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Scheyer Meets with Media Ahead of Wake Forest Game
1/23/2025 3:16:00 PM | Men's Basketball
DURHAM, N.C. - Duke men's basketball head coach Jon Scheyer met with members of the media on Thursday, Jan. 23 ahead of Duke's game at Wake Forest on Saturday, Jan. 25. The Blue Devils (16-2, 8-0 ACC) and Demon Deacons (15-4, 7-1 ACC) tip off at 4:30 p.m., on ESPN.
Duke owns a 5-0 record on the road, while Wake Forest is unbeaten at home (10-0). The two teams have squared off 261 total times in a series that dates back to the 1905-06 season, with Duke holding the advantage, 180-81, in the series.
HEAD COACH JON SCHEYER
On the team's defensive work during the time off and how Maliq Brown's absence impacts the team's defense:
Duke owns a 5-0 record on the road, while Wake Forest is unbeaten at home (10-0). The two teams have squared off 261 total times in a series that dates back to the 1905-06 season, with Duke holding the advantage, 180-81, in the series.
HEAD COACH JON SCHEYER
On the team's defensive work during the time off and how Maliq Brown's absence impacts the team's defense:
"I don't know if it's the biggest thing, but it's different for sure. There's no question. He's one of one. I've never really coached anybody like Maliq [Brown], with what he does on the defensive end. With that said, we have to make up for that. The thing that I've loved about coaching this entire team, they respond, there's never been any fight whatsoever. Doesn't matter win, lose, play well, or you don't. They always want to learn how you can get that edge. It just comes down to our toughness and a mindset of guarding the ball, trying to protect your paint as much as you can, and then, most importantly, how do you cover each other? That's been the biggest thing we've worked on. Our rotations, five guys guarding the ball, and I think we've made a jump."
On how the team's height impacts how the team plays on both offense and defense:
"Overall, the size and length is showing up more on the defensive end. The ability to switch. You can't switch if you don't have bigger guys that can defend the ball. To have a guy in Khaman [Maluach], Maliq, they've shown they can do that. That's the first thing. But you have to have bigger guards that can handle switches in the post, And if it's not switches in the post, if it's a team that's going more one on one, you have to block out. When you switch Sion [James] onto a bigger guy, you don't feel that it's a disadvantage. He's going to come up with the ball, for the most part. Tyrese [Proctor], same thing. Caleb [Foster], anybody, you can go down the line. I think that's been a huge advantage this year. Coaching this way, we're going to try to do that the best we can moving forward but it's hard to find big guards. It's hard to find big guys that can guard guards too. And then, when you can still protect your paint and limit high three-point percentage, I think there's no substitute for length. Cooper Flagg can cover ground faster than other guys can that are 6-4. He just can. I think the ability to do both is something we're going to have to do going forward. Saturday is no exception. And the size and length really helps with that."
On what makes this season's team fearless and what he has noticed this season that makes them that way:
"I think you have to have strong individual character. That's the first thing. We've been able to identify it, recruit it, and get a collection of strong guys. A lot of our guys, their families have allowed them to fail. They've allowed them to grow up. Even before they got to us. I think that builds a toughness in you. All of our parents. I think that's a big deal. The second thing, for our team, you're stronger by the strength of each other. The collection of guys, whether it's from high school, a different program, whether it's Tyrese or Caleb coming back. They came in with amazing humility. Understanding they don't know everything and really hungry to prove what, individually they could do, but then collectively. I think it's just grown. Whenever your best player is your most unselfish, it has an impact. I've been fortunate to see that happen a few times in my time here. Cooper doesn't care about anything other than winning. Cooper's happier when something happens for his teammates than for himself. If you don't think that's contagious, it just is. I give him a ton of credit, but the older guys, Sion, Tyrese, Mason [Gillis], they've been such amazing leaders for us. Tyrese, in particular, being here year three, he's done such an amazing job of just letting other guys shine and also just stepping up every day with his competitiveness and what he does as a worker. I think there's a lot of different reasons and things that have gone into it."
On the team's adjusted defensive efficiency numbers and what impacts his defensive philosophy as a coach:
"It's funny, because your close friends are the ones that critique you the most. All my friends, when they come to games, they can't believe our defense. They try to tell me how I used to guard in high school and growing up and all that. They think we're just gonna have an offensive team. I enjoy coaching defense. The strategy of it. The competitiveness of it. When we won [the championship] as a player in 2009-10, it was just so much fun having five guys on the floor that knew what everybody else was doing. The most connected I've ever felt as a player was that year and it wasn't because of offense, it was actually because of defense. I think it's really difficult now to have an elite offense and defense. I think it's the hardest thing to do now. You can try to be one or the other. Our thing is, we've tried to say 'let's go for both.' You have to have the right roster construction, not just the talent. I think we spent more time last season, as it got down towards the end, talking about what we need, what we believe in, and how we're going to build this thing. It turned out to be great with the job our staff did. But at the end of the day, you have to have a competitiveness for it. A mindset and a toughness. I enjoy coaching it. I enjoy coaching guys that bust their butts every play, man. And we have that."
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