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Quotes: Duke 85, Utah State 52
11/29/2015 4:03:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“We played well today. We played start to finish on both ends of the court. We were really efficient and our defense was good. Our offensive execution, especially at the start of the second half, was terrific.
“Luke [Kennard] has been working so hard. To see him get going like that was good. I especially liked Grayson [Allen]'s reaction to Luke. That's what I love about my upperclassmen. They could not be happier when a kid does well. I thought it picked Grayson up to see Luke starting to hit [shots]. Luke played very well. Brandon [Ingram] played well, too. He didn't score as much, but over the last couple games Brandon has played really well. Not to single out Luke, but if you get 22 points on nine shots, that's not a bad night.”
On Luke Kennard's Shooting Performance:
“I don't think he's lost his confidence. He wasn't shooting the ball at the speed the game was. What I told him was that the game is the same speed in high school and college at the free throw line. So he was 14-for-14 shooting free throws.
“I told him, 'You're shooting your shots in the same way and getting to your shots at the same speed. You're not showing the right form. You need to pick up the pace – how you move.'
“You saw him coming off the baseline today. Jon [Scheyer] has been working with him more on increasing his speed. When Luke gets it, his shots today are real precise. He had some turnovers when he curled, but that will be a good move for him when he comes in because he has a good floater or can kick. It was just shooting at the speed he's going to need to with this competition. He's not in the right lane anymore; he's in the left lane. But Luke has worked at it and Jon has worked with him real hard at it.
“Luke has to be ready to shoot. He's not always ready to shoot. The ball comes to him at different times than it did in high school. But it's coming. I know how hard he's working. I would hope teachers would get excited when they see a student get it. Luke was getting it. That's exciting for me. I wanted Luke to see that excitement from me.”
On The Team's Man-to-Man Defense and the Process of the Season:
“We're going to keep working at it. We played well in man-to-man today. We talked well. I hope we can do it Wednesday. We just have to keep getting better in everything. It's a long, long season process wise. I do think with Luke [Kennard] and Brandon [Ingram] that this week was a really big one for them. They practiced very well. They practiced very hard. Not that they weren't before, but even more. They put more time into it. They're starting to get it a little bit more.”
On Grayson Allen:
“Grayson has been excellent, obviously. He has probably been one of the better players in the country, not just on our team. He's a unique player. He can defend, rebound, shoot and drive. We're trying to get him to talk. That'd be a good thing. On defense he doesn't talk a bunch. Overall, Grayson has been outstanding. I worry about him getting worn out. I was a little bit concerned about that today coming off of last week. It's a different thing when you put up those numbers.”
On the Team's Balance:
“We have eight guys who are going to play and should all consider themselves starters. It just depends on how it's going and what the other team is doing as to who could be in the game. We have to get Chase [Jeter] more experience. Derek [Thornton] and Luke [Kennard] are starters, too. Chase is building up that.
“I'm comfortable with how Brandon [Ingram] is playing. He needs to take a lot of shots. We have an unselfish team. Other guys are doing well and they're OK as long as Duke has more points than the other team. That's a nice group to coach when they're concerned about that score and not their score.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
On the keys to Duke's run to start the second half:
“[The key was] coming out explosive and not being settled or not being ok having a nine- or 10-point lead because [Utah State] is a really good team. [Another key was] making sure that we're coming out ready to crush somebody. They're really good so if you let them back into the game, that gives them confidence and it could be a really long night for us. So we came out and really just jumped on them and played really hard.”
“We pride ourselves on being strong in the post, not being weak, not being soft, being players and not letting guys just think that they can come into our paint. And then we're always talking, always communicating, and always being connected. When we're connected down low, it makes us stronger, tougher, and more confident.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
On the production by multiple Duke players today:
“I think it's great and as a team, that's what we want. We want to have a bunch of guys on the board with 15-16 points. It's beautiful basketball to see when Luke [Kennard] gets hot and he's shooting the ball really well and when Brandon [Ingram]'s attacking and flying after the boards. I think that's something that we're going to see more of as the season progresses and as these guys get more experience.”
On the play of Luke Kennard today:
“I think it can continue. Not to put any pressure on Luke, but I think we're going to see Luke get hot throughout the season and have more games like this. I think he's more than capable of it, and all the guys on the team like to see it. We want to see him shoot like this, and it's fun playing with him when he's like that. That's more of the Luke from the offseason and the one that we see in practice every day, knocking down shots like that. I think it'll continue and he's definitely capable of playing at that level.”
“We're really putting an emphasis on starting strong, and starting from the [opening] tip and starting the second half strong. We want to come out like we're shot out of a cannon. We put a big emphasis on defense at halftime and getting stops, and we came out in the second half and were able to do that.
Duke Freshman Luke Kennard
“We started out pretty strong, brought a lot of energy to the floor and when I came in, I just knew I had to bring a lot of energy to how we started the game. Playing great defense, having a lot of energy on the floor, just communicating with my teammates, it kind of helps on both ends of the floor, and today my teammates found me. I hit some open shots and that just helped throughout the entire game.”
On what Coach Mike Krzyzewski said to him when the team came back to the bench for a media time out after his three-point play:
“He said, 'There you go – that's what we want.' I could tell, when I looked at him in the eyes, he was very excited about how I was playing, how I was attacking, and the energy that I brought to the floor. I just knew then that that's what I need to do every single game. He hit me on the chest – I like when he does that because it builds confidence in me, and I know they want that from me.”
“Overall, in the first five games, my shot just wasn't falling. The coaches, I met with them, and they said it'll come as long as I just do the little dirty work like getting rebounds, playing great defense, bringing energy to the floor, my shot will come. I think tonight when I did those little things, my shot fell tonight and then my teammates, again, they did a great job of finding me when I was open.”
When asked how his shot felt during the early games when shots weren't falling:
“Some were just in and out. Shooters can have an off night – I had a few in a row, just to start the season, but we're going to build off of what we did today, keep working hard, and we'll see how it goes.”
Utah State Head Coach Tim Duryea
Opening Statement:
“A disappointing performance from our perspective, we are a better program than that, and I thought we were extremely selfish offensively and soft defensively and just a performance not to be proud of. I didn't think there was one redeeming quality about our performance. It was a tremendous atmosphere obviously, a tremendous place to play and an honor to play here and coach against Coach K, but I didn't think we responded to any of that in a positive way. That's about as blunt as I can be and that's what I told the players and that's how I feel about it. I think we are a program that's better than that and should have responded to this opportunity better than that. I am just extremely disappointed.”
On second half:
“We talked at halftime, it was their ball coming out so we made a couple of adjustments defensively that we thought would help us. It was not really a matter of X's and O's at that point; it was a matter of giving in mentally. I think we let the fact that it was tough for us on the other end wilt us down at that point and we really just got soft and the game just absolutely got away from us. We have to be more mature than that on the defensive end. Offensively when we did get the ball, you have to convert and you can't miss layups and get the ball five or six feet from the basket and come away without getting fouled or without scoring. Very demoralizing and we really let that affect us.”
On defensive performance:
“Maybe there was one bright spot in the game and [they] worked hard on the 1-3-1 and they used that really effectively at the beginning of the season. Whenever they struggled defensively, they jumped into that. It's a defense you don't see really often and our guys did a good job on that possession of moving the ball and attacking the defense; we got an open three in the corner and knocked it down. I thought we were selfish offensively, too many individual agendas tripped us up on the offensive end.”
On shooting performance:
“When you over dribble and when you don't play the right way, you are going to get low-percentage shots and you are not going to make many of them. They [Duke] are hard enough to play against; they make you scratch and claw. Those big guys are a presence defensively, they are experienced and they did a good job around the rim and they are going to make it hard for you even if you are doing the right things and have the right mindset, and we did not.”
On Luke Kennard's performance:
“I told him in the post-game handshake that he picked the wrong night to get it figured out. Obviously he is a talented kid who was a prolific scorer in high school and has come off to a slow start, but that happens to freshman guards. I was hoping it was one more game before he figured it out. He was phenomenal, curling screens, fading screens, shooting the three, [and] pulling up. I just thought he was tremendous.”
On moving forward:
“I told them in the post-game locker room that I wasn't happy with that performance. I wish we could play or practice tonight, but we have to travel. We have to be ready to go Tuesday night. We have a good Missouri Valley team on their floor. I think it has to do with our mentality defensively and a whole different mentality offensively that we need to take the floor with.”
Opening Statement:
“We played well today. We played start to finish on both ends of the court. We were really efficient and our defense was good. Our offensive execution, especially at the start of the second half, was terrific.
“Luke [Kennard] has been working so hard. To see him get going like that was good. I especially liked Grayson [Allen]'s reaction to Luke. That's what I love about my upperclassmen. They could not be happier when a kid does well. I thought it picked Grayson up to see Luke starting to hit [shots]. Luke played very well. Brandon [Ingram] played well, too. He didn't score as much, but over the last couple games Brandon has played really well. Not to single out Luke, but if you get 22 points on nine shots, that's not a bad night.”
On Luke Kennard's Shooting Performance:
“I don't think he's lost his confidence. He wasn't shooting the ball at the speed the game was. What I told him was that the game is the same speed in high school and college at the free throw line. So he was 14-for-14 shooting free throws.
“I told him, 'You're shooting your shots in the same way and getting to your shots at the same speed. You're not showing the right form. You need to pick up the pace – how you move.'
“You saw him coming off the baseline today. Jon [Scheyer] has been working with him more on increasing his speed. When Luke gets it, his shots today are real precise. He had some turnovers when he curled, but that will be a good move for him when he comes in because he has a good floater or can kick. It was just shooting at the speed he's going to need to with this competition. He's not in the right lane anymore; he's in the left lane. But Luke has worked at it and Jon has worked with him real hard at it.
“Luke has to be ready to shoot. He's not always ready to shoot. The ball comes to him at different times than it did in high school. But it's coming. I know how hard he's working. I would hope teachers would get excited when they see a student get it. Luke was getting it. That's exciting for me. I wanted Luke to see that excitement from me.”
On The Team's Man-to-Man Defense and the Process of the Season:
“We're going to keep working at it. We played well in man-to-man today. We talked well. I hope we can do it Wednesday. We just have to keep getting better in everything. It's a long, long season process wise. I do think with Luke [Kennard] and Brandon [Ingram] that this week was a really big one for them. They practiced very well. They practiced very hard. Not that they weren't before, but even more. They put more time into it. They're starting to get it a little bit more.”
On Grayson Allen:
“Grayson has been excellent, obviously. He has probably been one of the better players in the country, not just on our team. He's a unique player. He can defend, rebound, shoot and drive. We're trying to get him to talk. That'd be a good thing. On defense he doesn't talk a bunch. Overall, Grayson has been outstanding. I worry about him getting worn out. I was a little bit concerned about that today coming off of last week. It's a different thing when you put up those numbers.”
On the Team's Balance:
“We have eight guys who are going to play and should all consider themselves starters. It just depends on how it's going and what the other team is doing as to who could be in the game. We have to get Chase [Jeter] more experience. Derek [Thornton] and Luke [Kennard] are starters, too. Chase is building up that.
“I'm comfortable with how Brandon [Ingram] is playing. He needs to take a lot of shots. We have an unselfish team. Other guys are doing well and they're OK as long as Duke has more points than the other team. That's a nice group to coach when they're concerned about that score and not their score.”
Duke Senior Amile Jefferson
On the keys to Duke's run to start the second half:
“[The key was] coming out explosive and not being settled or not being ok having a nine- or 10-point lead because [Utah State] is a really good team. [Another key was] making sure that we're coming out ready to crush somebody. They're really good so if you let them back into the game, that gives them confidence and it could be a really long night for us. So we came out and really just jumped on them and played really hard.”
“We pride ourselves on being strong in the post, not being weak, not being soft, being players and not letting guys just think that they can come into our paint. And then we're always talking, always communicating, and always being connected. When we're connected down low, it makes us stronger, tougher, and more confident.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
On the production by multiple Duke players today:
“I think it's great and as a team, that's what we want. We want to have a bunch of guys on the board with 15-16 points. It's beautiful basketball to see when Luke [Kennard] gets hot and he's shooting the ball really well and when Brandon [Ingram]'s attacking and flying after the boards. I think that's something that we're going to see more of as the season progresses and as these guys get more experience.”
On the play of Luke Kennard today:
“I think it can continue. Not to put any pressure on Luke, but I think we're going to see Luke get hot throughout the season and have more games like this. I think he's more than capable of it, and all the guys on the team like to see it. We want to see him shoot like this, and it's fun playing with him when he's like that. That's more of the Luke from the offseason and the one that we see in practice every day, knocking down shots like that. I think it'll continue and he's definitely capable of playing at that level.”
“We're really putting an emphasis on starting strong, and starting from the [opening] tip and starting the second half strong. We want to come out like we're shot out of a cannon. We put a big emphasis on defense at halftime and getting stops, and we came out in the second half and were able to do that.
Duke Freshman Luke Kennard
“We started out pretty strong, brought a lot of energy to the floor and when I came in, I just knew I had to bring a lot of energy to how we started the game. Playing great defense, having a lot of energy on the floor, just communicating with my teammates, it kind of helps on both ends of the floor, and today my teammates found me. I hit some open shots and that just helped throughout the entire game.”
On what Coach Mike Krzyzewski said to him when the team came back to the bench for a media time out after his three-point play:
“He said, 'There you go – that's what we want.' I could tell, when I looked at him in the eyes, he was very excited about how I was playing, how I was attacking, and the energy that I brought to the floor. I just knew then that that's what I need to do every single game. He hit me on the chest – I like when he does that because it builds confidence in me, and I know they want that from me.”
“Overall, in the first five games, my shot just wasn't falling. The coaches, I met with them, and they said it'll come as long as I just do the little dirty work like getting rebounds, playing great defense, bringing energy to the floor, my shot will come. I think tonight when I did those little things, my shot fell tonight and then my teammates, again, they did a great job of finding me when I was open.”
When asked how his shot felt during the early games when shots weren't falling:
“Some were just in and out. Shooters can have an off night – I had a few in a row, just to start the season, but we're going to build off of what we did today, keep working hard, and we'll see how it goes.”
Utah State Head Coach Tim Duryea
Opening Statement:
“A disappointing performance from our perspective, we are a better program than that, and I thought we were extremely selfish offensively and soft defensively and just a performance not to be proud of. I didn't think there was one redeeming quality about our performance. It was a tremendous atmosphere obviously, a tremendous place to play and an honor to play here and coach against Coach K, but I didn't think we responded to any of that in a positive way. That's about as blunt as I can be and that's what I told the players and that's how I feel about it. I think we are a program that's better than that and should have responded to this opportunity better than that. I am just extremely disappointed.”
On second half:
“We talked at halftime, it was their ball coming out so we made a couple of adjustments defensively that we thought would help us. It was not really a matter of X's and O's at that point; it was a matter of giving in mentally. I think we let the fact that it was tough for us on the other end wilt us down at that point and we really just got soft and the game just absolutely got away from us. We have to be more mature than that on the defensive end. Offensively when we did get the ball, you have to convert and you can't miss layups and get the ball five or six feet from the basket and come away without getting fouled or without scoring. Very demoralizing and we really let that affect us.”
On defensive performance:
“Maybe there was one bright spot in the game and [they] worked hard on the 1-3-1 and they used that really effectively at the beginning of the season. Whenever they struggled defensively, they jumped into that. It's a defense you don't see really often and our guys did a good job on that possession of moving the ball and attacking the defense; we got an open three in the corner and knocked it down. I thought we were selfish offensively, too many individual agendas tripped us up on the offensive end.”
On shooting performance:
“When you over dribble and when you don't play the right way, you are going to get low-percentage shots and you are not going to make many of them. They [Duke] are hard enough to play against; they make you scratch and claw. Those big guys are a presence defensively, they are experienced and they did a good job around the rim and they are going to make it hard for you even if you are doing the right things and have the right mindset, and we did not.”
On Luke Kennard's performance:
“I told him in the post-game handshake that he picked the wrong night to get it figured out. Obviously he is a talented kid who was a prolific scorer in high school and has come off to a slow start, but that happens to freshman guards. I was hoping it was one more game before he figured it out. He was phenomenal, curling screens, fading screens, shooting the three, [and] pulling up. I just thought he was tremendous.”
On moving forward:
“I told them in the post-game locker room that I wasn't happy with that performance. I wish we could play or practice tonight, but we have to travel. We have to be ready to go Tuesday night. We have a good Missouri Valley team on their floor. I think it has to do with our mentality defensively and a whole different mentality offensively that we need to take the floor with.”
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