Quotes & Notes - February 22
at Miami
After every game I always watch the press conference, read the quotes, and study the box score. Quotes & Notes is my wrap-up of Duke’s most recent game(s).
Quotes
“That was a great win for us. Clearly Miami is not 100%, they’re far from it, they’re banged up. You still have to come ready to play. You still have to play for 40 minutes. I thought our guys did that. I love the sharing on offense. I thought it was one of [Kyle] Filipowski’s best games. It’s not going to show in the box score, but he played with great poise. He was really strong. He played great defense. He makes the game so much easier for everybody else on the floor. I was really happy with Tyrese [Proctor]. We didn’t know how many minutes he could play tonight. He’s done about 10 minutes of contact since the last game he played against Wake Forest. I thought he had great minutes, played with a great pace. And really, I could go down the line – it was a great team effort. It was a great team win. Ton of respect for Miami, I don’t care who’s playing for them, they have a talented team. And they’re more than dangerous at home, so, proud of this win.”
- Coach Scheyer on the Miami game
“With them, you have to guard the ball. I know it sounds simple, but it starts with guarding the ball. You have to have great communication. We switched a lot tonight. You can switch when you have five guys who can defend and stay in front of the ball. I thought we had great communication. The one thing that I thought hurt us with some of the switching was the offensive rebounds that they got. We need to do a better job with that. But overall, you have to guard the ball and we did that.”
- Coach Scheyer on Duke’s defense
“…this sport humbles you, and if you handle it right, you can be better than you were if those things didn’t happen to you. And I think that’s what this group has done. Like last year, we talked about it a little bit, it was mostly about here and now, but there’s no question that plays a factor when you know that can happen to you. And I think our guys have shown great maturity just continuing to learn and carry that over.”
- Coach Scheyer on learning from last year’s loss at Miami
Stats
Coach Scheyer mentioned the offensive rebounds for Miami being due, in part, to Duke switching everything for most of the contest. But despite 16 offensive rebounds for the Hurricanes, Duke still posted a 22-15 advantage in second chance points and a +11 rebounding margin for the game. The Blue Devils shared the ball well with 19 assists on 28 made field goals (67.9%), marking their highest assist percentage so far in conference play. In the first half, Duke shot 8 of 16 from three (1.50 pps) and used a 13-0 run to help push their halftime lead to 40-23. Jeremy Roach made his four three-pointers over a 7:03 stretch that spanned the close of the first half and into the start of the second. Coach Scheyer has talked recently about the importance of closing and opening the half well, and said this about Duke’s senior captain, “...I’m just proud of him for what he’s done this year. He’s made everybody around him better…he’s just been terrific and I don’t know where we would be without him and his approach the whole season.” In his last two games, Roach has combined for 33 points and 7 assists, while going 6 for 10 from three-point range.
Notes
In Case You Missed It: Although I’m a huge college basketball fan, I kind of despise the discussion around Bracketology and NET rankings. However, it is unavoidable this time of year, with the television broadcasts mentioning “who’s in & who’s out” while showing a “current seed” graphic during every game from now until Selection Sunday. Duke was given a #3-seed in the selection committee’s first bracket preview, which was released over the weekend. Personally, I don’t put any energy or focus on these rankings or previews (control what you can control) - but it is worth noting, especially coming directly from the committee. I also despise myself for writing this paragraph, and promise not to opine on every tournament projection for the next three weeks.
Kara Lawson was recently named an assistant coach on the USA Basketball Women’s National Team for the upcoming 2024 Olympics in Paris. She won an Olympic gold medal as a player in 2008, and as the head coach of the inaugural 3x3 Women’s National Team in 2021. Congrats to Coach Lawson on her newest role with USA Basketball.
Next Play: Saturday Feb 24 | 2:00 pm ESPN | Duke travels to Winston-Salem to match-up with Wake Forest.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources