Then we had two or three opportunities where we had the ball, took our dribble and didn't realize we were by ourselves and missed a couple of short shots. Our inexperience showed up during that stretch. I was pleased that we were able to fight back and showed a lot of toughness and determination. We very easily could've backed away, but with the smaller line-up we picked up our energy a little bit and put ourselves in a pretty good position. They went to the zone and I think we went one-of-three or one-of-four during that stretch. They got a couple run-outs and extended the lead, two three's I think there. It took a lot out of us coming back over that hump. We got right there and they put the dagger in and we felt we were back climbing over that hill again.”
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