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Quotes: Duke 77, St. John's 68
1/25/2015 6:53:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On the game:
“It was a heck of a game; I think that is the very first thing. I thought for 10 minutes, we outplayed them and then for 20 minutes they just killed us with their athleticism. (Rysheed) Jordan and (Sir'Dominic) Pointer especially, we didn't have answers for and no matter what we did, we started the ballgame trying to take away (D'Angelo) Harrison and (Phil) Greene IV and we we're okay with, but then those two guys really came on. In the last 10 minutes, (Marshall) Plumlee and (Tyus) Jones just gave us so many plays. Plumlee's defensive rebounding and one big offensive rebound to keep an exchange going. Matt (Jones) just played with amazing heart and it just seemed to bring even more heart out of Jahil (Okafor) and Quinn (Cook) and Tyus. We played great in the last 10 minutes and I'm not sure I have ever been a part of a game like that. That's kind of nuts!”
On his 1,000th win:
“To win the 1,000th here, you need to be a lucky guy. I like my place, Cameron, but this is a magical place and we beat a really good team and a storied program. A storied program, that I've had respect for since I was a player at Army a long time ago about 48, 49 years ago. Their program has stood the test of time and so has ours. To win in this setting against a storied program makes this even better…They'll be others that win more, but it is kind of neat to be the first one to 1,000 wins and the quality of competition we've had. Over half of our wins have been in the ACC or the NCAA tournament and that's not even counting Maui Tournaments, NIT, and all that. I am proud of that too. It's not just the number of wins, but the quality of opponents we've had. Coaching at West Point and Duke have given me the opportunity to do that.”
On what helped reach this milestone:
“I'm glad it's over! Again, I'm honored, don't get me wrong. I'm the lucky guy who's been at two great institutions in West Point and Duke. I've had unbelievable support. I've never had a day in 40 years that I had to worry about my back, with my A.D., Superintendent, or President and not many people can say that.”
Did you influence the players excitement?
“I don't think they fed off of me. I think they fed off of Plumlee and Jones. If they fed off of me, we would have turned it around in the middle of the first half…Those two kids really gave us an amazing spark…As weak a looks as we had for 20 minutes, how it changed for 8-or-10 minutes. The looks on our team, they were unbelievable winning looks and that's what the opponent saw, just like they saw weak for 20 minutes. I've not been in a game like that. It just seemed like three different games and I'm proud of my guys.”
Duke Freshman Jahlil Okafor
On today's game:
“It was very special. This is one of, if not, the best arena in the world. It was great to do it in the same place he got 903 and that was something I watched watching on TV, so it's sort of surreal to think I am here right now.”
On playing in the garden:
“I loved it. I had a lot of fun.”
On playing for Coach K at Madison Square Garden:
“It was great. He (Coach K) wants to celebrate this win. We want to celebrate this with each other. It seemed like he was enjoying it for us because we were able to be a part of it. Everyone who helped him get to this point including the staff at Army and the staff here at Duke.
On reaction from Knicks fans:
“They're just supporting their team on my fan page and twitter.”
On playing at Duke:
“It's great, especially good for coach, he's happy with us and happy that we were able to pull this one out. He actually said he hasn't been a part of a game like this so for 1,000 wins to never be a part of a game like we just played. ..It means a lot. His (Coach K) main focus is to make sure we weren't stressed about it or we weren't over hyped, we wanted to come here and finish our non conference schedule undefeated so he did a great job.”
More on playing for Coach K:
“It means a great deal for me and my family. He has even more so helped me as a man, things of that nature, that's why I want to be by his side.”
St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
On today's game:
“I thought it was an impressive basketball game – the punching, the counterpunching –even though there were stretches where it wasn't a beauty in terms of either team being able to find their rhythm offensively. I just thought you had two teams that were competing at a very high level and Duke went out big on us…So in a game of runs, they had the one that was the most important, which was in the home stretch. I think the biggest difference was they were able to get on the glass late – that was one of the keys for us. We're not going to out rebound them, but I thought we could be competitive on the boards…It was just a high level game. Two teams that wanted to win and Duke made the decisive final run or final blow that we were not able to answer.”
On playing Duke and where the team is:
“I think when you play Duke you know that they're going to have firepower and they're well coached. You combine good personnel with a good approach; you know you're going to have your hands full so they were able to win the game. For us, I thought we just missed some easy looks. We had some good shots that just didn't go in – the ones that were going in during the first half just didn't go in in the second half. Overall, big picture, if you followed our team these past three weeks, you can see that we're making progress….We are improving – in that first half, you can see the team is kind of returning to form in the fashion that we played last year…We came up short today, but I think you can also see the sneak preview of a team that could be very dangerous here if we continue to make progress.”
On rating today's loss:
“It's interesting. As a coach, it's hard to gauge. Obviously, NCAA tournament losses are the ones that, in my career, have hit me the hardest. I'd say DePaul was the low point this year – the overtime loss there. This is different because you understand you're playing a team that is at a one-seed level and we're trying to get to that place. We still got six or seven weeks. I really like this team. Today was just another step in the right direction but disappointed that we lost…[We] wanted to get the win so we could fuel our purposes moving forward.”
St. John's Guard D'Angelo Harrison
On today's loss and moving forward:
“Obviously, it's disappointing. We had the lead and then they went on a run – that's what won the game. We'll learn from this and we wish we could get this one, but we've got to flush this because we got a game on Tuesday or Wednesday so we got to get that one. We just got to take care of the rest of the Big East. This was a big game and we fell short. We're worried about the Big East. That's what we have to take care of.”
On playing Duke's zone defense:
“It's not that we couldn't figure it out. We weren't making shots and they went on a run. That's part of the game. [If} we made two or three more shots, we go up 15-16 – it's a different kind of game. It's just missing shots. We'll get a gym workout and get ready for the next one.”
St. John's Guard/Forward Sir'Dominic Pointer
On playing Duke's zone defense:
“We missed a lot of open shots. They gave up open shots and we didn't connect on them. It's just being able to get them to a teammate, get open shots.”
On the game:
“It was a heck of a game; I think that is the very first thing. I thought for 10 minutes, we outplayed them and then for 20 minutes they just killed us with their athleticism. (Rysheed) Jordan and (Sir'Dominic) Pointer especially, we didn't have answers for and no matter what we did, we started the ballgame trying to take away (D'Angelo) Harrison and (Phil) Greene IV and we we're okay with, but then those two guys really came on. In the last 10 minutes, (Marshall) Plumlee and (Tyus) Jones just gave us so many plays. Plumlee's defensive rebounding and one big offensive rebound to keep an exchange going. Matt (Jones) just played with amazing heart and it just seemed to bring even more heart out of Jahil (Okafor) and Quinn (Cook) and Tyus. We played great in the last 10 minutes and I'm not sure I have ever been a part of a game like that. That's kind of nuts!”
On his 1,000th win:
“To win the 1,000th here, you need to be a lucky guy. I like my place, Cameron, but this is a magical place and we beat a really good team and a storied program. A storied program, that I've had respect for since I was a player at Army a long time ago about 48, 49 years ago. Their program has stood the test of time and so has ours. To win in this setting against a storied program makes this even better…They'll be others that win more, but it is kind of neat to be the first one to 1,000 wins and the quality of competition we've had. Over half of our wins have been in the ACC or the NCAA tournament and that's not even counting Maui Tournaments, NIT, and all that. I am proud of that too. It's not just the number of wins, but the quality of opponents we've had. Coaching at West Point and Duke have given me the opportunity to do that.”
On what helped reach this milestone:
“I'm glad it's over! Again, I'm honored, don't get me wrong. I'm the lucky guy who's been at two great institutions in West Point and Duke. I've had unbelievable support. I've never had a day in 40 years that I had to worry about my back, with my A.D., Superintendent, or President and not many people can say that.”
Did you influence the players excitement?
“I don't think they fed off of me. I think they fed off of Plumlee and Jones. If they fed off of me, we would have turned it around in the middle of the first half…Those two kids really gave us an amazing spark…As weak a looks as we had for 20 minutes, how it changed for 8-or-10 minutes. The looks on our team, they were unbelievable winning looks and that's what the opponent saw, just like they saw weak for 20 minutes. I've not been in a game like that. It just seemed like three different games and I'm proud of my guys.”
Duke Freshman Jahlil Okafor
On today's game:
“It was very special. This is one of, if not, the best arena in the world. It was great to do it in the same place he got 903 and that was something I watched watching on TV, so it's sort of surreal to think I am here right now.”
On playing in the garden:
“I loved it. I had a lot of fun.”
On playing for Coach K at Madison Square Garden:
“It was great. He (Coach K) wants to celebrate this win. We want to celebrate this with each other. It seemed like he was enjoying it for us because we were able to be a part of it. Everyone who helped him get to this point including the staff at Army and the staff here at Duke.
On reaction from Knicks fans:
“They're just supporting their team on my fan page and twitter.”
On playing at Duke:
“It's great, especially good for coach, he's happy with us and happy that we were able to pull this one out. He actually said he hasn't been a part of a game like this so for 1,000 wins to never be a part of a game like we just played. ..It means a lot. His (Coach K) main focus is to make sure we weren't stressed about it or we weren't over hyped, we wanted to come here and finish our non conference schedule undefeated so he did a great job.”
More on playing for Coach K:
“It means a great deal for me and my family. He has even more so helped me as a man, things of that nature, that's why I want to be by his side.”
St. John's Head Coach Steve Lavin
On today's game:
“I thought it was an impressive basketball game – the punching, the counterpunching –even though there were stretches where it wasn't a beauty in terms of either team being able to find their rhythm offensively. I just thought you had two teams that were competing at a very high level and Duke went out big on us…So in a game of runs, they had the one that was the most important, which was in the home stretch. I think the biggest difference was they were able to get on the glass late – that was one of the keys for us. We're not going to out rebound them, but I thought we could be competitive on the boards…It was just a high level game. Two teams that wanted to win and Duke made the decisive final run or final blow that we were not able to answer.”
On playing Duke and where the team is:
“I think when you play Duke you know that they're going to have firepower and they're well coached. You combine good personnel with a good approach; you know you're going to have your hands full so they were able to win the game. For us, I thought we just missed some easy looks. We had some good shots that just didn't go in – the ones that were going in during the first half just didn't go in in the second half. Overall, big picture, if you followed our team these past three weeks, you can see that we're making progress….We are improving – in that first half, you can see the team is kind of returning to form in the fashion that we played last year…We came up short today, but I think you can also see the sneak preview of a team that could be very dangerous here if we continue to make progress.”
On rating today's loss:
“It's interesting. As a coach, it's hard to gauge. Obviously, NCAA tournament losses are the ones that, in my career, have hit me the hardest. I'd say DePaul was the low point this year – the overtime loss there. This is different because you understand you're playing a team that is at a one-seed level and we're trying to get to that place. We still got six or seven weeks. I really like this team. Today was just another step in the right direction but disappointed that we lost…[We] wanted to get the win so we could fuel our purposes moving forward.”
St. John's Guard D'Angelo Harrison
On today's loss and moving forward:
“Obviously, it's disappointing. We had the lead and then they went on a run – that's what won the game. We'll learn from this and we wish we could get this one, but we've got to flush this because we got a game on Tuesday or Wednesday so we got to get that one. We just got to take care of the rest of the Big East. This was a big game and we fell short. We're worried about the Big East. That's what we have to take care of.”
On playing Duke's zone defense:
“It's not that we couldn't figure it out. We weren't making shots and they went on a run. That's part of the game. [If} we made two or three more shots, we go up 15-16 – it's a different kind of game. It's just missing shots. We'll get a gym workout and get ready for the next one.”
St. John's Guard/Forward Sir'Dominic Pointer
On playing Duke's zone defense:
“We missed a lot of open shots. They gave up open shots and we didn't connect on them. It's just being able to get them to a teammate, get open shots.”
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