Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus UCF on October 21, 2025 at 7 p.m.
/
7 p.m.
Men's Basketball
vs UCF
.png&width=24&height=24&type=webp)
Quotes: Duke 79, Wake Forest 71
3/1/2016 11:36:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“Our kids really won a hard fought game. Wake played really well. To their credit, coming in they've only won a couple games and they probably had two of the most heartbreaking losses in the conference against Virginia and Pitt. They showed up ready to play and they played well. It's a credit to them and especially their seniors, [Codi] Miller-McIntyre and [Devin] Thomas, for doing it. That's what our league is. In our league, when guys show up they show up. The first half we're 10-for-35 and we could not finish. It must have been eight to 10 shots right there and I think you could see it affect our guys, not as much defensively. We still played pretty good defense, but it was frustrating. The start of the second half was a little bit like that and then they took the lead a couple times and we had a couple hustle buckets, that getting a rebound, Matt [Jones]'s three, Grayson [Allen]'s three. They came as a result of hustle plays and in the last 12 minutes we played great defense and then executed offensively. I'm proud of my guys. It the third game in six days, with the one in between was our worst game of the year and to come back 48 hours later and show who they've been. Since we've been 4-4, they've grown up so much as a group. Marshall [Plumlee] was spectacular. I mean 17 rebounds and just hustling like crazy and Grayson, I think Grayson got back to the plan. At Pitt, you could tell all that affects you. It just affects you where everyone is making a big to-do over things, over him. He got out of it and got 30 points tonight. Eleventh win, huge. Twenty-second win, huge. We've got to give them off tomorrow. Matt tweaked his ankle. I'll find out, you know he was able to come back in the game, but sometimes the adrenaline is going and hopefully he will be ready to go for Saturday. A lot of times you can come back in a game and play but then it's worse after. I don't know why it does that, but that's the way it is. Any questions you guys have?”
On the turning points of the game:
“It was so hot in there. It wasn't for the officials. I'm not in bad shape this time, but a little gut, I wanted to show that. I'm not sure if anyone looked, you don't look at 69 year-old people that much. But also, I just wanted to show our team anything, maybe a little sign. It was more to show our team a sign and then they gutted it out. So, it's very good. By the way, the crowd was great. It was senior night here. The game before the last one is for our seniors, not our playing seniors. You know, you can look as a fan base, not us, but a fan base, you could look past the game in anticipation of North Carolina and our fans didn't do that. They were really good, they were really good.”
On generating the energy:
“You know, Kevin [White] is standing there, that's why he gets the big bucks. I'm supposed to do that and my staff is supposed to do it. Different teams need different things and as a leader I didn't have to do that as much last year. A lot of times, just telling them be you or whatever. This group is a lot younger and less talented, obviously, but talented. It just needs a little bit more. So, we're going to give it and they give it back. It'd be different if they'd been playing horribly, but they've been fighting. Really, the Pitt game was like an out of body experience for these guys and how hard they've been playing.”
On Amile Jefferson:
“Yeah, we've got to make a decision here quick, quick, now. Well it hasn't been quick. We have to make a decision. He cannot run fluidly, it's just something. He can't push off that thing. Laterally, he goes pretty good and that's not in a game, so you're worried. You worry about that. If he doesn't, then we'd hope to bring him back next year and put in for a redshirt.”
On the progress of Derryck Thornton:
“I thought he made some tough plays in those last 12 minutes. Look, he's 18 years old. I think he's done a really good for us and he's gotten better and better. The guys on the team have confidence in him and respect him. He puts really good pressure on the ball. [Bryant] Crawford, he had Crawford most of the night and Crawford had 15 points, but he had 15 shots and six turnovers. So, he did a good job on him. He did a really good job on him.”
Duke Graduate Student Marshall Plumlee
On his 13-point, 17-rebound performance:
“I'm glad I was able to do my part to keep some balls alive and get my teammates more shots. I have some great teammates who really push me to be my best basketball player. I think there was a collective sense of urgency tonight, everyone pushing one another to be their best. So it was a hard-fought win in the end.”
When asked about Coach Mike Krzyzewski taking off his jacket and showing some energy and emotion:
“That fires me up. When Coach is fired up, that fires you up. You're either going to be excited to play a game, or, if not, Coach is going to drag it out of you one way or another. He has a great way of getting through to us and relating to us, and I think our guys showed some maturity by responding to Coach K's energy tonight.”
On whether he's given any thought to what he might say on Senior Night:
“I'm just focusing on one game at a time. I was focused on Wake and now I'm going to be focusing on UNC, just as an opponent as a whole. I've never been a terribly sentimental guy, but I think it goes without being said how tremendous Duke has been to my family and how much my family loves Duke.”
Duke Junior Matt Jones
“As a team, we know every game in March is going to be tough. Teams wake up, especially for games in March, and we just have to make sure that we're there mentally and physically. We can't take any team for granted. Wake Forest is a really good team and they definitely tested us tonight.”
On Duke's defensive pressure:
“We just knew we had to be aggressive. We saw in film opportunities where we could contest. We haven't been good at contesting up to this point. But we saw opportunities and we were able to capitalize on them, and the ball was just bouncing our way.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
“We wanted to come out and be aggressive defensively, really get after them, and get after their ball handlers. We got a couple of steals in passing lanes, which was what we were trying to do. And Derryck [Thornton] does a tremendous job – he really starts off our pressure by pressuring the point guard. It starts with him and goes back to Marshall [Plumlee] really talking back there and commanding our defense.”
“In the second half, especially late in the second half, we started to play good defense. We did a great job of defensive rebounding. [Wake Forest] had two big guys in there for most of the game, so we really had to crash the boards. The key down the stretch was just getting stops. They were scoring pretty well in the first half, and then to start the second half off, they came out on a little bit of a run. But we fought back and were really holding our own.”
When asked at what point in the game he finally felt like the momentum was turning in Duke's favor:
“I think we strung together a series of stops, maybe under 10 minutes [remaining] in the second half. We got it up by eight and Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] brought us together and he was fired up and he said, 'Next stop is ours. We need to get this next stop.' I think we got the stop and that's when I felt like we were going to control the game down the stretch. We just needed to control the time and really just finish the game out and we did that. We made it hard for them to score down the stretch and we knocked down some of our free throws.”
On how Duke responds to Coach Mike Krzyzewski's energy and emotion when he takes his jacket off:
“It's huge. You know Coach, he's always fired up and we need to match his energy, and I think we did that out there on the court in the second half. Marshall [Plumlee] was huge bringing energy with his 17 boards, and really his emotion that he showed out there got the whole team fired up. He said this in the locker room – he was like, 'I only have two games left in Cameron. We need to go out and fight.' And we did that so for him to step up like that was huge.”
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement:
“Obviously we are disappointed with the outcome of the game. I thought we did some pretty good things, especially in the first half. I thought we did a decent job at guarding and competing. Second half kind of got away from us, and I think for us we had some self-inflicted wounds. Offensive rebounds, they had 14 and we turned the ball over too many times. We had 18 turnovers which led to 19 points for them. They made plays down the stretch, and a couple guys that we could not stay in front of cost us the game. I thought we had far too many self-inflicted wounds on our part, but Duke is a terrific team and I thought they played very well. ”
On Wake Forest intensity throughout the game:
“I thought that we competed. I thought that there were certain stretches throughout the course of the game where we did not play the way that we needed to each possession, but I think overall we played fairly hard.”
On Mitchell Wilbekin guarding Grayson Allen:
“Grayson Allen is a talented basketball player; he had a heck of a game. They probably hit about 28 free throws in about three minutes to go before we started fouling. We have to figure out a way to get to the basket and get to the free-throw line. I look at the stat sheet and see that we had 34 points in the paint so I know we are getting the ball to the basket, we just have to figure out a way to get to the free-throw line and I guess we just have not figured that out yet.”
On the sequence of runs:
“I thought that we got some good looks, we got some good execution, but we just were not able to finish plays. Defensively, they got a couple second chance opportunities during that run that really hurt us.”
On plans for this week:
“I do not know how many days they will get off. This was a quick turnaround and so I know that we are going to give them some time off. We are going to formulate our game plan to try and slow down Cat Barber, and go from there. When we get to the ACC tournament we will lace them up and be ready to go.”
Opening Statement:
“Our kids really won a hard fought game. Wake played really well. To their credit, coming in they've only won a couple games and they probably had two of the most heartbreaking losses in the conference against Virginia and Pitt. They showed up ready to play and they played well. It's a credit to them and especially their seniors, [Codi] Miller-McIntyre and [Devin] Thomas, for doing it. That's what our league is. In our league, when guys show up they show up. The first half we're 10-for-35 and we could not finish. It must have been eight to 10 shots right there and I think you could see it affect our guys, not as much defensively. We still played pretty good defense, but it was frustrating. The start of the second half was a little bit like that and then they took the lead a couple times and we had a couple hustle buckets, that getting a rebound, Matt [Jones]'s three, Grayson [Allen]'s three. They came as a result of hustle plays and in the last 12 minutes we played great defense and then executed offensively. I'm proud of my guys. It the third game in six days, with the one in between was our worst game of the year and to come back 48 hours later and show who they've been. Since we've been 4-4, they've grown up so much as a group. Marshall [Plumlee] was spectacular. I mean 17 rebounds and just hustling like crazy and Grayson, I think Grayson got back to the plan. At Pitt, you could tell all that affects you. It just affects you where everyone is making a big to-do over things, over him. He got out of it and got 30 points tonight. Eleventh win, huge. Twenty-second win, huge. We've got to give them off tomorrow. Matt tweaked his ankle. I'll find out, you know he was able to come back in the game, but sometimes the adrenaline is going and hopefully he will be ready to go for Saturday. A lot of times you can come back in a game and play but then it's worse after. I don't know why it does that, but that's the way it is. Any questions you guys have?”
On the turning points of the game:
“It was so hot in there. It wasn't for the officials. I'm not in bad shape this time, but a little gut, I wanted to show that. I'm not sure if anyone looked, you don't look at 69 year-old people that much. But also, I just wanted to show our team anything, maybe a little sign. It was more to show our team a sign and then they gutted it out. So, it's very good. By the way, the crowd was great. It was senior night here. The game before the last one is for our seniors, not our playing seniors. You know, you can look as a fan base, not us, but a fan base, you could look past the game in anticipation of North Carolina and our fans didn't do that. They were really good, they were really good.”
On generating the energy:
“You know, Kevin [White] is standing there, that's why he gets the big bucks. I'm supposed to do that and my staff is supposed to do it. Different teams need different things and as a leader I didn't have to do that as much last year. A lot of times, just telling them be you or whatever. This group is a lot younger and less talented, obviously, but talented. It just needs a little bit more. So, we're going to give it and they give it back. It'd be different if they'd been playing horribly, but they've been fighting. Really, the Pitt game was like an out of body experience for these guys and how hard they've been playing.”
On Amile Jefferson:
“Yeah, we've got to make a decision here quick, quick, now. Well it hasn't been quick. We have to make a decision. He cannot run fluidly, it's just something. He can't push off that thing. Laterally, he goes pretty good and that's not in a game, so you're worried. You worry about that. If he doesn't, then we'd hope to bring him back next year and put in for a redshirt.”
On the progress of Derryck Thornton:
“I thought he made some tough plays in those last 12 minutes. Look, he's 18 years old. I think he's done a really good for us and he's gotten better and better. The guys on the team have confidence in him and respect him. He puts really good pressure on the ball. [Bryant] Crawford, he had Crawford most of the night and Crawford had 15 points, but he had 15 shots and six turnovers. So, he did a good job on him. He did a really good job on him.”
Duke Graduate Student Marshall Plumlee
On his 13-point, 17-rebound performance:
“I'm glad I was able to do my part to keep some balls alive and get my teammates more shots. I have some great teammates who really push me to be my best basketball player. I think there was a collective sense of urgency tonight, everyone pushing one another to be their best. So it was a hard-fought win in the end.”
When asked about Coach Mike Krzyzewski taking off his jacket and showing some energy and emotion:
“That fires me up. When Coach is fired up, that fires you up. You're either going to be excited to play a game, or, if not, Coach is going to drag it out of you one way or another. He has a great way of getting through to us and relating to us, and I think our guys showed some maturity by responding to Coach K's energy tonight.”
On whether he's given any thought to what he might say on Senior Night:
“I'm just focusing on one game at a time. I was focused on Wake and now I'm going to be focusing on UNC, just as an opponent as a whole. I've never been a terribly sentimental guy, but I think it goes without being said how tremendous Duke has been to my family and how much my family loves Duke.”
Duke Junior Matt Jones
“As a team, we know every game in March is going to be tough. Teams wake up, especially for games in March, and we just have to make sure that we're there mentally and physically. We can't take any team for granted. Wake Forest is a really good team and they definitely tested us tonight.”
On Duke's defensive pressure:
“We just knew we had to be aggressive. We saw in film opportunities where we could contest. We haven't been good at contesting up to this point. But we saw opportunities and we were able to capitalize on them, and the ball was just bouncing our way.”
Duke Sophomore Grayson Allen
“We wanted to come out and be aggressive defensively, really get after them, and get after their ball handlers. We got a couple of steals in passing lanes, which was what we were trying to do. And Derryck [Thornton] does a tremendous job – he really starts off our pressure by pressuring the point guard. It starts with him and goes back to Marshall [Plumlee] really talking back there and commanding our defense.”
“In the second half, especially late in the second half, we started to play good defense. We did a great job of defensive rebounding. [Wake Forest] had two big guys in there for most of the game, so we really had to crash the boards. The key down the stretch was just getting stops. They were scoring pretty well in the first half, and then to start the second half off, they came out on a little bit of a run. But we fought back and were really holding our own.”
When asked at what point in the game he finally felt like the momentum was turning in Duke's favor:
“I think we strung together a series of stops, maybe under 10 minutes [remaining] in the second half. We got it up by eight and Coach [Mike Krzyzewski] brought us together and he was fired up and he said, 'Next stop is ours. We need to get this next stop.' I think we got the stop and that's when I felt like we were going to control the game down the stretch. We just needed to control the time and really just finish the game out and we did that. We made it hard for them to score down the stretch and we knocked down some of our free throws.”
On how Duke responds to Coach Mike Krzyzewski's energy and emotion when he takes his jacket off:
“It's huge. You know Coach, he's always fired up and we need to match his energy, and I think we did that out there on the court in the second half. Marshall [Plumlee] was huge bringing energy with his 17 boards, and really his emotion that he showed out there got the whole team fired up. He said this in the locker room – he was like, 'I only have two games left in Cameron. We need to go out and fight.' And we did that so for him to step up like that was huge.”
Wake Forest Head Coach Danny Manning
Opening Statement:
“Obviously we are disappointed with the outcome of the game. I thought we did some pretty good things, especially in the first half. I thought we did a decent job at guarding and competing. Second half kind of got away from us, and I think for us we had some self-inflicted wounds. Offensive rebounds, they had 14 and we turned the ball over too many times. We had 18 turnovers which led to 19 points for them. They made plays down the stretch, and a couple guys that we could not stay in front of cost us the game. I thought we had far too many self-inflicted wounds on our part, but Duke is a terrific team and I thought they played very well. ”
On Wake Forest intensity throughout the game:
“I thought that we competed. I thought that there were certain stretches throughout the course of the game where we did not play the way that we needed to each possession, but I think overall we played fairly hard.”
On Mitchell Wilbekin guarding Grayson Allen:
“Grayson Allen is a talented basketball player; he had a heck of a game. They probably hit about 28 free throws in about three minutes to go before we started fouling. We have to figure out a way to get to the basket and get to the free-throw line. I look at the stat sheet and see that we had 34 points in the paint so I know we are getting the ball to the basket, we just have to figure out a way to get to the free-throw line and I guess we just have not figured that out yet.”
On the sequence of runs:
“I thought that we got some good looks, we got some good execution, but we just were not able to finish plays. Defensively, they got a couple second chance opportunities during that run that really hurt us.”
On plans for this week:
“I do not know how many days they will get off. This was a quick turnaround and so I know that we are going to give them some time off. We are going to formulate our game plan to try and slow down Cat Barber, and go from there. When we get to the ACC tournament we will lace them up and be ready to go.”
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's Basketball
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
