Post-Game Quotes: Duke

Michigan State Head Coach Tom Izzo

Opening statement
Out coached. Out played. Out worked. Then, we got a little unlucky on a couple of things. I felt like the game in the first half, as we missed I think six or seven free throws, including some one-and-one's that started to get away. The turnovers. We end up with 14, and they have 15… that's a joke. I think we had seven in the first five minutes, and we just didn't get a lot of play out of a lot of people. Yet, we got some play out of some people that did a hell of a job. Marcus Bingham actually did a great job. I did not appreciate the way some of those were called inside. I thought we had pretty good verticality, but I guess they thought not. But that had nothing to do with the game. As I said, out coached, out played and out worked. Cassius has a lot on his plate, and when we started putting too many young guys in... Xavier got in foul trouble, and we got away from what we were going to run. Xavier bounced back and did a pretty good job. They hit shots. They hit some shots that I haven't seen them hit. Consequently, the better team won. It probably went by a worse score than what it was.

On Vernon Carey's play…
He played really well. He's a good kid. Good player. I was a little upset. I thought if they're going to let him finish through you... It is what it is. I thought our guys did a pretty good job on him most of the time. Sometimes we were just out-matched by size, and sometimes they did a good job of getting it in there. Once they subbed; it actually hurt us. The Moore kid is not as good of a shooter, and this is one game that Baker made every shot that he took. We cut it to eight and subbed a little, and they missed a free throw and we didn't get the rebound and they banked a three. I thought those kinds of plays are just inexcusable. We don't give up missed free throws. I think that was their effort. I thought their effort was phenomenal.

On highlights from the game…
It's probably too soon. I'm embarrassed. I'm embarrassed that a player that I love came back here who probably laid some of the groundwork with Mateen Cleaves on toughness, and I didn't think that we played with that tonight. I'm sure there were some bright spots. Xavier definitely was one. I thought Marcus was one. I thought a couple guys competed. I thought Rocket competed, and I thought some guys didn't compete as well. That's my job. The only one that should be held accountable for that is me.

On finding normalcy…
I was told by a couple of very important people to me that you don't wait for normalcy. I'm just not doing a very good job of pushing that. When the year started, we didn't think we'd be starting more or less a freshman and a guy who hadn't played in that position. That's part of it. There's no reason that you don't play harder. That falls on me. For those who want to rip, you should rip. Yeah, we've been through more hell than I think I've even been through in my career here as far as some things that happen that kind of set you back. At the same time, that has no basis for why you don't play hard. We looked like the moment was too big. I said the turnovers were big and the missed free throws were big, but if there was one area that our freshmen really struggled with tonight it was… you know how many balls, including the one when the guy made a ridiculous call… 10,000 be worth it, and a goaltending. They blocked about five others at the rim. They were layups. Only one was a bad call. The others, they made great plays. We just didn't go strong enough. We just didn't understand that. Then, the second half, we made some things better. We started to go a little more inside. We just couldn't keep it going. In that stretch, we cut it to eight, and then they banked that one in and that's kind of the way the night goes. It's been different. It's been a different month. The month should be a reason why we struggle in some areas, but not playing hard. So, that falls on me.

On Aaron Henry not playing up to standards…
I don't know. Aaron… I don't know. I really don't. Next question.

On decision to put Marcus into starting lineup…
We're experimenting there, which I knew we would be. I was actually very pleased in a lot of ways with Malik Hall. I think he had eight boards. He was 3-8 from the field and 3-5 from the line. He's a good free throw shooter. He had nine points and three assists. Eight boards. Pretty good production for a freshman. Marky has been improving, and I think him and Gabe have probably worked the hardest. I thought Gabe struggled a little bit tonight, but his stats are pretty good. We just didn't get the production that we needed. As I said, I felt that it came in three ways: turnovers, missed free throws, and blocks at the rim. They deserve credit for two of those three.

On Cassius and Rocket struggling and putting Foster in…
I just put him in early because we were going to run a certain thing, and I wanted to explain it to Cassius. So I just benched him for 20 seconds. That was another credible call. Foster is laying on the floor, and a guy comes down on him. I was trying to figure that one out too. Hard to complain about officiating when I coached as bad as I must have coached. That was nothing. We're trying to get Cassius going, but there's certain things that we had talked about. They did a good job. They did a good job jumping in and taking him out of things. If you would have watched film, we did some of the same things and some guys hit some shots. I think they banked in two because we banked in one too. It's just the way the game went. They looked like they were more aggressive the whole game.

On playing Vernon one-on-one and adjusting…
We started digging a bit more. We actually… that's the funny part. We didn't plan one-on-one. It looked like it. I agree with you. We were supposed to be digging, and that's where some of our wings just kind of struggled tonight. We did a better job of it the second half. Like I said, he's a load in there, especially if he's going to jump right through you. He made some plays, but he made a lot of free throws too. I think he got there 12 or 14 times. Give the credit to him. He played good. They went into him, and we thought they would. Believe it or not, they haven't been shooting the ball very well, and tonight they made everything. That's what good teams do. They find a way to play above the way they've been playing if they're going to find a way to win games on the road and they did that.

On handling the fatigue after Maui…
We talked about it. I think every coach has talked about that some. I've talked to a lot of guys about it, and you're right it's not been great for a lot of people. But that's not every person, but again there's something you can see in the eyes of a person and I saw it in their eyes. I didn't see it in our eyes. I don't think I'm going to use Maui; I don't think. I can only tell you it's been a hell of a month for a lot of reasons. Playing good people, playing on the road a lot I mean this was our third home game. There're teams that never left their state. We didn't do that and maybe I am the dumb one but is that a reason to miss free throws, is that a reason to turn the ball over? Maybe if your legs are gone you miss a shot, maybe you don't rebound as well. I mean even the rebounding I don't know how some of these numbers ended up like they are. I think it was the home court stat crew. They had one more turnover than us, didn't seem like. They had two more rebounds than us, didn't seem like it. They made three or four more field goals than us, didn't seem like it. Maybe Matt Larson deserves the star of the game because it seems like they out-played us in a lot of areas, but I said the one area that maybe gets unnoticed, 11 blocks. I don't think I've had a team that has ever gotten 11 shots blocked in a game, and I'll bet you of those 11, 10 of them were at the rim. They were at the rim I mean it wasn't like they were shots out on the perimeter or shots that are hook shots. They were at the rim, and you've got to give them a lot of credit for that.

On Duke's scoring runs….
I think of our 14 turnovers, I think 10 of them were steals which means those are live ball turnovers and those are run outs which lead to the 17 to four fast break points and you're not going to be able to do that and win. We've got to get some guys playing better. I don't know, it seems like the world caves in on you now, but it really doesn't. We've played some very good basketball, and we've played some mediocre basketball and I appreciate that half out Andy (Katz) for me and I would probably, no I probably wouldn't use it, but I might use a little bit of it except it happened early. As the game wore on, I could see us dragging. Now I have said this, it's probably in my career been the hardest to practice the last three and a half weeks of ever I've been a coach here for a variety of reasons. Some of it is the travel you know New York, New York, get back at four in the morning twice, Maui. They're all good excuses, but we just didn't do the things we needed to do. I'm going to have to get back, we get tomorrow off and then we get three, four days to practice. And we've just got to start practicing better, and we'll play better. I'm saying all this, and I don't know what Mike said in here, but he said to me they played probably as good as they can play. They made shots I mean they've been shooting 33% from the three. They've been shooting 40-something percent from the field. They made shots I mean they made a lot of shots and some of it led because of the lay-ups early. Vernon Carey has been a poor free-throw shooter, and I think he made 10 in a row or something and he missed a couple. They made shots and that's the great part of this game.

On the mystique of these early games…
Let's get something straight, there is no mystique. They beat our ass you know we've found a way to win a game or two here or there. There's no mystique, it's happened, it's fact as I said and that's got to lead to you know different players, same coach. So coaches got to take responsibility for that, but it's not like we've, first a lot we've played them a lot down there, we've played them a lot neutral. We've played here twice. In fact our worst two losses we've had have been here but there is no mystique about it. They've handed it two us and on a regular basis and a lot of times they've got really good teams. I think I looked it up they were number one or two in the country more often than not, so we play them and I'm just going to keep doing what I've always done, just keep chopping at it. Maybe you'll get that three to knock down sooner or later. I don't look at last year as any big deal; it was a win. They've beaten us a lot more than we've beaten them.

On Draymond Green's presence tonight…
No I think he would have talked to them after. He had so many things going on before and I guess I'd be remised if I didn't say what a shame for me, for our fans and really for him. This thing meant the world to him. I've never seen guy so excited about coming back and when I'm sitting in my office and Steve Kerr comes in and the owners of the Warriors and Thompson is there and Zaza's there and the GM is there and so many people. Jaren Jackson flew in and Denzel, they all flew in and sure it was to watch a good game, but I think it was to honor a guy that kind of stands for what we are. The team started it and did an unbelievable job and then Draymond kind of took it over and I feel bad about that because it should have been one of those nights that you hope is a memory making night and didn't get to enjoy it with him. He'll understand. He's been through his ups and downs as everybody has, but I sure feel bad because I'm so proud of that kid and what he's done and talking to Steve Kerr a little bit I'm proud of how he's handling it even now I mean they are 4-18 and he's handling it very well. That probably is as big a disappointment for me on a night of somebody that I appreciate, love and respect and you hope you play harder to honor that. Not necessarily better, shots are going to go in, they're not going to go in but harder and I'm going to look at what we've been through with Cash, I'm going to look at the adjustments with Josh, I'm going to look at the Hawaii thing. I'm going to look at all of them, but I know this we are 5-3 with less than two very good teams. We got beat by a team over there that played well, and I can only say that we have not been able to practice that well and you know what coaches say is the truth. Sometimes you play like you practice, and we hardly even practiced before the Seton Hall game, but I don't think we played with a sense of urgency you need to play. Is their reasons and it's my job to get them ready and I'm going to do a better job getting them ready and yet I'm not going to panic like most fans because I've been here so many times before and I understand that teams have their nights and I give Duke a lot of credit. They out-played us in every aspect of the game and they made most of their free throws, missed a couple at the end, made some jump shots, but I think it was their tenacity and their defense. I told Mike, I said that I thought defensively they were better than I even saw on film and yet offensively we were even worse than I saw on film so hopefully we'll get that straighten out because it doesn't get any easier now. We've got two Big Ten games in the next three games, four games and so there's not a lot of rest for the wicked here and I set up the schedule, so I've got no complaints but I maybe do have to look at a certain few things that some of you brought up and figure them out, but I think tonight we got it taken it to us early and we didn't respond and maybe it's some of our youth in all honesty and we're going to have to get better.

Senior guard Cassius Winston

On finding a second scorer…
Yeah definitely, we have to figure out a way to get Aaron (Henry) the ball. He is a pretty good scorer so we need to get him some more touches. Rocket (Watts) is just getting his feel for things and his rhythm and all that is going to come soon. Those are two pretty good options. We just have to figure out a way to get them going.

On his message to the younger guys on the team…
Definitely, it is a long season and it's not the first time we have been in this situation. This is what these games are for. We are playing the best teams and just how we lost they could have lost just as easily so it happens. We are working towards something, we are working towards becoming the best team that we could possibly be. We are glad it is going to happen at the beginning of the year, we would rather it happen at the end of the year.

On tonight's effort…
I think it is more of a lasting effort. Everybody had energy, everybody was hyped and ready to go but when some things go wrong, that is when you find passion and that's when you have to push through. Even when you are down eight or down ten you still need to have that same energy as the beginning of the game which will push you forward.

Sophomore forward Marcus Bingham Jr.

On tonight's team performance…
They played harder. We played hard but overall it was a good game and we have to move forward.

On his individual performance…
Every time I get on the court I try and stay out there and do what I can to help the team. We didn't win but I thought my performance was good.

On the mindset of going up against Vernon Carey Jr…
He is a good player. He is big, bigger than I thought he was but he is a really good player. I was looking forward to the matchup and learned a lot from it.

On the team's mindset after this game…
Work hard Thursday at practice and try to get ready for Rutgers.

On the preparation for tonight's game…
I felt like we were ready but some things didn't turn out the way we thought they would. We turned the ball over but overall I think we played well. We just have to tick it up a notch.

Junior forward Xavier Tillman

On the takeaways from this game…
I don't even know the main parts other than dealing with our defense, that really killed us today. For our youngins that is going to be watching film and see where you could have been to help us out. Whether it was better hands on the ball on the high low passes or whether it was guarding Vernon (Carey Jr.) down low. What could you have done better? If it was a guard stand down. Mainly it is going to be film and staring at the defense to see what we could have done better.

On Vernon Davis Jr…
One-on-one it was hard to guard him, you could tell obviously. As soon as they got him into the post he went right into his move right away before we could get our help side in there. That was crucial for them because he was able to take our guys one on one.

On whether it is beneficially for the team to be a little off the radar…
Yes and no. It wouldn't be right if we didn't get everybody's best shot because come March, we are going to get everybody's best shot. We want that every single time whether we win or lose so we still hope every game that we are on the radar. That they want to play Michigan State and beat Michigan State so that way we got to bring it every time because we have to be ready by March.

On the importance of a second scorer…
Big. Big. It is going to come from Rocket (Watts), it is going to come from Gabe (Brown), it is going to come from (Aaron) Henry, it is going to come from Kyle (Ahrens) and they know that too. We have all talked about it but those guys have to help take over. Take the shots and be confident in those shots as well.

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Opening Statement…
We played so hard and we needed to, to beat them. The crowd was great. Tom's teams are so good, and this team really advances the ball probably as fast as anyone in the country, and so overall, I thought we did a good job of getting back. Actually, we had a lot more fast break points than I could ever have imagined in this game and so much of that had to do with Tre (Jones) and how our big guys ran the court, especially Javin (DeLaurier). Javin had not played to the level he is capable until tonight. He was a difference maker for us. I thought our big guys did a very good job. Yeah, we won a tough game.

On becoming a top five team…
This is a huge win, but that doesn't mean you've arrived. We are placed in a very difficult situation, our conference put us in a situation where we will get back at 4 in the morning and literally, we are in the toughest week of our academic year, the week before exams. Two of our kids took tests last night here and now we got to go back and in the next day, Thursday, we fly to Blacksburg (Virginia). It is really not a good scheduling thing by our conference, and we will see how our guys react. Obviously, we are real pleased with a win and now we got to put that behind us very quickly.

On the veterans playing a big part in the game…
It is a good point and Joey has just worked every day. He comes to work everyday and every time he is put in the game, he's done well. In our last game against Winthrop, they are very good, they could be an NCAA team. Joey (Baker) and Jordan Goldwire were the difference and Jack (White) has been just solid. I think he had a couple blocks and three steals, and he had a big three, so everyone contributed. We needed to; they are a very deep team. The foul trouble that we had, especially in the first half, kind of can mess you up a little bit and they hit us with that run right away and I thought our kids really did a great job after the timeout of regaining poise and get control of the game.

On Vernon Carey…
He played a great game. Our guys look for him and the key for him is he is 9-for-12 from the free throw line and he missed a couple on the break. He could've had over 30 in this game and our guys look for him, but really for a freshman, especially for a big guy, to have that poise in the post is commendable.

On Vernon Carey's big play in blocking shot after screen…
Then I had to sub him because he was gassed. He is not just a big guy, he's a basketball player. He has really good lateral movement but playing at this pace, you get tired so the subbing that we did were for all of our big because Jack was on the perimeter and big. It helped a lot.

On preparing teams now vs. in the past…
This is just a different team for us. We don't have that one guy or two guys that we've had each year that they can just go and get it. We have to get it together and we are younger. Our freshman are younger and I've said that the start of the year this is an old fashioned team, this is like 15 years ago where you hope they stay together for a few years because if they stay healthy, they will continue to develop, I don't know how high they will develop in this one year, we are hoping high, but this is very much a different team. It's not about preparing for Michigan State, it's how that type of team prepares in comparison with Zion and RJ or Tatum or Bagley or Carter. It's much different preparation. Much more attention to detail.

On preparing for any weakness against MSU…
No, our thing was just to try not to get hurt by their rapid advance of the ball and their rebounding and we held our own rebounding. I think that was key and they really didn't get as much, we probably got an equal amount or maybe a little bit more in transition which I wouldn't of bet on that, not that I bet, before the game, so the two things. Make them a half-court team and try to hold your own on rebounds. We did well in those two areas, but they don't have weaknesses. They are an outstanding team and I think when they get their rotation down, they will be even better. I called Tom a couple weeks ago when all that happened with Cassius and for a program to go through that and their key player to got through that, you've all handled it very well as a community, as a team, but still that's a very difficult thing, so our thoughts and prayers are with him and his family. To me it looks like you all have put your arms around him and try to make it as good as it possibly could be.

On slowing MSU down in the paint tonight and what they did differently tonight compared to last week…
It's just we're not a veteran team so you're going to see fluctuation. We're not going to see as much consistency as I would like, but tonight we did. If we played that way last week, we would have won two games instead of one, but we didn't because we're learning; you know, we're learning. The main thing for our guys is they were extremely competitive tonight.; unbelievably competitive tonight. I'm proud of the fact that they did that.

On what he saw from his team defensively…
We had blocked shots and got some turnovers. We didn't go into the game thinking we're going to block as many shots or get the steals. Our guys were really tough in making an extra play. Like you were beaten, the team was beaten, but then we weren't. We had probably about eight plays like that where there could've been scores for them and our kids just made that extra play. That was superb. That's not coaching; that's what I mean, the competitiveness that they had. They got beat and then they still recovered, which saved the game for us. Saved the game for us, no question.

On Draymond Green…
By the way, I had the honor to coach Draymond at the Olympics. What an outstanding guy and so deserving of having that.

On his message to the team before big games like this…
I just tell them, if you want to sing your song, you want to sing it in front of a big audience. You not only come into our program, but you're coming to Michigan State's program wanting to play in these type of environments. I didn't know how our kids would respond. You can want and then all of a sudden you get and it can go sideways, but tonight, they wanted, they got and they responded. Cool thing; I'm proud of them for doing that.

On the friendship between him and Coach Izzo, and calling him a couple weeks ago…
I admire the heck out of him and Michigan State's program. We have two of the best programs in sport, not just in basketball. We have it because of the values and the standards, the principles that he evokes and we do too. And it started with Jud (Heathcote), too. I mean, Michigan State is the crème de la crème and we are too. There's not one. When you are that, you have ultimate respect for the guy leading the other group. I know he has that for me and I have that for him. Consistent excellence is not easily achieved and Michigan State has had consistent excellence because of Tom and his amazing staff. I mean, his staff has been together for a long time and the support. Their former players are like our former players. They feel like they are part of a family. And Tom – what is this, his 25^th year? He's a young whipper-snapper (laughing). 40 (points to himself). When you have that continuity, then those players come back and there's family. Not many programs – hardly any programs have that. They do and we do; we're two of them. That's why we're very, very close.