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Redick And Paulus Sit Down With Duke Inside Access
J.J. Redick and Greg Paulus sat down Tuesday with the media and Duke Inside Access. Redick and Paulus talk about last week's loss to Georgetown, the upcoming game Thursday at Virginia Tech and much more.
On the aftermath of a loss:
“After a loss sometimes it’s difficult to kind of get a grip on reality because there is a fine line between moving on to the next play and not dwelling on your mistakes, but at the same time you want to learn from your mistakes. We spent a lot of time on Sunday watching film, and then we had a workout, and today we had a very spirited and intense practice. That’s pretty typical of what we do after a loss. It’s a lot of mental, emotional and physical investment.”
On whether a loss at this point in the season can be a good thing:
“Obviously, you can use a loss any number of ways, but if you use a loss as motivation, it can be a good thing. As a player and as a coach and probably all the Duke fans out there, you never want to lose a game. You’d like to win every game you play in, especially as a competitor.”
On whether the loss revealed a fundamental flaw or was a lack of effort:
“I don’t think the Georgetown loss had anything to do with fundamentals or a weakness that we have from a tangible standpoint. The biggest thing was our effort, especially on the defensive end, where we lacked communication and intensity, and Georgetown had their day. They shot a great percentage from the field and scored 87 points against us.”
On whether Duke took Georgetown lightly:
“I don’t think we took them lightly. If you were there Saturday, you saw a packed house. We knew it was a nationally televised game. But again, just about every game we play is a big game, especially for the other team. If we don’t bring our best effort, and the other team has their day, we’re capable of losing to anybody.”
On Virginia Tech not being intimidated by Duke:
“I think in every game we’ve played, it’s been very physical, and from that standpoint, they’ve never backed down. The first time we played them, there were a ton of fouls called, and coach Greenburg got thrown out of the game. Then they beat us there last year, and then again this year it was a very physical game. There was an incident in the first half with myself, and I got in foul trouble, but I think that’s typical. I think coach Greenburg does a good job of motivating his guys to not be intimidated by anybody.”
On Virginia Tech game:
“Tech has always played us really tough, and we expect another tough game Thursday night. Obviously their backs are against the wall if they want to have any shot at postseason play because they’ve gotten off to a slow start in conference play, but if you look at their games in conference play, it’s the difference of just a few points, and they’ve got a winning record in the ACC. We know how good they are. We’re not going to look at their 0-5 record in conference and take them lightly. We remember what happened last time we played them here and what happened last year.”
On what he said to Greg Paulus after the Georgetown game:
“I just went up to him, and I told him it’s okay. I knew where he was coming from, and I’ve been in that situation before in the UConn game. We win and we lose together. What he was trying to do came from a great place. He was trying to make a winning play, and I had no problem with what he did. Nobody did. We knew what he was trying to do, and that’s just something that we talk about here a lot. If we’re going to go down, we’re going to go down together.”
On what team can take from first game this season against Virginia Tech:
“I don’t think we’re going to focus too much on a miracle shot or probably even the last four minutes of the game when they made that comeback. We’re going to take a look at the overall emphasis on what happened during the game, the patterns during the game. We’ve got to do a good job of keeping their guards out of the paint and keeping their big guys off the offensive glass.”
On Thursday’s game against Virginia Tech
“It’s going to be a tough game but we need to respond. It’s going to be a good test. They have great athletes and they played really well the last time they came here. They have kept it close the last few times but we have to be ready to play. It’s going to be a big-time atmosphere there and we need to have the right mindset, the right attitude and take care of the areas that we didn’t do well in against Georgetown.”
On defending dribble penetration
“Sometimes we defend dribble penetration well and sometimes we don’t. We’re still improving in that area. I know that I need to improve in that area. It’s just a matter of everybody not under helping. It’s communication and trusting that we’re going to contain and that our guys are going to stay with their perimeter guys.”
On Virginia Tech’s success with dribble penetration in the first game
“They were very successful the first time. We didn’t do a good job keeping the guys in front. They got a lot of offensive rebounds. Their big guys stepped out and hit some open shots. We didn’t do a good job against them. This will be a good opportunity for us to showcase what we’ve been working on.”
On Virginia Tech, who is 0-5 in the ACC
“They’re not an 0-5 team. They’re capable of beating anybody on any given night. We understand that. They came in here and almost took one from us. They’re a team that is capable of beating anybody. It’s going to be a great match-up.”
On what senior J.J. Redick said to him after the final play against Georgetown
“He was there for support. He understood that I was trying to make a play. It might not have been what people call the right play or the perfect play. The outcome obviously wasn’t the one that we wanted. He was just there for support and I definitely appreciated it.”
On his play against Georgetown
“I forced some passes in transition trying to make plays in the last couple of minutes. I didn’t do a good job of keeping floor balance. They got out and got a couple of easy baskets in transition and that’s my responsibility. That’s something that we’ve all looked at and something that we’ve taken strides to fix.”
