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Men's Basketball
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Quotes: Duke 113, Bryant 75
11/14/2015 11:21:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“A lot of shooting tonight. A lot of three-point shooting tonight. I thought both teams played really hard. I was pleased with our guys' enthusiasm and how hard they played. I thought Bryant did the same thing. We're bigger than them and that helped us in the rebounding. We had a big advantage in rebounding and a lot of those were offensive rebounds. When you get 20 offensive rebounds, it translates into a lot of points. Their kids never gave up. We got a lot of good minutes for our guys. After a couple minutes, I just decided not to play Matt [Jones] the rest of the second half just as a precaution, not that he was hurt. He's not hurt or anything, but he's been not practicing as much because of the groin. We have a huge week coming up, three away games. It's a big game against Kentucky on Tuesday night in Chicago, so I wanted to make sure he was good. Our freshmen, I thought played with much better enthusiasm and more decisiveness than they did last night. It was a good night, 2 good games in 24 hours. I thought our crowd was great. I was concerned about 8 o'clock on a Saturday night with a game last night, football game, concert, and whatever else is going on here. There is a lot of stuff going on. The crowd was great. I want to thank them for being there. We're healthy and good. Practice tomorrow and start getting ready for Kentucky.”
On the freshmen's quick recovery:
“Actually, we had a breakfast for the team at 10 and then we watched. After every game we give them feedback, so we had a tough feedback tape for about an hour this morning. We do that in one location, just to separate it. For tonight's game, we will give them feedback tomorrow morning and then we will move on to Kentucky. The game's not closed until we give feedback. It was a tough feedback session and they responded really well. Then we did our preparation from Bryant. For young guys, a lot of times we had four freshmen and a sophomore on the court, and I thought they responded really well. I was pleased.”
On the feedback from Siena:
“I didn't think they talked well last night. Part of that, I think it's your first game at Duke, your first real game. For Brandon [Ingram], it's his first start. I reminded them that it's Grayson [Allen]'s first start last night, too. It was Marshall [Plumlee]'s first start in 2 years. We have a lot of young guys. Grayson and Marshall weren't into themselves last night, they were trying to help everybody. When you're young, sometimes your thoughts are just with you instead of talking. Tonight, they talked well. They were consumed with Duke. We saw that they played better. That's just a learning process that they have to go through.”
On Duke's defense:
“Our defense was pretty good last night until it was 88-59. That's why all these stats are sometimes crazy, because in the last 8 minutes of a ball game that you're winning, your defense isn't going to be as good. They're free shots and you have different subs. I didn't think they played with enthusiasm. We got that little run in the second half where we got some steals that Luke [Kennard] got and all the sudden they felt good. That's what we need to get going. 'Hey, that's a cool way of playing too' when we're playing defense like that.”
On Brandon Ingram's three-point shots:
“If you look at his threes, last night, at least 6 of them were with a guy flying at him, Brandon, at 6'9” can get your shot off. It's not a good shot, though. Tonight, he took good shots. Nothing's wrong with your shot, something is wrong with your shot selection. He can shoot the ball. Tonight he did and he let the game come to him a little more. You learn about that. I don't fault him for last night, you've got to learn. The shot fake is a good thing.”
On the team's assists:
“At half time, I told them, 'I'm not sure who is scoring, I just know we are because we have connecting plays.' When you connect like that, that's beautiful basketball. You're supposed to shoot it. The rhythm of the offense goes right to the shot. You're not going to do that all the time, but when you do get those exchanges, they're beautiful. Grayson, because he's driving the ball so well, he didn't have as many to the basket as he did last night, so we had kicks. That's good.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
“I think our guys have made great strides, leaps and bounds, and we've gotten better. It's been great to see the improvement of all our young guys and our returning guys, the confidence everyone's playing with. We're a really good team, and tonight I thought we did a great job after [Bryant] started off really hot, slowing them down, getting stops, and really playing Duke defense and letting that lead to great offense and sharing the ball.”
On how the first two regular season games have helped prepare Duke for Kentucky:
“I think these games were tremendous for us. They're going to help us for our next three games because our freshmen were able to grow up, get better in a short period of time, and to see what it feels like to play in front of a crowd and to play a real college game. And I thought they got so much better from yesterday to today, in sharing the ball and playing with confidence and just being acclimated to what it's like. Tuesday's going to be an amazing game [versus Kentucky]. It's a program game playing against a really good team. I think our guys are going to be ready. We've just got to listen to our coaching staff, follow our gameplan, and dive in.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
On the play of the freshmen tonight:
“I thought they improved a lot tonight. I thought they were more into the game, they talked a lot more, and they played with a lot more enthusiasm. Maybe it was jitters or something in the first game, but tonight I felt like they played great. I thought we played really well together tonight.”
“[After last night's game], we definitely had some talks on what we needed to improve on – and we did need to improve. Last night was our first win, but we still have to learn from winning so we don't have to lose just to learn. We definitely want to take each game and learn from it and that's what we were talking about. The coaches go through film with us and tell us what we need to improve on, and then we had a team meeting and the captains spoke. We're starting a journey here and that's our first game, so these freshmen don't know what a college basketball season is like, so we have to talk to them and get them through it. We don't want to have to lose to learn from something. We want to be able to learn from wins and keep winning. We want the freshmen to be really good, and they're going to have to be really good for us, so any improvement that we can get, we need to get it now.”
On how the first two regular season games have helped prepare Duke for Kentucky:
“These games have been good tests for us. We've played good teams. It's good to play games with a great crowd, and regular season games just have a different feel to them and a different kind of energy in the gym. It's also big for these freshmen – any experience they can get is good. Having two back-to-back is definitely getting us ready for the season.”
Duke Freshman Brandon Ingram
On what was different for Duke tonight compared to last night's game versus Siena:
“We were more relaxed before the game. We knew we had to talk more. We got after it defensively and it just led to offense. We got a lot of transition buckets, and we just made the extra pass tonight.”
When asked if he took any different approach or mentality into tonight's game versus last night's game:
“I just knew coming in I had to be more vocal. I think it helped me a lot. Last night I was very quiet. I try to get my offense to start going on defense so before I just started talking and let my defense lead me to my offense. It was a better reaction for it.”
On the upcoming matchup against Kentucky:
“Of course, we don't know anything about them right now, but when we get the scouting reports, we're going to look at them and get after it defensively. [We'll go through the] same preparation – our first road game and our first test game, so we're going to listen to Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and let the older guys lead us. No added pressure. I'm just worried about the guys in our locker room. I know these guys are going to take the pressure off of me and off of all the other guys, and we're just going to have a good time.”
Bryant Head Coach Tim O'Shea
Opening Statement:
“Most importantly, I thought they were really outstanding tonight shooting the three. They were tremendous. I mean anytime we doubled down or they had an open look it seemed like the ball was going in for them. The rebounding margin is probably a big function of athleticism. You know the smaller level we play at versus the level that they play at, but I explained to my guys that there is real difference when you play an elite team, a national championship contender. An example I gave them, when I was at Ohio University, my last season there we beat Maryland. We played Kansas who had won the national championship that year. We beat Maryland at Maryland, and we lost to Kansas by about the same margins we lost tonight. Next game, we beat a pretty great St. John's team, so the difference between playing that elite top five program and good teams is tremendous. I said, 'Look you guys put up 75 points, and we were able to make legitimate basketball plays.' There was a lot of good stuff for my team from the standpoint of the league that we play in, and I just think it was a tremendous privilege to play a game here at Duke. It really is. I call Duke the UCLA of my generation. When I was in high school, it was UCLA and John Wooden. Obviously for this generation it is Coach K and Duke University. There are so many positives for Bryant to be able to play a game here. Now, we are only in our fourth year of full eligibility at the Division 1 level, and I still have people ask me today 'Where's Bryant?' and 'Are you Division 1?'. Games like this, we really are able to get tremendous exposure for the school, but also for the athletic program. There are just so many tremendous positives. I am not upset at all. Our guys competed well and played hard. Obviously Duke has incredible talent, and we are a little overmatched in that area. I am not at all disappointed with our effort.”
On Hunter Ware's night:
“Yes, he is a sophomore. That is the role we are looking for him to have. We lost a kid who could really score the basket, and he is playing in Europe this year. We are looking for him to fill that void. I also thought our freshman, Nisre Zouzoa, who was able in his first college game, he went to a small high school outside of Boston, to come into Cameron and play as well as he did was incredibly impressive. He is a really good athlete, and he is going to be just an outstanding player for us. I thought our point guard, who I call the Bobby Hurley of the NEC, Shane McLaughlin, did a great job taking care of the basketball for virtually 40 minutes against relentless pressure from the Duke guards. They make it hard to run anything because they are long, and they overplay everything. I thought he did a really nice job handling the ball. You know we are not going to see that kind of defensive pressure in most of the games that we play.”
On three-point shooting:
“Yes, thank goodness for that. Well, they are a whole lot bigger than us, and we were not going to score a lot of baskets around the rim in a half-court offense. It just was not to be, so personally for us Nisre and Hunter really shot the ball well. Our New Zealander, Gus Riley, even knocked down a few because that is what he can do. That was encouraging for us. It really was. This Duke team obviously lost some great ones. A lot of teams are going to come in here and not fare as well as we did tonight especially in a non-conference game. It is tough when you catch Duke at a night where they are making shots like that from the perimeter. You really do not have any options. Going zone is a little scary for the way they were shooting the three. We went late zone. They actually missed a few, but I am not at all disappointed with our efforts.
On the biggest positives:
“From our guys, one is to be able to score 75 points against a team with the caliber of Duke. It was a good sign for us, and the way our guards handled themselves in such a hostile, tough environment. In terms of shooting the basketball, they handled it pretty well. I thought we competed well. Our freshman, Marcel Pettway, also made some plays. All in all, I think for our athletic program and for our university it was name recognition. We have been talking about this game since we knew about it last year. It has been a great way to focus our team in terms of getting ready in the spring and summer. It is just a real thrill. I played here once before when I was an assistant coach at Boston College, and I will never forget we came in ranked at #19. We had Troy Bell, and that is when they had Jason Williams and Boozer. We lost by 20, and next week we were ranked #11. That is how much respect people have when you play a reasonably close game in Cameron.”
Opening Statement:
“A lot of shooting tonight. A lot of three-point shooting tonight. I thought both teams played really hard. I was pleased with our guys' enthusiasm and how hard they played. I thought Bryant did the same thing. We're bigger than them and that helped us in the rebounding. We had a big advantage in rebounding and a lot of those were offensive rebounds. When you get 20 offensive rebounds, it translates into a lot of points. Their kids never gave up. We got a lot of good minutes for our guys. After a couple minutes, I just decided not to play Matt [Jones] the rest of the second half just as a precaution, not that he was hurt. He's not hurt or anything, but he's been not practicing as much because of the groin. We have a huge week coming up, three away games. It's a big game against Kentucky on Tuesday night in Chicago, so I wanted to make sure he was good. Our freshmen, I thought played with much better enthusiasm and more decisiveness than they did last night. It was a good night, 2 good games in 24 hours. I thought our crowd was great. I was concerned about 8 o'clock on a Saturday night with a game last night, football game, concert, and whatever else is going on here. There is a lot of stuff going on. The crowd was great. I want to thank them for being there. We're healthy and good. Practice tomorrow and start getting ready for Kentucky.”
On the freshmen's quick recovery:
“Actually, we had a breakfast for the team at 10 and then we watched. After every game we give them feedback, so we had a tough feedback tape for about an hour this morning. We do that in one location, just to separate it. For tonight's game, we will give them feedback tomorrow morning and then we will move on to Kentucky. The game's not closed until we give feedback. It was a tough feedback session and they responded really well. Then we did our preparation from Bryant. For young guys, a lot of times we had four freshmen and a sophomore on the court, and I thought they responded really well. I was pleased.”
On the feedback from Siena:
“I didn't think they talked well last night. Part of that, I think it's your first game at Duke, your first real game. For Brandon [Ingram], it's his first start. I reminded them that it's Grayson [Allen]'s first start last night, too. It was Marshall [Plumlee]'s first start in 2 years. We have a lot of young guys. Grayson and Marshall weren't into themselves last night, they were trying to help everybody. When you're young, sometimes your thoughts are just with you instead of talking. Tonight, they talked well. They were consumed with Duke. We saw that they played better. That's just a learning process that they have to go through.”
On Duke's defense:
“Our defense was pretty good last night until it was 88-59. That's why all these stats are sometimes crazy, because in the last 8 minutes of a ball game that you're winning, your defense isn't going to be as good. They're free shots and you have different subs. I didn't think they played with enthusiasm. We got that little run in the second half where we got some steals that Luke [Kennard] got and all the sudden they felt good. That's what we need to get going. 'Hey, that's a cool way of playing too' when we're playing defense like that.”
On Brandon Ingram's three-point shots:
“If you look at his threes, last night, at least 6 of them were with a guy flying at him, Brandon, at 6'9” can get your shot off. It's not a good shot, though. Tonight, he took good shots. Nothing's wrong with your shot, something is wrong with your shot selection. He can shoot the ball. Tonight he did and he let the game come to him a little more. You learn about that. I don't fault him for last night, you've got to learn. The shot fake is a good thing.”
On the team's assists:
“At half time, I told them, 'I'm not sure who is scoring, I just know we are because we have connecting plays.' When you connect like that, that's beautiful basketball. You're supposed to shoot it. The rhythm of the offense goes right to the shot. You're not going to do that all the time, but when you do get those exchanges, they're beautiful. Grayson, because he's driving the ball so well, he didn't have as many to the basket as he did last night, so we had kicks. That's good.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
“I think our guys have made great strides, leaps and bounds, and we've gotten better. It's been great to see the improvement of all our young guys and our returning guys, the confidence everyone's playing with. We're a really good team, and tonight I thought we did a great job after [Bryant] started off really hot, slowing them down, getting stops, and really playing Duke defense and letting that lead to great offense and sharing the ball.”
On how the first two regular season games have helped prepare Duke for Kentucky:
“I think these games were tremendous for us. They're going to help us for our next three games because our freshmen were able to grow up, get better in a short period of time, and to see what it feels like to play in front of a crowd and to play a real college game. And I thought they got so much better from yesterday to today, in sharing the ball and playing with confidence and just being acclimated to what it's like. Tuesday's going to be an amazing game [versus Kentucky]. It's a program game playing against a really good team. I think our guys are going to be ready. We've just got to listen to our coaching staff, follow our gameplan, and dive in.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
On the play of the freshmen tonight:
“I thought they improved a lot tonight. I thought they were more into the game, they talked a lot more, and they played with a lot more enthusiasm. Maybe it was jitters or something in the first game, but tonight I felt like they played great. I thought we played really well together tonight.”
“[After last night's game], we definitely had some talks on what we needed to improve on – and we did need to improve. Last night was our first win, but we still have to learn from winning so we don't have to lose just to learn. We definitely want to take each game and learn from it and that's what we were talking about. The coaches go through film with us and tell us what we need to improve on, and then we had a team meeting and the captains spoke. We're starting a journey here and that's our first game, so these freshmen don't know what a college basketball season is like, so we have to talk to them and get them through it. We don't want to have to lose to learn from something. We want to be able to learn from wins and keep winning. We want the freshmen to be really good, and they're going to have to be really good for us, so any improvement that we can get, we need to get it now.”
On how the first two regular season games have helped prepare Duke for Kentucky:
“These games have been good tests for us. We've played good teams. It's good to play games with a great crowd, and regular season games just have a different feel to them and a different kind of energy in the gym. It's also big for these freshmen – any experience they can get is good. Having two back-to-back is definitely getting us ready for the season.”
Duke Freshman Brandon Ingram
On what was different for Duke tonight compared to last night's game versus Siena:
“We were more relaxed before the game. We knew we had to talk more. We got after it defensively and it just led to offense. We got a lot of transition buckets, and we just made the extra pass tonight.”
When asked if he took any different approach or mentality into tonight's game versus last night's game:
“I just knew coming in I had to be more vocal. I think it helped me a lot. Last night I was very quiet. I try to get my offense to start going on defense so before I just started talking and let my defense lead me to my offense. It was a better reaction for it.”
On the upcoming matchup against Kentucky:
“Of course, we don't know anything about them right now, but when we get the scouting reports, we're going to look at them and get after it defensively. [We'll go through the] same preparation – our first road game and our first test game, so we're going to listen to Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] and let the older guys lead us. No added pressure. I'm just worried about the guys in our locker room. I know these guys are going to take the pressure off of me and off of all the other guys, and we're just going to have a good time.”
Bryant Head Coach Tim O'Shea
Opening Statement:
“Most importantly, I thought they were really outstanding tonight shooting the three. They were tremendous. I mean anytime we doubled down or they had an open look it seemed like the ball was going in for them. The rebounding margin is probably a big function of athleticism. You know the smaller level we play at versus the level that they play at, but I explained to my guys that there is real difference when you play an elite team, a national championship contender. An example I gave them, when I was at Ohio University, my last season there we beat Maryland. We played Kansas who had won the national championship that year. We beat Maryland at Maryland, and we lost to Kansas by about the same margins we lost tonight. Next game, we beat a pretty great St. John's team, so the difference between playing that elite top five program and good teams is tremendous. I said, 'Look you guys put up 75 points, and we were able to make legitimate basketball plays.' There was a lot of good stuff for my team from the standpoint of the league that we play in, and I just think it was a tremendous privilege to play a game here at Duke. It really is. I call Duke the UCLA of my generation. When I was in high school, it was UCLA and John Wooden. Obviously for this generation it is Coach K and Duke University. There are so many positives for Bryant to be able to play a game here. Now, we are only in our fourth year of full eligibility at the Division 1 level, and I still have people ask me today 'Where's Bryant?' and 'Are you Division 1?'. Games like this, we really are able to get tremendous exposure for the school, but also for the athletic program. There are just so many tremendous positives. I am not upset at all. Our guys competed well and played hard. Obviously Duke has incredible talent, and we are a little overmatched in that area. I am not at all disappointed with our effort.”
On Hunter Ware's night:
“Yes, he is a sophomore. That is the role we are looking for him to have. We lost a kid who could really score the basket, and he is playing in Europe this year. We are looking for him to fill that void. I also thought our freshman, Nisre Zouzoa, who was able in his first college game, he went to a small high school outside of Boston, to come into Cameron and play as well as he did was incredibly impressive. He is a really good athlete, and he is going to be just an outstanding player for us. I thought our point guard, who I call the Bobby Hurley of the NEC, Shane McLaughlin, did a great job taking care of the basketball for virtually 40 minutes against relentless pressure from the Duke guards. They make it hard to run anything because they are long, and they overplay everything. I thought he did a really nice job handling the ball. You know we are not going to see that kind of defensive pressure in most of the games that we play.”
On three-point shooting:
“Yes, thank goodness for that. Well, they are a whole lot bigger than us, and we were not going to score a lot of baskets around the rim in a half-court offense. It just was not to be, so personally for us Nisre and Hunter really shot the ball well. Our New Zealander, Gus Riley, even knocked down a few because that is what he can do. That was encouraging for us. It really was. This Duke team obviously lost some great ones. A lot of teams are going to come in here and not fare as well as we did tonight especially in a non-conference game. It is tough when you catch Duke at a night where they are making shots like that from the perimeter. You really do not have any options. Going zone is a little scary for the way they were shooting the three. We went late zone. They actually missed a few, but I am not at all disappointed with our efforts.
On the biggest positives:
“From our guys, one is to be able to score 75 points against a team with the caliber of Duke. It was a good sign for us, and the way our guards handled themselves in such a hostile, tough environment. In terms of shooting the basketball, they handled it pretty well. I thought we competed well. Our freshman, Marcel Pettway, also made some plays. All in all, I think for our athletic program and for our university it was name recognition. We have been talking about this game since we knew about it last year. It has been a great way to focus our team in terms of getting ready in the spring and summer. It is just a real thrill. I played here once before when I was an assistant coach at Boston College, and I will never forget we came in ranked at #19. We had Troy Bell, and that is when they had Jason Williams and Boozer. We lost by 20, and next week we were ranked #11. That is how much respect people have when you play a reasonably close game in Cameron.”
Players Mentioned
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