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Men's Basketball
vs #19 Texas Tech
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Quotes: Duke 74, Michigan State 69
11/15/2011 11:38:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On the win:
"First of all, this is a huge win for our team. We beat an outstanding program and one of the best coaches, Tom [Izzo], who's a great, great friend.
"I thought we were, I don't know, tight or tentative the whole first half. I don't know if the moment was so big or we tried to downplay the moment but then obviously, you all being here, and it's in the Garden and it becomes a big thing.
"I think at halftime we adjusted well, and for 15 minutes I thought we played beautiful basketball. We executed well and our defense was very, very good. I thought Ryan Kelly did a good job on [Draymond] Green. I think Green is a heck of a player and went 4-15 and had four turnovers and two assists. I thought Ryan was really good in that second half. Andre [Dawkins] had the best game of his career at Duke. Not just the points, but he had four steals and no turnovers."
On breaking Coach Knight's record:
"Maybe now they'll take specials of me off TV [laughter] because I'm getting tired of watching me on TV. But the kids see that and they put some pressure on them.
"I want to thank the basketball gods for allowing Coach [Knight] to be here, you know, for this moment. To have the two of us together because you don't know this would happen. That was really a good thing for the two of us to be together tonight. We're pleased with the win and we're pleased with the fact that we can get on with the season."
On the feeling of surpassing Coach Knight's record:
"I don't get that feeling, any feeling like that, I get more of a feeling of relief. There's too much attention focused on me for this last week. And I don't, you know, I get attention all the time, I just get attention. And I've gotten too much. And with the NBA not being there, you get even more.
"To me it's more of a relief to get on to the next thing."
On talking to Coach Knight this week:
"He says, 'Michael, will you win the first three games so I can stop saying nice things about you?' [laughter] And I said, 'It's kind of nice Coach, for the entire time I was at West Point you never said one nice thing.' But he was right. It's just time, time to move on."
On his embrace with Coach Knight following the game:
"Well I just told him, I said, 'Coach, I'm not sure people tell you this, but I love you and I love what you've done for me, and thank you.' And he says, 'Boy, you've done pretty good for a kid who couldn't shoot.' [laughter] I think that meant he loves me too. I'm going to take it as that."
On what 903 means to him:
"I don't know yet. To me, I just coach every game the same... I think it will mean a lot when it's all over. And I don't know when that will be. I want to win a championship with each team that I coach. I'm more into that because that's the moment you want for a group. I think this is a program moment."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On the game:
"Looks like we had two games against two very good teams and we kind of played them similar. We play well at times; but I thought we played well tonight. The second half when it was 41-40 we had three lay-ups in there and we just didn't make them; and I give them (Duke) credit for hitting three threes in a row. I thought Dawkins played his tail off, he was a difference maker with hitting some tough threes. The turnovers can hurt us, and there was foul trouble. I was proud of my team, I think we competed and we are getting that edge back. We just got to play a full game and we have not done that yet; and we got beat by a good team."
On Keith Appling's performance:
"He (Appling) has actually gotten worse than I anticipated; he did not play very well tonight because he had some foul trouble. He did not play well the first half, the second half he played more like the guy that I think we have. I said we were going to try and play (Keith) Appling and (Travis) Trice together a little bit; that worked some. I thought (Brandon) Wood played a lot better tonight. (Branden) Dawson did not look as sync as he did for North Carolina. The knee is not bothering him bad, but it is bothering him enough that he missed a practice."
On Draymond Green:
"We were stuck once in a while, we had no one making shots. He tried to do a little bit too much making those plays. I go through them a lot so I would not blame Draymond (Green), I would blame me. I am the one that wants him to have the ball more with that rank comes a responsibility and he is going to have to grow on that. I think now that Keith (Appling) and Brandon (Wood) played a little better we will have more options. I wanted to go to Adreian (Payne) more and we just didn't."
On performance tonight and future:
"We are going to grow from these two games. A lot people think we are insane but, we are going to get better from it. We played two very good teams and we are competing more and more. Everybody playing together, I think we are going to get better as a team....I'd like to see my team win a game. I think we have to quit turning the ball over. I don't know why we did as much tonight. I thought after the first five minutes we handled it pretty well. I think it shows guys have not played together enough. We have to get the ball inside and I do not think we played bad defense. Dawkins hit some big time shots, I am telling you we got a lot of positives out of these two games and we are going to be a better basketball team."
On Coach Mike Krzyzewski's win:
"I thanked Mike Krzyzewski for what he has done for college basketball. I was in a no win situation, I did not feel like I was in a very winnable situation. At the same time I think what Mike has done was great; it was good to have Bob Knight here. There was a lot of pressure on the guy; if I have to lose to someone, it would be him. It was awesome to see all his players back here, it was what college basketball is all about. I give him credit and he deserves it."
On the win:
"First of all, this is a huge win for our team. We beat an outstanding program and one of the best coaches, Tom [Izzo], who's a great, great friend.
"I thought we were, I don't know, tight or tentative the whole first half. I don't know if the moment was so big or we tried to downplay the moment but then obviously, you all being here, and it's in the Garden and it becomes a big thing.
"I think at halftime we adjusted well, and for 15 minutes I thought we played beautiful basketball. We executed well and our defense was very, very good. I thought Ryan Kelly did a good job on [Draymond] Green. I think Green is a heck of a player and went 4-15 and had four turnovers and two assists. I thought Ryan was really good in that second half. Andre [Dawkins] had the best game of his career at Duke. Not just the points, but he had four steals and no turnovers."
On breaking Coach Knight's record:
"Maybe now they'll take specials of me off TV [laughter] because I'm getting tired of watching me on TV. But the kids see that and they put some pressure on them.
"I want to thank the basketball gods for allowing Coach [Knight] to be here, you know, for this moment. To have the two of us together because you don't know this would happen. That was really a good thing for the two of us to be together tonight. We're pleased with the win and we're pleased with the fact that we can get on with the season."
On the feeling of surpassing Coach Knight's record:
"I don't get that feeling, any feeling like that, I get more of a feeling of relief. There's too much attention focused on me for this last week. And I don't, you know, I get attention all the time, I just get attention. And I've gotten too much. And with the NBA not being there, you get even more.
"To me it's more of a relief to get on to the next thing."
On talking to Coach Knight this week:
"He says, 'Michael, will you win the first three games so I can stop saying nice things about you?' [laughter] And I said, 'It's kind of nice Coach, for the entire time I was at West Point you never said one nice thing.' But he was right. It's just time, time to move on."
On his embrace with Coach Knight following the game:
"Well I just told him, I said, 'Coach, I'm not sure people tell you this, but I love you and I love what you've done for me, and thank you.' And he says, 'Boy, you've done pretty good for a kid who couldn't shoot.' [laughter] I think that meant he loves me too. I'm going to take it as that."
On what 903 means to him:
"I don't know yet. To me, I just coach every game the same... I think it will mean a lot when it's all over. And I don't know when that will be. I want to win a championship with each team that I coach. I'm more into that because that's the moment you want for a group. I think this is a program moment."
Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo
On the game:
"Looks like we had two games against two very good teams and we kind of played them similar. We play well at times; but I thought we played well tonight. The second half when it was 41-40 we had three lay-ups in there and we just didn't make them; and I give them (Duke) credit for hitting three threes in a row. I thought Dawkins played his tail off, he was a difference maker with hitting some tough threes. The turnovers can hurt us, and there was foul trouble. I was proud of my team, I think we competed and we are getting that edge back. We just got to play a full game and we have not done that yet; and we got beat by a good team."
On Keith Appling's performance:
"He (Appling) has actually gotten worse than I anticipated; he did not play very well tonight because he had some foul trouble. He did not play well the first half, the second half he played more like the guy that I think we have. I said we were going to try and play (Keith) Appling and (Travis) Trice together a little bit; that worked some. I thought (Brandon) Wood played a lot better tonight. (Branden) Dawson did not look as sync as he did for North Carolina. The knee is not bothering him bad, but it is bothering him enough that he missed a practice."
On Draymond Green:
"We were stuck once in a while, we had no one making shots. He tried to do a little bit too much making those plays. I go through them a lot so I would not blame Draymond (Green), I would blame me. I am the one that wants him to have the ball more with that rank comes a responsibility and he is going to have to grow on that. I think now that Keith (Appling) and Brandon (Wood) played a little better we will have more options. I wanted to go to Adreian (Payne) more and we just didn't."
On performance tonight and future:
"We are going to grow from these two games. A lot people think we are insane but, we are going to get better from it. We played two very good teams and we are competing more and more. Everybody playing together, I think we are going to get better as a team....I'd like to see my team win a game. I think we have to quit turning the ball over. I don't know why we did as much tonight. I thought after the first five minutes we handled it pretty well. I think it shows guys have not played together enough. We have to get the ball inside and I do not think we played bad defense. Dawkins hit some big time shots, I am telling you we got a lot of positives out of these two games and we are going to be a better basketball team."
On Coach Mike Krzyzewski's win:
"I thanked Mike Krzyzewski for what he has done for college basketball. I was in a no win situation, I did not feel like I was in a very winnable situation. At the same time I think what Mike has done was great; it was good to have Bob Knight here. There was a lot of pressure on the guy; if I have to lose to someone, it would be him. It was awesome to see all his players back here, it was what college basketball is all about. I give him credit and he deserves it."
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