Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Texas on November 4, 2025 at 8:45 p.m.
/
8:45 p.m.
Men's Basketball
vs Texas
.png&width=24&height=24&type=webp)
Quotes: Syracuse 64, Duke 62
1/18/2016 10:20:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
On Matt Jones stating, “Rebounding is not a skill, but an effort thing and Syracuse had more effort than us.”
“Well they obviously got a lot of offensive rebounds, and we got a lot of rebounds, but that is a weakness for us with the four perimeter guys.”
On driving to the goal as much as Duke would have liked to:
“No, you would like to drive a little bit more. Although we did right at the end of the game, and it was an amazing ending. The last play is amazing. Have you seen it? Go see it, it is literally amazing. The play with Matt Jones at the foul line, it is amazing basketball; let's just put it that way.”
On finishing the last four games:
“It's not the finish, they were one possession. We put ourselves in a position to win. Matt Jones made a great play, and he was not rewarded. He made a great play. It's amazing. It's literally amazing. God Bless America.”
On losing the close games:
“Our guys are playing hard. It's been four games that we have lost with one possession. I am not saying that is it the last play. Here, when you see amazing, then you will know. It's like…amazing. When you see something like an unbelievable beauty, like one of the wonders of the world, it's unbelievable, and that is what makes it amazing.”
On the team's fight back into the game:
“Our kids have fought the whole year. They are undermanned, we are under aged, and they have done a good job. When you lose, it makes you appreciate even more, what you have done. It should make you hungrier to want to win again. The game is tremendous; it can be incredibly great to you, and it can be incredibly cruel. Right now we are going through the cruel part. It is a big picture thing for me, all of the time. I am on a continuance, as long as I am coaching, I am on a continuance. What next, whether it is the end of the season or during the season. You try to pay attention to improvement, and we are playing well. We are playing our hearts out, and that has not been rewarded. A lot of people do not get rewarded when they play; they are doing something with all of their heart. We have been rewarded a lot, that is why those banners are out there. Right now it is a cruel time, it's a tough one. It's different if it is attitude or whatever, but they are busting their butts. Then amazing happens, which is crazy.”
Duke Graduate Student Marshall Plumlee
“[Syracuse is] a talented team and a well-coached team. They play with a lot of energy and heart, and I think they have some good upperclassmen leading them in that department. Whenever you go up against a team like that, you've got to know that when it comes to the hustle plays, the rebounds, the loose balls, they're going to be giving their all so we've got to give our all. They won a lot of those battles tonight.”
“We've got a lot of growth that we need to happen as a team, a lot of growing up. We're going to go watch the film and learn from it, but, more importantly, we need to just believe in each other and come together when the games get tough.”
“As always, there's a sense of urgency to win, but for some of the younger guys who didn't appreciate that sense of urgency at first, now it should be hitting them hard. Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] has been doing this a long time, so he knew right after our first loss, the season is capable of going any which way. He's been really pushing us to give our all, and that's something we need to do a better job of.”
On how Duke can improve its defensive rebounding:
“Rebounding is one of those hustle plays, and you've got to be in tune with the game. You can't just look up when the shot goes up. You've got to be into it the whole defensive possession, so when the shot's taken, you're locked in, in every sense of the word. That's something we can all work on, myself included.”
When asked how he's been able to maintain his intensity while playing so many minutes:
“Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] really has a good connection with me and he brings out my fire. He knows how to reach me. He's good with doing that with all of our players. We can't just individually show up each night. We need to all show up together, arm-in-arm, and take a bold step forward together.”
Duke Junior Matt Jones
“The last couple of games have been hard. Obviously they haven't come out the way we wanted them to come out, but we just have to keep fighting. Looking back on it, these games are going to help us coming down the road. We've been in a lot of tough games – we've just got to learn how to finish them now. Obviously we can lose to anybody, any time, even if we're at home. When March comes, if we're lucky enough to get to the [NCAA] Tournament, we'll know that we'll be able to be experienced, knowing that we've been in games like that before.”
On Syracuse's offensive rebounding:
“They just wanted it more than us. [Getting] offensive boards isn't a skill – it's just something that you want to do. And they wanted to do it. It's really disturbing but that's been reality the last couple of games. We just have to find a way to make it not reality.”
Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“Unbelievable defensive effort from both teams the entire game. We finally got a little offense going; we got just a little separation. Derryck [Thornton] stepped up and made two monstrous threes to get them back in it. We had a couple good opportunities that we didn't convert, but both teams I think played as hard as I think you can play for 40 minutes. We did that one run that got us separation and made the difference in the game. [Tyler] Roberson was unbelievable on the backboards. [Marshall] Plumlee, same thing on his end. It was a tremendous team effort, we played much better defense over the last three games and that's the difference between where we are now and where we were prior to those last three games. Duke is a very good offensive team and to hold them to the numbers we did tonight, it was a tremendous defensive effort.”
On Michael Gbinije's Performance:
“He was great, I can't tell you how great he was tonight. He's going 40 minutes, kids can do that these days with the timeouts, but the point guard playing 40 minutes and you have to drive is different than if you are playing forward or center because you don't get any rest. Our three point shooting defense was unbelieve the last three or four possessions. It was an unbelievable thing to see our guys go after these balls. When Tyler came to the corner trap that one time. We just couldn't really do much with Plumlee inside when he got the ball, he played as well as I've ever seen him play before and he was tremendous out there. When you look at Duke and without [Amile] Jefferson, they need that one guy. It would be the same as if we lost Roberson, it would be impossible to get where you want to go. He means all the difference in the world, but it's just one of those things that sometimes happens. Great effort, great defensive effort and both teams did an unbelievable job on offensive boards.”
On repetitious plays in second half:
“We used the middle ball screen to try to get Mike [Gbinije] into the lane and then when they helped, he got Roberson and he dropped the layups and a couple times we got the three. But the offensive rebounding and throwing it back out is when we got two or three threes. We just did an unbelievable job on the offensive glass, with 26 offensive rebounds against a great Duke team is unheard of.”
On only meeting Duke once in the regular season:
“I don't want to see Duke or [North] Carolina or Virginia or any of those teams twice a year. It is a great game and it is a great place to play. The league and college basketball is just balanced and it is just the way it is. You are going to have crazy things happen and that's the way it is and you just play through it.”
On Michael Gbinije returning to Duke:
“He seemed fine tonight. That's off subject; players come to play and you guys can think about stuff like that. I think he's pretty happy right now.”
On Tyler Roberson's Performance:
“He went after it. They're like us, they're not a good rebounding team and neither are we. But they got a lot of offensive rebounds and we got a lot of offensive rebounds. But he went after it the whole game and he was spectacular. Obviously it was a tremendous effort.”
On recent performance and wins:
“We are winning and we were losing. Again, our defense has been better these three games than it was and that's probably the major difference. Our rebounding has been better and our defense has been better and those are two things you have to do, especially defense. Our offense has been good at times, but it is streaky and we are streaky, but I think we can still get better.”
On Matt Jones stating, “Rebounding is not a skill, but an effort thing and Syracuse had more effort than us.”
“Well they obviously got a lot of offensive rebounds, and we got a lot of rebounds, but that is a weakness for us with the four perimeter guys.”
On driving to the goal as much as Duke would have liked to:
“No, you would like to drive a little bit more. Although we did right at the end of the game, and it was an amazing ending. The last play is amazing. Have you seen it? Go see it, it is literally amazing. The play with Matt Jones at the foul line, it is amazing basketball; let's just put it that way.”
On finishing the last four games:
“It's not the finish, they were one possession. We put ourselves in a position to win. Matt Jones made a great play, and he was not rewarded. He made a great play. It's amazing. It's literally amazing. God Bless America.”
On losing the close games:
“Our guys are playing hard. It's been four games that we have lost with one possession. I am not saying that is it the last play. Here, when you see amazing, then you will know. It's like…amazing. When you see something like an unbelievable beauty, like one of the wonders of the world, it's unbelievable, and that is what makes it amazing.”
On the team's fight back into the game:
“Our kids have fought the whole year. They are undermanned, we are under aged, and they have done a good job. When you lose, it makes you appreciate even more, what you have done. It should make you hungrier to want to win again. The game is tremendous; it can be incredibly great to you, and it can be incredibly cruel. Right now we are going through the cruel part. It is a big picture thing for me, all of the time. I am on a continuance, as long as I am coaching, I am on a continuance. What next, whether it is the end of the season or during the season. You try to pay attention to improvement, and we are playing well. We are playing our hearts out, and that has not been rewarded. A lot of people do not get rewarded when they play; they are doing something with all of their heart. We have been rewarded a lot, that is why those banners are out there. Right now it is a cruel time, it's a tough one. It's different if it is attitude or whatever, but they are busting their butts. Then amazing happens, which is crazy.”
Duke Graduate Student Marshall Plumlee
“[Syracuse is] a talented team and a well-coached team. They play with a lot of energy and heart, and I think they have some good upperclassmen leading them in that department. Whenever you go up against a team like that, you've got to know that when it comes to the hustle plays, the rebounds, the loose balls, they're going to be giving their all so we've got to give our all. They won a lot of those battles tonight.”
“We've got a lot of growth that we need to happen as a team, a lot of growing up. We're going to go watch the film and learn from it, but, more importantly, we need to just believe in each other and come together when the games get tough.”
“As always, there's a sense of urgency to win, but for some of the younger guys who didn't appreciate that sense of urgency at first, now it should be hitting them hard. Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] has been doing this a long time, so he knew right after our first loss, the season is capable of going any which way. He's been really pushing us to give our all, and that's something we need to do a better job of.”
On how Duke can improve its defensive rebounding:
“Rebounding is one of those hustle plays, and you've got to be in tune with the game. You can't just look up when the shot goes up. You've got to be into it the whole defensive possession, so when the shot's taken, you're locked in, in every sense of the word. That's something we can all work on, myself included.”
When asked how he's been able to maintain his intensity while playing so many minutes:
“Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] really has a good connection with me and he brings out my fire. He knows how to reach me. He's good with doing that with all of our players. We can't just individually show up each night. We need to all show up together, arm-in-arm, and take a bold step forward together.”
Duke Junior Matt Jones
“The last couple of games have been hard. Obviously they haven't come out the way we wanted them to come out, but we just have to keep fighting. Looking back on it, these games are going to help us coming down the road. We've been in a lot of tough games – we've just got to learn how to finish them now. Obviously we can lose to anybody, any time, even if we're at home. When March comes, if we're lucky enough to get to the [NCAA] Tournament, we'll know that we'll be able to be experienced, knowing that we've been in games like that before.”
On Syracuse's offensive rebounding:
“They just wanted it more than us. [Getting] offensive boards isn't a skill – it's just something that you want to do. And they wanted to do it. It's really disturbing but that's been reality the last couple of games. We just have to find a way to make it not reality.”
Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“Unbelievable defensive effort from both teams the entire game. We finally got a little offense going; we got just a little separation. Derryck [Thornton] stepped up and made two monstrous threes to get them back in it. We had a couple good opportunities that we didn't convert, but both teams I think played as hard as I think you can play for 40 minutes. We did that one run that got us separation and made the difference in the game. [Tyler] Roberson was unbelievable on the backboards. [Marshall] Plumlee, same thing on his end. It was a tremendous team effort, we played much better defense over the last three games and that's the difference between where we are now and where we were prior to those last three games. Duke is a very good offensive team and to hold them to the numbers we did tonight, it was a tremendous defensive effort.”
On Michael Gbinije's Performance:
“He was great, I can't tell you how great he was tonight. He's going 40 minutes, kids can do that these days with the timeouts, but the point guard playing 40 minutes and you have to drive is different than if you are playing forward or center because you don't get any rest. Our three point shooting defense was unbelieve the last three or four possessions. It was an unbelievable thing to see our guys go after these balls. When Tyler came to the corner trap that one time. We just couldn't really do much with Plumlee inside when he got the ball, he played as well as I've ever seen him play before and he was tremendous out there. When you look at Duke and without [Amile] Jefferson, they need that one guy. It would be the same as if we lost Roberson, it would be impossible to get where you want to go. He means all the difference in the world, but it's just one of those things that sometimes happens. Great effort, great defensive effort and both teams did an unbelievable job on offensive boards.”
On repetitious plays in second half:
“We used the middle ball screen to try to get Mike [Gbinije] into the lane and then when they helped, he got Roberson and he dropped the layups and a couple times we got the three. But the offensive rebounding and throwing it back out is when we got two or three threes. We just did an unbelievable job on the offensive glass, with 26 offensive rebounds against a great Duke team is unheard of.”
On only meeting Duke once in the regular season:
“I don't want to see Duke or [North] Carolina or Virginia or any of those teams twice a year. It is a great game and it is a great place to play. The league and college basketball is just balanced and it is just the way it is. You are going to have crazy things happen and that's the way it is and you just play through it.”
On Michael Gbinije returning to Duke:
“He seemed fine tonight. That's off subject; players come to play and you guys can think about stuff like that. I think he's pretty happy right now.”
On Tyler Roberson's Performance:
“He went after it. They're like us, they're not a good rebounding team and neither are we. But they got a lot of offensive rebounds and we got a lot of offensive rebounds. But he went after it the whole game and he was spectacular. Obviously it was a tremendous effort.”
On recent performance and wins:
“We are winning and we were losing. Again, our defense has been better these three games than it was and that's probably the major difference. Our rebounding has been better and our defense has been better and those are two things you have to do, especially defense. Our offense has been good at times, but it is streaky and we are streaky, but I think we can still get better.”
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballCoach Scheyer Media Availability
Wednesday, September 24
Jon Scheyer Press Conference: Summer 2025
Tuesday, July 08
Duke vs Houston: Press Conference
Sunday, April 06
Duke vs Alabama: East Region Champions Press Conference
Wednesday, April 02
