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Quotes: Notre Dame 77, Duke 73
1/28/2015 11:26:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was a heck of a basketball game. I thought our guys played winning basketball and obviously they did too. Grant had a great game. He's a terrific player, so he's going to have a great game. They're unbelievably well-coached; they're together; they're a tough team to defend. For us, we'll look at this as some missed opportunities. We had 13 offensive rebounds and nine points off them. There were somewhere around 6-8 finishes right by the bucket where that ball wouldn't go in. Especially in the first half, we had at least five, maybe six of them that were right there. And when you go 10-20 from the free throw line that doesn't help; missed opportunities. When the game got right down to the end, Grant made that bucket. That was a heck of a bucket; a fortunate bucket, but a heck of a bucket. On that next play, we should not have left (Steve) Vasturia. There's two seconds [on the shot-clock], you have to make Grant take a two-point shot, which we were, and then we left him [Vasturia] and the kid hit a huge shot. I thought they played winning basketball; I thought we played winning basketball, but we have to cash in on the opportunities that are free, and the opportunities that are close. Hopefully we'll get that.”
On his relationship with Mike Brey:
“I want all of my assistants to be head coaches, and a lot of them have been. They've all become really good, obviously Mike [Brey] is a terrific head coach. He spent eight wonderful years with us and he helped us immensely. The fact that he's done so well here is not surprising to me.”
On Bonzie Colson defending Jahlil Okafor:
“What happens with Jahlil [Okafor], it's not just this game, is that they allow a lot of contact. The kid [Colson] played hard; he played really hard and did a really good job, and he had help too. Jahlil had a heck of a game. If he had hit those free throws we'd be talking about Jahlil having the amazing game, not Grant. Jahlil had a great game. We scored 73 points and had an opportunity to score a few more than that.”
On responding to Notre Dame's run:
“You're going to get a run from them. We had a run; that's why we had a ten-point lead. When two teams like this are playing that's the way it goes. We had the out of bounds under [the basket] with seven seconds [on the shot clock] with a ten-point lead and we should have gotten something from it. We lost the ball and we were in position to get fouled or to get a three-point play. That was a huge play right there. Then when they came down, there was a loose ball that we had an opportunity to get, but they got it and we fouled. They hit one free throw, then missed and got two points. Those two exchanges, if you do them right, you're up by 12 or 13, or at the very least you're up by ten with the ball. That's what happens in games. You have to beat other people when they're playing well. They're good and they're playing well. Those are critical plays that if you make then you don't have the end of the game. When they did take the lead, I thought we responded well. We got three opportunities to score and I think we got one point from it because of missed free throws. That gives the other team life. I thought we played winning basketball. I'm not down on our team about that. We have to keep learning, we're a young group. We just have to keep trying to get better.”
On playing in a hostile environment:
“They're always prepared for it. Our guys were not afraid to play here. We didn't lose because of a crowd; we lost because Notre Dame made a few more plays. We would rather play where people are interested in us playing. They've been really interested in us playing for about 25 years. The crowd was great; it's good for the ACC, it's good for Mike [Brey]. You want that.”
On officials allowing too much contact in the post:
“There's no question about it. What you can do there [the post] and what you can't do out on the perimeter are two totally different worlds. It's a tough area to officiate, but there's no question that there's a lot [of contact].”
Duke Guard Tyus Jones
On Jerian Grant's shot at the end of the game:
“I was trying to make it tough on him and he just made an unbelievable play. He got a deflection and we weren't able to come up with the loose ball and he made an unbelievable shot. He's a good player and he got it rolling. He's the heart and soul of their team. He stepped up for them today. If we would have gotten the loose ball, it may have turned some things around. We made some plays today and did the right thing. It's a tough loss for us.”
On Notre Dame's comeback:
“They just went on their run. Basketball is a game of runs and they went on theirs. It was just a few small things that we didn't capitalize on. I think we missed a shot and there was a loose ball that we didn't come up with. There were just some small things and if we had capitalized on them, things could have swung our way. We have to regroup and try to do the little things.”
On how this loss feels compared to others:
“We played well tonight. We played well enough to win the game and should have won the game. It hurts because at Miami and NC State we didn't play well. Tonight we played well and had the lead most of the game.”
Duke Guard Quinn Cook
On Jerian Grant's assist to Steve Vasturia:
“Tyus (Jones) did a good job that time, but Jerian just hit a tough shot. We're not supposed to leave the corner. We had Jerian taking a fade away and he hit Vasturia for the three pointer.”
On defending a team with great shooters:
“We have to make everyone work. We don't want to help too much to give them space for shots. We have to get a hand up there. They made some tough shots in the second half and at the end of the game.”
On Jerian's performance today:
“It's very difficult. Jerian is 6'6, 6'5 and can see over us. He did a great job. He's one of my best friends so I'm happy for him.”
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
Opening Statement:
“That one absolutely lived up to the hype. Two really good teams going at it. I told my team after the game, 'Down 10, you've got them right where you want them, don't you fellas? Thanks a lot. Thanks for doing that to me again.' We make a habit of it, but you can't say enough about our two seniors tonight for making us believe and helping us win. So, again, proud of our group. I think we continue to get better. It's February and we're still getting better.”
On Steve Vasturia's shot at the end of the game after not making a FG:
“I think his percentage when they're crunch time shots, big shots, it's well over 50 percent. He didn't get any clean looks. They kind of smothered him. One of the things that bothered us was their ball pressure. We turned it over in the first half. They athletically switched stuff. But Jerian [Grant] did such a great job. That's such a pro move what he did there, backing down and then finding a shooter in the corner. But I think we have a lot of confidence in Steve rising up to take it.”
On Pat Connaughton's return sparking a run:
“I was yelling in a timeout, 'Where's Pat?' They said, 'He's in the tunnel. He'll need two more minutes.' I'm thinking, 'Well then I should call two more timeouts until I can put him back in.' But we did get him back in there. He took a heck of a spill. But what a warrior. Again, Grant and Connaughton. I always felt in the offseason after a tough season last year, with those two guys we've got a shot. Those two guys are rocks, they're really talented guys, they've won together a lot. We've got a chance with those guys setting the tone.”
On Bonzie Colson providing a spark:
“Bonzie's been that guy for us. One thing about Bonzie, he is not afraid. He is unafraid. He loves the moment. I think he defended the heck undersized with [Jahlil] Okafor. But he bothered him with his length and he was flying around and his quickness. He was able to stay with Okafor a bunch. We discovered something the week Zach [Auguste] was out in Bonzie Colson and it is a key, key piece to our team right now.”
On getting victories against Coach Krzyzewski:
“It's funny, I don't really look at it like that. I've been a coach 20 years, and again I owe a lot to Mike. We talked a little bit before and I congratulated him and told him I was honored to be a part of some of that run. But it's about our team now, and when our program can beat the programs like Duke and North Carolina, especially now that we're in this league, it's a great endorsement of who we are in this league and becoming a factor again like we did in the Big East. We had to do it in the Big East with Syracuse, Georgetown, and UConn. And you had to get those guys to be taken seriously in the league. And certainly you've got North Carolina and Duke already this year. OK, these guys do belong in the SEC.”
On the team's defense at the end of the game:
“It's funny, this group, they've been down. But the last seven, eight minutes of games, we've guarded the heck out of people. And we switch a lot of stuff, and we just kind of lock in there. I know we're thoroughly exhausted, but we kind of fight through it. And we really have defended to win, to come back. Yeah, we make big shots and Grant gets going, but it's locking in defensively when it's really on the line. I don't know why we have to do that when we're down 10. Maybe we can do it down three at Pittsburgh. I'll talk about that tomorrow.”
On Bonzie Colson's physicality with Jahlil Okafor:
“I told Bonz this yesterday in practice. I said, 'Bonz, at Georgia Tech, you got one bloody nose. You may need to get two or three on Wednesday. Can I count on you?' He goes, 'No problem, Coach!' So he knows he can be physical, but his length and his quickness, I think. He was always around him. And Okafor's a special talent. But our feeling was, if you start helping too much, he's a really good passer and you can't let them scorch you from the arc. I felt if we were giving up twos, we would hopefully score enough to escape, even though at times when he's burying us and jump hooking us over and over again, I'm thinking, 'You still want to give up twos, right, Mike? You still want to give up twos?' I'm talking myself into it. We did go zone one possession in the second half in the midst of the comeback. [Quinn] Cook missed a three. That change of gears helped us a little bit, but you just didn't want them knocking down 10 threes.”
On Jerian Grant's deep three-point jumper:
“Whatever Jerian wants to do. When he's feeling it like that. I'll give you a great one the other night at NC State. I've got (Pat) Connaughton on the bench, he's got two fouls and we're getting thumped pretty good in the first half, but I'm thinking, 'Maybe we just get to halftime, we've got to get a little bit of a run.' It's at 14-12, I'm thinking, 'OK, right where we want them. We're all right, we'll get Pat in the second half.' Jerian looks at him, and he goes, 'We need him.' Pat, get in the game. Jerian has a lot of say on this. He's got a big basketball IQ. He knows our sets, he knows our system. God, he loves the moment. He is such a bright lights, big stage guy. He's really clutch.”
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was a heck of a basketball game. I thought our guys played winning basketball and obviously they did too. Grant had a great game. He's a terrific player, so he's going to have a great game. They're unbelievably well-coached; they're together; they're a tough team to defend. For us, we'll look at this as some missed opportunities. We had 13 offensive rebounds and nine points off them. There were somewhere around 6-8 finishes right by the bucket where that ball wouldn't go in. Especially in the first half, we had at least five, maybe six of them that were right there. And when you go 10-20 from the free throw line that doesn't help; missed opportunities. When the game got right down to the end, Grant made that bucket. That was a heck of a bucket; a fortunate bucket, but a heck of a bucket. On that next play, we should not have left (Steve) Vasturia. There's two seconds [on the shot-clock], you have to make Grant take a two-point shot, which we were, and then we left him [Vasturia] and the kid hit a huge shot. I thought they played winning basketball; I thought we played winning basketball, but we have to cash in on the opportunities that are free, and the opportunities that are close. Hopefully we'll get that.”
On his relationship with Mike Brey:
“I want all of my assistants to be head coaches, and a lot of them have been. They've all become really good, obviously Mike [Brey] is a terrific head coach. He spent eight wonderful years with us and he helped us immensely. The fact that he's done so well here is not surprising to me.”
On Bonzie Colson defending Jahlil Okafor:
“What happens with Jahlil [Okafor], it's not just this game, is that they allow a lot of contact. The kid [Colson] played hard; he played really hard and did a really good job, and he had help too. Jahlil had a heck of a game. If he had hit those free throws we'd be talking about Jahlil having the amazing game, not Grant. Jahlil had a great game. We scored 73 points and had an opportunity to score a few more than that.”
On responding to Notre Dame's run:
“You're going to get a run from them. We had a run; that's why we had a ten-point lead. When two teams like this are playing that's the way it goes. We had the out of bounds under [the basket] with seven seconds [on the shot clock] with a ten-point lead and we should have gotten something from it. We lost the ball and we were in position to get fouled or to get a three-point play. That was a huge play right there. Then when they came down, there was a loose ball that we had an opportunity to get, but they got it and we fouled. They hit one free throw, then missed and got two points. Those two exchanges, if you do them right, you're up by 12 or 13, or at the very least you're up by ten with the ball. That's what happens in games. You have to beat other people when they're playing well. They're good and they're playing well. Those are critical plays that if you make then you don't have the end of the game. When they did take the lead, I thought we responded well. We got three opportunities to score and I think we got one point from it because of missed free throws. That gives the other team life. I thought we played winning basketball. I'm not down on our team about that. We have to keep learning, we're a young group. We just have to keep trying to get better.”
On playing in a hostile environment:
“They're always prepared for it. Our guys were not afraid to play here. We didn't lose because of a crowd; we lost because Notre Dame made a few more plays. We would rather play where people are interested in us playing. They've been really interested in us playing for about 25 years. The crowd was great; it's good for the ACC, it's good for Mike [Brey]. You want that.”
On officials allowing too much contact in the post:
“There's no question about it. What you can do there [the post] and what you can't do out on the perimeter are two totally different worlds. It's a tough area to officiate, but there's no question that there's a lot [of contact].”
Duke Guard Tyus Jones
On Jerian Grant's shot at the end of the game:
“I was trying to make it tough on him and he just made an unbelievable play. He got a deflection and we weren't able to come up with the loose ball and he made an unbelievable shot. He's a good player and he got it rolling. He's the heart and soul of their team. He stepped up for them today. If we would have gotten the loose ball, it may have turned some things around. We made some plays today and did the right thing. It's a tough loss for us.”
On Notre Dame's comeback:
“They just went on their run. Basketball is a game of runs and they went on theirs. It was just a few small things that we didn't capitalize on. I think we missed a shot and there was a loose ball that we didn't come up with. There were just some small things and if we had capitalized on them, things could have swung our way. We have to regroup and try to do the little things.”
On how this loss feels compared to others:
“We played well tonight. We played well enough to win the game and should have won the game. It hurts because at Miami and NC State we didn't play well. Tonight we played well and had the lead most of the game.”
Duke Guard Quinn Cook
On Jerian Grant's assist to Steve Vasturia:
“Tyus (Jones) did a good job that time, but Jerian just hit a tough shot. We're not supposed to leave the corner. We had Jerian taking a fade away and he hit Vasturia for the three pointer.”
On defending a team with great shooters:
“We have to make everyone work. We don't want to help too much to give them space for shots. We have to get a hand up there. They made some tough shots in the second half and at the end of the game.”
On Jerian's performance today:
“It's very difficult. Jerian is 6'6, 6'5 and can see over us. He did a great job. He's one of my best friends so I'm happy for him.”
Notre Dame Head Coach Mike Brey
Opening Statement:
“That one absolutely lived up to the hype. Two really good teams going at it. I told my team after the game, 'Down 10, you've got them right where you want them, don't you fellas? Thanks a lot. Thanks for doing that to me again.' We make a habit of it, but you can't say enough about our two seniors tonight for making us believe and helping us win. So, again, proud of our group. I think we continue to get better. It's February and we're still getting better.”
On Steve Vasturia's shot at the end of the game after not making a FG:
“I think his percentage when they're crunch time shots, big shots, it's well over 50 percent. He didn't get any clean looks. They kind of smothered him. One of the things that bothered us was their ball pressure. We turned it over in the first half. They athletically switched stuff. But Jerian [Grant] did such a great job. That's such a pro move what he did there, backing down and then finding a shooter in the corner. But I think we have a lot of confidence in Steve rising up to take it.”
On Pat Connaughton's return sparking a run:
“I was yelling in a timeout, 'Where's Pat?' They said, 'He's in the tunnel. He'll need two more minutes.' I'm thinking, 'Well then I should call two more timeouts until I can put him back in.' But we did get him back in there. He took a heck of a spill. But what a warrior. Again, Grant and Connaughton. I always felt in the offseason after a tough season last year, with those two guys we've got a shot. Those two guys are rocks, they're really talented guys, they've won together a lot. We've got a chance with those guys setting the tone.”
On Bonzie Colson providing a spark:
“Bonzie's been that guy for us. One thing about Bonzie, he is not afraid. He is unafraid. He loves the moment. I think he defended the heck undersized with [Jahlil] Okafor. But he bothered him with his length and he was flying around and his quickness. He was able to stay with Okafor a bunch. We discovered something the week Zach [Auguste] was out in Bonzie Colson and it is a key, key piece to our team right now.”
On getting victories against Coach Krzyzewski:
“It's funny, I don't really look at it like that. I've been a coach 20 years, and again I owe a lot to Mike. We talked a little bit before and I congratulated him and told him I was honored to be a part of some of that run. But it's about our team now, and when our program can beat the programs like Duke and North Carolina, especially now that we're in this league, it's a great endorsement of who we are in this league and becoming a factor again like we did in the Big East. We had to do it in the Big East with Syracuse, Georgetown, and UConn. And you had to get those guys to be taken seriously in the league. And certainly you've got North Carolina and Duke already this year. OK, these guys do belong in the SEC.”
On the team's defense at the end of the game:
“It's funny, this group, they've been down. But the last seven, eight minutes of games, we've guarded the heck out of people. And we switch a lot of stuff, and we just kind of lock in there. I know we're thoroughly exhausted, but we kind of fight through it. And we really have defended to win, to come back. Yeah, we make big shots and Grant gets going, but it's locking in defensively when it's really on the line. I don't know why we have to do that when we're down 10. Maybe we can do it down three at Pittsburgh. I'll talk about that tomorrow.”
On Bonzie Colson's physicality with Jahlil Okafor:
“I told Bonz this yesterday in practice. I said, 'Bonz, at Georgia Tech, you got one bloody nose. You may need to get two or three on Wednesday. Can I count on you?' He goes, 'No problem, Coach!' So he knows he can be physical, but his length and his quickness, I think. He was always around him. And Okafor's a special talent. But our feeling was, if you start helping too much, he's a really good passer and you can't let them scorch you from the arc. I felt if we were giving up twos, we would hopefully score enough to escape, even though at times when he's burying us and jump hooking us over and over again, I'm thinking, 'You still want to give up twos, right, Mike? You still want to give up twos?' I'm talking myself into it. We did go zone one possession in the second half in the midst of the comeback. [Quinn] Cook missed a three. That change of gears helped us a little bit, but you just didn't want them knocking down 10 threes.”
On Jerian Grant's deep three-point jumper:
“Whatever Jerian wants to do. When he's feeling it like that. I'll give you a great one the other night at NC State. I've got (Pat) Connaughton on the bench, he's got two fouls and we're getting thumped pretty good in the first half, but I'm thinking, 'Maybe we just get to halftime, we've got to get a little bit of a run.' It's at 14-12, I'm thinking, 'OK, right where we want them. We're all right, we'll get Pat in the second half.' Jerian looks at him, and he goes, 'We need him.' Pat, get in the game. Jerian has a lot of say on this. He's got a big basketball IQ. He knows our sets, he knows our system. God, he loves the moment. He is such a bright lights, big stage guy. He's really clutch.”
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