Upcoming Event: Men's Tennis at #42 Miami on April 5, 2026 at 3 p.m.
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3 p.m.
Men's Tennis
at #42 Miami
Quotes: Duke 65, Wake Forest 51
Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie
Opening statement:
"I really liked the first half, the rebounding, Bridgette Mitchell's effort and energy, Jasmine Thomas' consistency in running things. We had a lot of broken plays and situations out there, a lot of funny things going on defensively with double teams and trapping off ball screens. In the first half I thought that we executed beautifully and really made some good points offensively and defensively and in the second half I thought we let up and that showed with us being defeated in the second half. I really thought there weren't too many people on our team who kept the energy for 40 minutes. I thought Bridgette did and I thought Jasmine did as well, but overall I didn't think that we kept the energy, so we'll work on that because we have to be a 40 minute ball club."
On the lack of substitutions in the second half:
"That group [that played at the end of the first half but not in the second half] gave us a big let up at the end of the first half defensively. So I'm still trying to encourage the defensive maturity of that younger group, but we didn't do so well in the second half anyway, so perhaps somebody could have been a difference maker and that's something that I'm going to have to look out for next game definitely."
On Wake Forest's improvement since last year:
"They are much better this year, no contest. Their shot selection, ball movement, ability to play together, they're not disjointed. Last year the ball would go up very randomly and I thought that hurt them very badly. I think they're a much improved team this year."
On Duke getting more offensive rebounds than Wake Forest did defensive rebounds:
"That's a good thing, that's something we want to have happen. We're trying to get 25 or more offensive rebounds, so we fell short of that goal. Bridgette (Mitchell) got seven, she carried the team that way, and that's great for her, but I want other people to match that. We didn't match that very well, so Bridgette led the way but wasn't followed or challenged to continue the rebounding."
Wake Forest Head Coach Mike Petersen
Opening Statement:
"For 28 minutes we played pretty well, and for 12 minutes we looked like we had never met one another, pretty much. I think at the 8 minute mark it was 9-8 us or thereabouts, and then the second half it was 36-30, and again I get that sometimes that's fool's gold; sometimes they don't play as hard as they do as when the game's on the line, but we made a run, we got their attention and they fought back. We talked about this before we came down, that's what they do, and they do it extremely well, is they disrupt you more than anything else. They make you take shots that are just a little quicker than you want them to be. Sometimes they're in the same spot that you shoot from, but they're just a little quicker than you want them to be and a little bit out of character for what you do. In the first half, I thought we got a lot of good shots, Lakevia Boykin being a good example. I thought her shots in the first half were really good and then in the second half they just went down. You can't come on the road against the sixth-ranked team in the country and shoot whatever we shot from the free throw line in the first half, 2 for 8. I mean I'm 2 for 8 putting it from 35 feet; that's not good. We have to be a little bit better than that from the free throw line. Again, in order to compete with a team this good, on the road. And, three of those fronts, right? At least two fronts, so now you donate ten points. They don't need donations! They're pretty good."
On their struggles in the first half:
"I thought first we had some decent looks and missed them. That was it. I thought second they did a tremendous job on the offensive board. At halftime they had 20 misses and 13 offensive boards. That's a problem. If they've got 20 misses and they get 13 of them back, you've got issues. And then we go two for eight from the free throw line. So, you make a few open shots, you go make your free throws, and you don't let them just pound you on the offensive glass. Again, instead of going 12 minutes without scoring, which I think is what we did basically, they still are going to be ahead, but it's not going to be by the number it was. We score here and then we get a board and they don't get a put-back, then it's a more manageable situation. I think that was the biggest thing in the first half."
On the use of their timeouts:
"All but the last one! The last one was the worst backfire in history. The first four I really liked how we responded, but the last one I took we got up 14 because I wanted to really make a point about how right now the game is manageable, and then I think they went 5-0 on us. But, I thought that we did a great job out of timeouts of being composed, being organized, and then going. We could've used 10 or 12 of them."
On controlling Duke scorers:
"Duke doesn't have non-scorers. Let's just get that straight. They've got people who are scoring more at this moment, and they've got people who have scored more this season, but to call [Keturah] Jackson and [Bridgette] Mitchell non-scorers? It doesn't surprise me when anyone from Duke scores. But, having said that, I thought we did a pretty good job on Joy [Cheek], did a pretty good job on both Thomases, and I thought our post traps were pretty effective. I thought our guards did a pretty good job with standing in front of [Jasmine] Thomas when she was on the bounce for the most part. The problem was that we broke down on the glass; that was the biggest issue. I think we're a pretty good defensive team. Our half court defense was good. They turned us over into some baskets, which when you give those up that's not a defensive problem. Defense isn't over until you have the ball."
On disrupting Duke:
"Let's be clear: they had more turnovers than we did. We turned it over and they did a great job of converting it, but they had more turnovers than we did. But again, yes they disrupted us. But, we had one more steal than they had, and they had one more turnover than us, sounds like we disrupted them a little bit. At least a little."
Senior Bridgette Mitchell
On the teams' effort:
"Our team is constantly thinking about getting better. We had lapses. In the first half we came out great but the second half wasn't. For the next game we have to play a whole 40 minutes. We have definitely made steps towards that."
On second half slow start:
"I think it was our intensity. We didn't have the same intensity in the second half on the defensive end. Once we picked up our intensity it was harder for them to score and helped us to get steals."
Junior Jasmine Thomas
On the team's play after lead was cut down:
"We just kept going at it. Things weren't going the way we wanted to, we couldn't get stops and we were making careless turnovers. But, we kept going at it. We ended up getting a few possessions where we took our time and got it in the basket."
On play in second half:
"I know that I can score and what I was trying to focus on was taking more open shots and not forcing shots. I knew I had Bridgette Mitchell who was rebounding well. It is sometimes better to get a good shot that may not go in so you can get a good rebound."
Wake Forest Freshman Lakevia Boykin
On preparing for this game:
"I thought our preparation was good. In practice we had practice players emulate what they like to do: press up and harass the ball. We did a good job breaking it. He had us get trapped very hard and fouled and get used to being able to get out of it. Practice was good just when we got here we had some turnovers that we shouldn't have had. The times that we did break the press it was wide open: a drive to the basket or a pull-up three pointer. I think that some of the turnovers we had were unforced, and we just needed to relax. We were trying to throw over the top of them, and you can't throw over the top of them. They're all tall and athletic. When we settled down, rotated the ball, and did everything as we should then everything went well."
On playing in Cameron:
"It was just a basketball gym with two goals. I mean, it didn't feel like 'wow, I'm playing in Cameron,' I just felt like it's time to go play basketball."
