Quotes & Notes - February 25
at Wake Forest
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
“Hats off to Wake Forest. They’re a really good team. I don’t think they’re respected – just like I said after the first time – they’re not respected the way they should be nationally. On one hand, we care about metrics to put teams in. And on the other hand, we don’t. They’re top-25, no matter how you slice it up metric-wise. We knew it was going to be a big-time game. Disappointed we lost. But for me, I’m more concerned about the well-being of our guys. [Kyle Filipowski] sprains his ankle. When are we going to ban court storming? When are we going to ban that? How many times does a player have to get into something where they get punched or they get pushed or they get taunted right in their face. It’s a dangerous thing. I don’t want that to take away from the game that Wake played, because Wake played a big-time game. [Hunter] Sallis was as good as could be today and hats off to them….They deserve the win. Steve [Forbes] is a hell of a coach. I respect the heck out of him and his team. They’re really good. If this is the example they need to be in the tournament, what are we even talking about? Hats off to them. We need to be better. We need to learn from this. But that needs to stop.”
- Coach Scheyer on the Wake Forest game
“I think on some of those [shots], you have to tip your hat. They came out right away and went inside on us and we didn’t have an answer. We’ve doubled the post at times, other times we’ve played one-on-one. When we went one-on-one, they scored. When we doubled, they kicked it out for threes. It’s a little bit of a chess game. Maybe more checkers, it was pretty simple. We were trying to protect our paint and also take away the three. They don’t miss. They didn’t miss. They shoot 70-percent from the field. For me, the fact that they shoot 70-percent from the field in the second half, and we put ourselves in a position to win, I think that says a lot about us. I think that says a lot about our team….For me, I told the team in the locker room, when you play a really high-level team like this, it’s not about who wants it more. They want it just as bad as you do and vice versa. It comes down to not just playing hard, but execution. We call it winning the details. You have to win the details. So, if it’s one block out, it’s not fouling at the end of the half, it’s taking care of the ball and getting a shot up, that’s the difference. I know our team; I love our team. We’re going to learn from this and bounce back, but the first thing we’ve got to do is get healthy and see where we’re at.”
- Coach Scheyer on Wake’s offense in the second half
“No, not yet. It just happened. You know, Caleb got hurt too in the second half, that’s why he didn’t go back. He had a terrific game. And unfortunately, this has happened to us a few times this year and we almost overcame it. Caleb is so important to our team - he was making shots tonight, but he’s just so steady. He plays both ends, he’s gonna be a special guard man…We gotta get him checked out. But just a tough afternoon with Flip and Caleb.”
- Coach Scheyer on any injury updates
Stats
We saw why these are two of the best offenses in the ACC yesterday, with both teams generating at least 1.25 points-per-shot from both two and three-point range. It was Duke’s highest effective field goal percentage so far in conference play, while Wake was just the second ACC opponent to eclipse 60% eFG against the Blue Devils. In the second half, Hunter Sallis and Andrew Carr combined for 31 points as the Demon Deacons shot 69.6% and made all five of their three-point attempts. Sallis finished with 29 points on 11 of 13 shooting. The game featured 14 ties and 14 lead changes, with neither team leading by more than 6 points. Duke committed 7 of their 11 turnovers in the second half, including 3 in the final 1:15, and was outscored 10-3 in points off turnovers after halftime. As Coach Scheyer mentioned, there will be plenty of details to correct on film, but I was very proud of the guys for battling through foul trouble and the injury to Caleb Foster to still have a chance at the end. I’ve been to a handful of games at Wake and the atmosphere yesterday was as I remember it - the Deacs are now 15-0 at home this season. Congratulations to Wake Forest and Coach Forbes, they played great.
Notes
I’d already planned to include some thoughts on storming the court in an offseason article about changes I’d like to see in college basketball, but I’m going to touch on the subject now instead. It’s a shame too, because we should only be talking about how good that game was. This isn’t about Wake Forest specifically or the outcome yesterday. But given the current relevance, I’m just commenting sooner than I would have otherwise.
It may seem like “sour grapes” for a Duke fan to write that there should be no more storming the court. It happens so often when Duke loses on the road (thrice this season), that I’ve come to expect it. I totally understand the viewpoint of those in favor of storming the court. It’s a great moment for the winning team and their fans to celebrate together. Some would say it’s an example of what makes college sports special - kids will remember those games forever, and it’s something you never see in other sports. But even with the correct personnel in place, storming the court is objectively not safe. The rushing fans will always outnumber any security staff by a wide margin. It’s actually amazing more incidents don’t occur.
About a month ago on College GameDay, after a week that included four court storms, Jay Bilas said “...I love the passion. Fans do not belong on the court, period. And players don’t belong in the stands.” Everyone in the arena booed at Bilas’ comments, but his full remarks are worth a listen. When asked if he considered getting his team back to the locker room before the final buzzer, Coach Scheyer responded “You know, I should have. That’s a mistake on my part. You’re still trying to hope that somehow you can get fouled at the end. I’m never gonna give up in a game, you want to do everything you can to give yourself a chance…but in retrospect, I wish I would have gotten those guys off the court. So, I let them down in that respect.” I remember one year at Florida State (I think 2006), Coach K had the Duke team leave the bench with a few seconds left in order to avoid the ensuing chaos. Predictably, many people turned that into a “Coach K is a sore loser” narrative. I appreciate Coach Scheyer’s remarks, but that's not something a coach should have to worry about. I also appreciate Coach Forbes saying “I didn't see what happened at the end. You know, I hope he's okay. I don't like court stormings, never have…As a coach, they just don't feel safe.” A collision could inadvertently happen with a player from the home team just as easily. These scenes have been normalized for far too long, I guess because it looks cool on television to see all those students flood the floor. Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, but protecting the players and staff for both teams should be paramount.
Sports should be fun; have a blast when your team wins. But leaving the court should be safe, and too often in college basketball that’s not the case. Hopefully Flip will be okay - he’s certainly not the first player to be injured or involved with a fan, but he should be the last.
Next Play: Wednesday Feb 28 | 7:00 pm ACCN | Duke welcomes Louisville back home in Cameron.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
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