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Quotes: Duke 92, Siena 74
11/13/2015 10:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“We played a really good team tonight. But before starting the press conference, I just want to recognize Mr. [Roy] Kramer, who is in the audience. In the last half century, if you had to pick five people in college athletics who has had an amazing impact on the progress of college athletics, it depends on who's voting, but he would be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. He would be in that Republican or Democratic debate. It's an honor to have you here. I thought Siena played really hard and well. He [Jimmy Patsos] has a veteran team, four juniors and a senior. I thought they played that way. They're more physical than we are, especially when we go young. That's the biggest thing that our young guys have to get accustomed to. They're going to play against people who are more physically mature than them. That's the difference between our freshmen last year and this year. [Justise] Winslow and [Jahlil] Okafor were 25 years-old maturity wise, physically. Winslow was probably that mentally, too. That's why he is doing such a good job with Miami. Tyus [Jones] was the constant point guard and steady. I've told you that our freshman class is different. They're talented. Overall, we played well. Amile [Jefferson] and Marshall [Plumlee] played terrific inside. Amile, coming off the injury, was sensational tonight. Grayson [Allen] was explosive and drove and played with amazing vigor. We've had to watch Matt [Jones]. Matt hasn't practiced that much. Matt played so well and like a veteran. He was 1-for-5 at one point tonight and you never saw that in his play. He's still playing really well, hard, talking and he ends up 4-for-8. He doesn't even know how many points he scored. Right now, it's not that our freshmen are selfish or anything, they hang their hats too much on whether or not the ball goes in. It didn't go in so there is not talk. It's just a matter of getting maturity in that regard. I asked them afterwards, did Marshall or Amile ever say anything, like to Brandon [Ingram] after he missed, like don't shoot? No, they didn't. They said keep shooting. They're surrounded by that and they need to just dive in. I thought maybe they were a little bit nervous tonight. First start, first game. So, we need to grow up. Overall, good. We had a 29-point lead then the last few minutes we really played horribly and they kept playing They played hard and well. Hopefully, we can have a quick turnaround and do well tomorrow night before heading on the road for three games.”
On the low number of assists:
“I think we scored off the dribble. Our thing was to drive, so you're not going to get an assist. Now, if Brandon goes 5-for-9 from the three and Derryck [Thornton] passes we have 15 assists. The assists were there, the shot didn't go in. We are 6-for-25 from three. We had open shots, but sometimes the balls don't go in. We wanted to drive the ball and Grayson was spectacular with driving it.”
On Grayson Allen's performance:
“I'm not saying he can do that every game, but that shouldn't be a surprise. Grayson is a really good player. Luke [Kennard] will be that way, and Brandon, too. For Brandon, the shot was there and the drives were there too. He's 4-for-6 from the line and should probably get to the line a little more.”
On Siena's performance:
“Their whole team impressed me. I think Jimmy has done a great job with his program, not surprising. One, he is a really good coach and an enthusiastic coach. Kids love to play for him. He plays the style that allows his kids to play basketball. They played the full 40 minutes tonight. [Marquis] Wright does a great job for them. I thought [Lavon] Long was really good tonight, too. I thought their team was good. Wright had four fouls. With an older team, we should be able to do some things that we didn't do tonight. He got matched up on Grayson, so we had a call to isolate. We isolated him and he got his fourth foul. A few plays later, we got the same thing. I told Grayson same call and he took a jump shot. You need to drive it again. I think he scored 12 points after that. Things like that that our team last year would have done, we need to do that. The game is played in a number of different ways. There aren't as many stop actions in our sport, so you have to be able to communicate and function there. I was impressed with Siena. We prepared that way. We were ready to play.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
“I think we did pretty good. It's the first official game of the season with a young team. There's obviously a lot that we can improve, but I think for the first night we did pretty good. Tomorrow we'll review the game and move on to Bryant.”
When asked about his attacking the rim more aggressively this year:
“I think definitely that's something I'm always going to look to do is attack. Tonight I was given open lanes to get all the way to the rim. Some nights it might be kick-outs like we did in the second half, but I'm always going to look to [attack].”
When asked if he feels any pressure to be the next star at Duke:
“I don't feel any pressure from outside. We've always been big about listening to one voice, and the one voice we listen to is Coach [Mike Krzyzewski]. For me, I would expect myself to have improvements from last year coming in. The fact that other people expect that too, it's nice to hear that, but it doesn't put any extra pressure on me.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
On what Duke did defensively after Siena's initial push early in the game:
“We settled down. We came out a little anxious, a little giddy, and that's expected in the first actual game. They were a good team, but once our guys really started playing Duke defense, got into the comfort of the game, playing hard, talking, making reads. I thought we did an excellent job in that last half of the first half of playing real Duke defense and that helped us build that lead.”
On his offensive output tonight:
“It's just about playing, taking what the defense gives you. But most importantly, it's our team. Our shooters open up the lanes for us, Grayson [Allen] driving puts pressure on the defense to rotate over, and things like that. It's a total team effort, and I thought our guys did a great job tonight, offensively and defensively, of just being all-around. And that's what I'm trying to make sure we're doing, no matter if it's scoring, rebounding, talking, playing defense, just being a guy who leads this group. That's all I want to do, and that's all that I want to have at the end of the game is that Duke wins. I'll be fine no matter what else happens.”
When asked if he had focused on improving his offensive game during the offseason:
“Definitely just working on my overall game, being able to put the ball on the floor, make reads and make plays – just being out there and being a basketball player. I'm not worrying about position or anything like that, just being a player. That's what we have on this team. We have players. We have guys that can do a lot of different things. We can be really big or we can go small, and we can still compete with all of those lineups. It's really great to have a unique team, to have guys that can do multiple things on the floor offensively and defensively.”
Duke Senior Marshall Plumlee
“I thought there were some things we did well out there and definitely areas for improvement, but I think that's to be said with any first game. I'm really proud of the effort by Amile Jefferson and Grayson Allen and Matt Jones, the way they led tonight. We're going to go back and watch the film and see what we can work on and [could've] done better.”
“Siena is a great team, and we knew that coming in. They're an older group, they're very talented, and they played tremendously hard tonight, so we have to give them credit where credit is due. But I'm glad that we were able to turn it around and come away with a win.”
On how the preparation is different for back-to-back games and what Duke can learn from it:
“It's a great opportunity for us to get used to preparing in such a short span of time, because at different points in the season and at the end of the season in tournaments, you're going to be put in situations like this. So now we get to see how are we going to handle it, how are we going to take care of our bodies, how are we going to focus and pay attention to Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] so that we can turn around and be successful in just one day. It's a great opportunity.”
Siena Head Coach Jimmy Patsos
Opening Statement:
“First off, I'd just like to thank everybody here for having us- the Gazelle Group, Coach K, and his staff. It's a real honor to come to Cameron. Siena has this great tradition for a mid-major school and it was just a thrill to bring our fans here. We brought 30 people on a charter plane here and that was unbelievable for us. And on Grayson Allen's dunk they really got to see Cameron. Just a great place to play; a great experience for the kids. I thought that we fought for 40 minutes. We certainly weren't perfect, we have a lot of things to work on, but I've got four freshmen that I play so I was looking forward to this game. I knew I would get their attention by what went on out there today. We did more good than bad. They are really talented. They are long, they are defensive, and they are big. It was a good experience. I would have liked to have had the game a little closer to see what we would have maybe done down the stretch, but we are learning and it was a great trip, great experience, and thanks for having us.”
On Grayson Allen:
“Everybody knows he's good. The crazy thing was last year's Final Four just gave everyone a sneak preview of him, but everyone knew how good he was. He's really athletic and he really competes - athletic for a point guard, that's for sure.”
On trapping off of the inbound:
“I used to work for Gary Williams forever and we just trap. I worked 15 years for Gary Williams and that's what we do- we trap on the inbound, we trap on the sidelines. You get some steals that way. I wanted to create a little tempo that way. We couldn't just let them run, dictate it. They are too big. We like to trap. We are trying to win the MAC, which is a really good conference, but it's not the ACC, so some of our stuff works better.”
On preparing for Duke:
“Florida Southern was usable. They won the National Championship last year in Division II, and Livingstone, they did some good stuff to help us. It's different when it's Division I. Our tape will help the next team, and the next team. But if you think I wanted [Jahlil] Okafor and [Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow] out there, that answer is no. I was glad those three were gone. That was no problem; I can adjust to film without those three. We exchange exhibitions and scrimmages. He plays two exhibitions, while a lot of people have a closed scrimmage. [Luke] Kennard making his shots, I know he's a leftie. At least [Derryck] Thornton is our size player. He's going to get better. Everyone knows he's really young. [Grayson] Allen, that little Euro-step, I didn't think it was that good until I saw it in person. I knew we were in trouble then.”
On where the team is at now:
“I am going to play one freshman at a time for a while. I think that we have really nice pieces. Javion Ogunyemi, great kid, good player. Brett Bisping, got to get Brett some more shots. Lavon [Long] took a few interesting shots, but competed, and Ryan [Oliver] rebounded. I think we have really good five or six guys. The Siena fan base is rabid and our young guys are good, but they aren't as good as they think. My message in the locker room was, 'That was really good, but I hope you learn college basketball is tougher than you think.' You think you have a layup, they knock it off your leg. You think you have a free throw or a rebound, all of the sudden they are swatting it. You think you have an open three and their guy is closing out on you. We want to win the MAC, and that's going to help us, playing against the top program in the country. The young guys are going to learn. We had some interesting chats. It's the extra play. You've got to get it and finish. We got it, but then we couldn't finish. The young guys are going to learn. I thought Evan Fisher wasn't bad out there either. We will be good. I am worried about Sunday [at Wisconsin]. I don't want to be too happy losing by 18, but there was no yelling or anything. We will see what the aggregate score is - they have eight teams they play at our level. We will see how that goes for them.”
Opening Statement:
“We played a really good team tonight. But before starting the press conference, I just want to recognize Mr. [Roy] Kramer, who is in the audience. In the last half century, if you had to pick five people in college athletics who has had an amazing impact on the progress of college athletics, it depends on who's voting, but he would be 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5. He would be in that Republican or Democratic debate. It's an honor to have you here. I thought Siena played really hard and well. He [Jimmy Patsos] has a veteran team, four juniors and a senior. I thought they played that way. They're more physical than we are, especially when we go young. That's the biggest thing that our young guys have to get accustomed to. They're going to play against people who are more physically mature than them. That's the difference between our freshmen last year and this year. [Justise] Winslow and [Jahlil] Okafor were 25 years-old maturity wise, physically. Winslow was probably that mentally, too. That's why he is doing such a good job with Miami. Tyus [Jones] was the constant point guard and steady. I've told you that our freshman class is different. They're talented. Overall, we played well. Amile [Jefferson] and Marshall [Plumlee] played terrific inside. Amile, coming off the injury, was sensational tonight. Grayson [Allen] was explosive and drove and played with amazing vigor. We've had to watch Matt [Jones]. Matt hasn't practiced that much. Matt played so well and like a veteran. He was 1-for-5 at one point tonight and you never saw that in his play. He's still playing really well, hard, talking and he ends up 4-for-8. He doesn't even know how many points he scored. Right now, it's not that our freshmen are selfish or anything, they hang their hats too much on whether or not the ball goes in. It didn't go in so there is not talk. It's just a matter of getting maturity in that regard. I asked them afterwards, did Marshall or Amile ever say anything, like to Brandon [Ingram] after he missed, like don't shoot? No, they didn't. They said keep shooting. They're surrounded by that and they need to just dive in. I thought maybe they were a little bit nervous tonight. First start, first game. So, we need to grow up. Overall, good. We had a 29-point lead then the last few minutes we really played horribly and they kept playing They played hard and well. Hopefully, we can have a quick turnaround and do well tomorrow night before heading on the road for three games.”
On the low number of assists:
“I think we scored off the dribble. Our thing was to drive, so you're not going to get an assist. Now, if Brandon goes 5-for-9 from the three and Derryck [Thornton] passes we have 15 assists. The assists were there, the shot didn't go in. We are 6-for-25 from three. We had open shots, but sometimes the balls don't go in. We wanted to drive the ball and Grayson was spectacular with driving it.”
On Grayson Allen's performance:
“I'm not saying he can do that every game, but that shouldn't be a surprise. Grayson is a really good player. Luke [Kennard] will be that way, and Brandon, too. For Brandon, the shot was there and the drives were there too. He's 4-for-6 from the line and should probably get to the line a little more.”
On Siena's performance:
“Their whole team impressed me. I think Jimmy has done a great job with his program, not surprising. One, he is a really good coach and an enthusiastic coach. Kids love to play for him. He plays the style that allows his kids to play basketball. They played the full 40 minutes tonight. [Marquis] Wright does a great job for them. I thought [Lavon] Long was really good tonight, too. I thought their team was good. Wright had four fouls. With an older team, we should be able to do some things that we didn't do tonight. He got matched up on Grayson, so we had a call to isolate. We isolated him and he got his fourth foul. A few plays later, we got the same thing. I told Grayson same call and he took a jump shot. You need to drive it again. I think he scored 12 points after that. Things like that that our team last year would have done, we need to do that. The game is played in a number of different ways. There aren't as many stop actions in our sport, so you have to be able to communicate and function there. I was impressed with Siena. We prepared that way. We were ready to play.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
“I think we did pretty good. It's the first official game of the season with a young team. There's obviously a lot that we can improve, but I think for the first night we did pretty good. Tomorrow we'll review the game and move on to Bryant.”
When asked about his attacking the rim more aggressively this year:
“I think definitely that's something I'm always going to look to do is attack. Tonight I was given open lanes to get all the way to the rim. Some nights it might be kick-outs like we did in the second half, but I'm always going to look to [attack].”
When asked if he feels any pressure to be the next star at Duke:
“I don't feel any pressure from outside. We've always been big about listening to one voice, and the one voice we listen to is Coach [Mike Krzyzewski]. For me, I would expect myself to have improvements from last year coming in. The fact that other people expect that too, it's nice to hear that, but it doesn't put any extra pressure on me.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
On what Duke did defensively after Siena's initial push early in the game:
“We settled down. We came out a little anxious, a little giddy, and that's expected in the first actual game. They were a good team, but once our guys really started playing Duke defense, got into the comfort of the game, playing hard, talking, making reads. I thought we did an excellent job in that last half of the first half of playing real Duke defense and that helped us build that lead.”
On his offensive output tonight:
“It's just about playing, taking what the defense gives you. But most importantly, it's our team. Our shooters open up the lanes for us, Grayson [Allen] driving puts pressure on the defense to rotate over, and things like that. It's a total team effort, and I thought our guys did a great job tonight, offensively and defensively, of just being all-around. And that's what I'm trying to make sure we're doing, no matter if it's scoring, rebounding, talking, playing defense, just being a guy who leads this group. That's all I want to do, and that's all that I want to have at the end of the game is that Duke wins. I'll be fine no matter what else happens.”
When asked if he had focused on improving his offensive game during the offseason:
“Definitely just working on my overall game, being able to put the ball on the floor, make reads and make plays – just being out there and being a basketball player. I'm not worrying about position or anything like that, just being a player. That's what we have on this team. We have players. We have guys that can do a lot of different things. We can be really big or we can go small, and we can still compete with all of those lineups. It's really great to have a unique team, to have guys that can do multiple things on the floor offensively and defensively.”
Duke Senior Marshall Plumlee
“I thought there were some things we did well out there and definitely areas for improvement, but I think that's to be said with any first game. I'm really proud of the effort by Amile Jefferson and Grayson Allen and Matt Jones, the way they led tonight. We're going to go back and watch the film and see what we can work on and [could've] done better.”
“Siena is a great team, and we knew that coming in. They're an older group, they're very talented, and they played tremendously hard tonight, so we have to give them credit where credit is due. But I'm glad that we were able to turn it around and come away with a win.”
On how the preparation is different for back-to-back games and what Duke can learn from it:
“It's a great opportunity for us to get used to preparing in such a short span of time, because at different points in the season and at the end of the season in tournaments, you're going to be put in situations like this. So now we get to see how are we going to handle it, how are we going to take care of our bodies, how are we going to focus and pay attention to Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] so that we can turn around and be successful in just one day. It's a great opportunity.”
Siena Head Coach Jimmy Patsos
Opening Statement:
“First off, I'd just like to thank everybody here for having us- the Gazelle Group, Coach K, and his staff. It's a real honor to come to Cameron. Siena has this great tradition for a mid-major school and it was just a thrill to bring our fans here. We brought 30 people on a charter plane here and that was unbelievable for us. And on Grayson Allen's dunk they really got to see Cameron. Just a great place to play; a great experience for the kids. I thought that we fought for 40 minutes. We certainly weren't perfect, we have a lot of things to work on, but I've got four freshmen that I play so I was looking forward to this game. I knew I would get their attention by what went on out there today. We did more good than bad. They are really talented. They are long, they are defensive, and they are big. It was a good experience. I would have liked to have had the game a little closer to see what we would have maybe done down the stretch, but we are learning and it was a great trip, great experience, and thanks for having us.”
On Grayson Allen:
“Everybody knows he's good. The crazy thing was last year's Final Four just gave everyone a sneak preview of him, but everyone knew how good he was. He's really athletic and he really competes - athletic for a point guard, that's for sure.”
On trapping off of the inbound:
“I used to work for Gary Williams forever and we just trap. I worked 15 years for Gary Williams and that's what we do- we trap on the inbound, we trap on the sidelines. You get some steals that way. I wanted to create a little tempo that way. We couldn't just let them run, dictate it. They are too big. We like to trap. We are trying to win the MAC, which is a really good conference, but it's not the ACC, so some of our stuff works better.”
On preparing for Duke:
“Florida Southern was usable. They won the National Championship last year in Division II, and Livingstone, they did some good stuff to help us. It's different when it's Division I. Our tape will help the next team, and the next team. But if you think I wanted [Jahlil] Okafor and [Tyus Jones and Justise Winslow] out there, that answer is no. I was glad those three were gone. That was no problem; I can adjust to film without those three. We exchange exhibitions and scrimmages. He plays two exhibitions, while a lot of people have a closed scrimmage. [Luke] Kennard making his shots, I know he's a leftie. At least [Derryck] Thornton is our size player. He's going to get better. Everyone knows he's really young. [Grayson] Allen, that little Euro-step, I didn't think it was that good until I saw it in person. I knew we were in trouble then.”
On where the team is at now:
“I am going to play one freshman at a time for a while. I think that we have really nice pieces. Javion Ogunyemi, great kid, good player. Brett Bisping, got to get Brett some more shots. Lavon [Long] took a few interesting shots, but competed, and Ryan [Oliver] rebounded. I think we have really good five or six guys. The Siena fan base is rabid and our young guys are good, but they aren't as good as they think. My message in the locker room was, 'That was really good, but I hope you learn college basketball is tougher than you think.' You think you have a layup, they knock it off your leg. You think you have a free throw or a rebound, all of the sudden they are swatting it. You think you have an open three and their guy is closing out on you. We want to win the MAC, and that's going to help us, playing against the top program in the country. The young guys are going to learn. We had some interesting chats. It's the extra play. You've got to get it and finish. We got it, but then we couldn't finish. The young guys are going to learn. I thought Evan Fisher wasn't bad out there either. We will be good. I am worried about Sunday [at Wisconsin]. I don't want to be too happy losing by 18, but there was no yelling or anything. We will see what the aggregate score is - they have eight teams they play at our level. We will see how that goes for them.”
Players Mentioned
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