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Quotes: Duke 90, Boston College 80
2/9/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“This was a really good win for us. I thought Boston College played very well. We knew coming after the North Carolina game, this was going to be difficult. These teams have a tremendous amount of pride, because everybody wants to be in the first division, so when you play these teams, they have their backs up against the wall. You can't assume that you're going to be hungrier than a team, you have to work at that. That means getting over what you've just done, even if it's a big, emotional win. I was more worried about this game than the game on Wednesday. Not that I was sure we were going to win on Wednesday, but I was sure that we were going to be ready. The last two days, I've been on them like crazy. We just weren't sharp, missing free throws and I think five dunks. We just needed to finish better. It looked a lot like the Miami game, except that no one for Miami had a good half like (Tyrese) Rice did. Coming in, we played a very confident basketball team in the second half and we won.”
On the play of Boston College guard Tyrese Rice:
“Rice is one of the premier players in the country, not just our conference. He's a big-time player, and he doesn't get tired either. He's one of those kids who just has it. He has special qualities and gives his team an amazing confidence. When you're playing with a guy like Rice, you know it. He's really a great player and I admire that kid. He controls the ball well ? when you think you can get it away from him, you can't. He had seven assists and played an overall great game. For us to beat Boston College with him playing that kind of game was a great win for us.”
On how well Boston College played:
“If you're going to win a championship, you have to win all kinds of games like when the ball's not going in for you, when the other team's playing well. I'm not sure how Al (Skinner) felt, but I thought Boston College played well. We thought we might get them tired because we were quicker, but they never got tired. A couple things that we thought would happen didn't happen, which shows that they were so determined to win. A lot of times, you watch these teams and say ?Well they didn't play well last week.' Well it's not last week. It's right now and they're dealing with the reality of being 4-5 or 3-6, and it brings out the best in teams in this league.”
On Duke's rebounding against the Eagles:
“For us to get 19 rebounds on the offensive end is huge. We needed them because we missed so many free throws in the first half and we didn't finish at the bucket. We should have had about 55 points in the first half ? but in saying that, we shouldn't give up 42.”
On whether his team is playing its best basketball right now:
“I think we can play better. I think each one of my players can be better. DeMarcus (Nelson) is approaching what he can do, but the other guys all have upsides. As we're going through the conference, we have to keep getting them better. It's such a young team, and that's what we're trying to do is get each of them better as we're getting better. We're playing real hard together, and most of the time playing smart. Today, we were fighting human nature a little bit though. Human nature is a tough opponent, so thank goodness we were able to beat both of them today.”
Senior DeMarcus Nelson
“I just wanted to come out here and try to get the win. That was our main focus ? to win. This team is about winning. It's not about one player, it's not about me, it's not about Coach [Mike Krzyzewski], it's not about anybody. It's about the program winning. In the first half, we didn't play to our standards or to our level. Granted, Boston College was playing exceptionally well in the first half but in the second half that's when we turned things around. I got going, Kyle (Singler) continued to play steady, and our whole team changed. The defense and the offense were clicking.”
“I feel great. I'm playing more minutes than I've played in my career and I'm in the best shape in my life. I know the rest of the guys on the team can say the same. Our team is in great shape. We conditioned hard in the off-season and we still condition to this day. Our coaches did a great job with our conditioning program, and Coach K and the rest of our coaching staff do a good job of making sure everyone gets enough work in but not overdoing it.”
“Today was kind of like fighting human nature. You've done something over and over with winning and you're playing well, you think that you've accomplished something, you're doing well, and you're getting notoriety. Realistically, we've won some games, but we haven't won the league yet. So that's something that the coaches constantly remind us and we have to remind ourselves. We have to continue to compete against our opponents and not against ourselves. I think early on we were competing against ourselves. We don't want to take anything away from Boston College because they're a great team with great players, and they played extremely well tonight. But I think in the first half it was more just us fighting ourselves.”
Freshman Kyle Singler
“It is definitely hard to come off a big win like North Carolina and come back and play against another good team. But we didn't want to use that as an excuse. We just wanted to come out, compete and just play the way Duke can play.”
“We surely don't want to be just a second half time. We want to put two halves together but there is no real answer to that. We would much rather play better in the first half and the second half but we just go out there and play basketball and it just happens that we are a second half team.”
“Throughout the season, when we've been down, we've put together some runs and that's very important ? and was important in this game ? to have a couple of runs throughout the game. In the first five minutes of the second half we put together a little run there. It gave us confidence and it gave us a little lift. That was very important.”
Junior Greg Paulus
“We did a better job defensively [in the second half]. We tried to make it tough on them and pressure them, and we hit a few shots. Just playing a little better defensively definitely helped us out.”
On Kyle Singler:
“Kyle does a great job for us. He does a little bit of everything, offensively, defensively. He does so many different things for being a big guy. He's got the perimeter skills and can shoot the ball from the outside, so he's definitely a big part of our team.”
“We did have a slow start. They did a lot different things to force us to have a slow start. You have to give Boston College some credit. The second half was a little bit better, we had more energy, and we made it a little tougher for them to score.”
Boston College Head Coach Al Skinner
On their turnovers down the stretch:
“Anytime you play?particularly on the road?and you're coming down the stretch you've got to make sure that you take care of the ball and get the shots that you want, and execute. We didn't consistently do that but again we all understand it's a work-in-progress. We just need to be tough enough and disciplined enough to do the things we have to do in order to be successful. That is something that this team is really trying to make an effort to do and learn.”
On a young team coming into an environment like the one in Cameron Indoor Stadium:
“It's like every other environment in the ACC. I mean they welcome you with open arms and cheer for their home teams and they get after it. That's the beauty of this league?I think there's a tremendous amount of support throughout the league and obviously Duke is no different. Maybe they set the standard but the fact of the matter is every building we've gone into, I don't remember any building being quiet. We haven't experienced that yet?maybe other people have. This is what you need to do. You've got to be able to compete in this environment if you're going to have any success in this league. Obviously that's what we're trying to do. The nice thing is I think we're making some progress. We're getting better?there's no question that we haven't been playing as well as we'd like but our play has improved as of late.”
On John Oates' hot streak as of late:
“You know how it is?guys get senioritis. All of the sudden he looks up and ?I've only got this free ride for a few more games.' So he's going to try to enjoy it. I can appreciate it and I think because?I will say this?of his play and obviously Tyrese [Rice]'s play has been pretty consistent most of the season, it really has raised the level of our play. I'm sorry we had to wait this long to get there but I'm glad to see it. We just hope that it can continue and we keep battling and continue to compete in this league.”
On keeping it close most of the second half and what they tried to do make things work differently:
“I thought we had some pretty good execution?guys were going to the basket, thought there was contact going to the basket?there was no calls made. I think for a young team that's tough to handle sometimes?I think you get a little distracted. A veteran team just fights through that but that's something we have to learn. I thought that we had a couple of plays going to the basket we felt that there was contact?no call made and we just didn't fight through that and that's something we have to do.”
Players Mentioned
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