Opening Statement:
“As good as the game in Durham was, this was better. I thought both teams played outstanding basketball tonight. It was tough to single out a kid. We were fortunate we won. It’s the best we’ve shot from the three-point, and obviously, it’s a huge difference. They’re outstanding, and we’re really good too and it was that game. We feel very thankful that we won. I’m proud of my guys, but we beat a heck of a team, and they’re a great program. We’re just obviously very pleased.”
On the fast-break points disparity:
“We had a couple on turnovers and long rebounds, and that’s not what they do and they usually don’t give it up. Probably the one that was the most impressive was when Zion chased down that loose ball on the side opposite of us—man how fast was he? Look, it’s a lot better to get points against them when they’re not set up. That helped us tremendously.”
On Duke’s success behind the arc:
“I thought R.J. [Barrett] has played outstanding, but he’s been disappointed. He wants to be great. He really had unbelievable preparation for this game, and you could see right away that he was lathered up. He got us off to such a good start, and Cam [Reddish] is really playing well. He hit his. When we moved the ball and got them to move a little bit, sometimes we got some open shots, and then when we didn’t, they forced us into 15 turnovers, which they do. We did enough to win.”
On the impact of Tre Jones:
“You know first of all, I thought [Kihei] Clark did a great job on him. That was a great adjustment on their part. Probably [Ty] Jerome is not 100%, but he’s playing. Clark has really been a good player for them. We changed our point of pickup in the second-half, because we weren’t getting anything. He was putting good pressure, and we started to do a little brush-screen to give Tre some room. Tre’s not given much credit for his shooting, scoring with passing and defense, but tonight he made a couple big-time shots, especially when he split the ball-screen there late.”
On the improvement of Cam Reddish:
“His defense has gotten so much better. He’s just playing stronger. He was good before, but his shots weren’t strong. His whole game has gotten stronger. He went on a flurry for a little bit, which he can do. We see him getting better and better.”
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Chris Graham
