Quotes & Notes - February 8
vs. Notre Dame
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
“Good win for us. I thought, one, I just want to thank our crowd, you know. Sometimes these nine o'clock games, they're not easy, past people's bedtimes, and our crowd – every game this year – they've showed out in a big way. And for me, I just thought it was a great team effort, really good response, to hold them to 33% [field goal shooting]. I think that's tied our season low for an opposing team. A bunch of different guys stepped up. I thought the bench gave good energy, good minutes. We're going to need more of that. And it was a good win. I thought it was great to get a win without necessarily playing our best on offense. Credit [Notre Dame] with some of that, and then I thought we also missed some shots. Great to get our eighth conference win, 17th overall. We’ve got to keep building.”
- Coach Scheyer on the Notre Dame game
“You know, one, I wouldn't have done that if those guys hadn't been having great attitudes, working their butts off every day in practice. They've been ready. But the other thing, I felt we paced. I thought we got into a thing Saturday where we paced and didn't play every play. And that's the expectation. To win these games, you have to play every play, you have to go to the boards. For us to have 16 offensive rebounds, our guys made a conscious effort to do that. And we have good players. I don't care who you are on our team, if you're out there, not impacting the ball on defense and not being in a stance and going to the boards, then we're going to get somebody in who can. And I thought tonight was a great example of that. And we’ve got to keep doing that.”
- Coach Scheyer on using more depth early in the game last night
“...they had a great response. Usually, we have a scout team. And on Monday, we just went blue versus white. We had our 10 guys that can play go against each other. Sub different groups in there, see who wanted it….This group always responds. And Monday was no exception. I thought the competitive edge that we had, brought out some things in us. And I thought that was a good step. But for me, Monday was one of those old school Duke days that we needed.”
- Coach Scheyer on Monday’s practice
Stats
Duke’s 16 offensive rebounds were a season-high to this point, leading to a 21-2 advantage in second chance points, despite Notre Dame grabbing 13 offensive boards of their own. In the first half, Notre Dame outscored Duke 10-2 in points off turnovers. After halftime, the Blue Devils responded by only turning it over twice, while gaining a 24-10 edge in points in the paint. Notre Dame’s 39.8% effective field goal percentage was the lowest for a Duke opponent so far in conference play. Since the conference season just passed the midway point, I wanted to present Duke’s averages through 10 ACC games (last night is not included below).
Notes
Book recommendations are now available under the Resources section of The Duke Basketball Project, along with the official stats and media guide from Duke Athletics. I’ll get some sports documentaries added to the recommendation list as soon as possible and, as always, let me know if you have any suggestions.
Duke in the NBA: Last week, Paolo Banchero was announced as a first time NBA All-Star. The reigning Rookie of the Year currently leads the Orlando Magic in points (23.0 ppg), rebounds (6.9 rpg), and assists (5.1 apg). Teammate Wendell Carter has played in just 23 games due to a broken bone in his hand. During January, his first full month back, Carter averaged 14.0 points and 6.5 rebounds in 25.9 minutes per game, while shooting 46.9% from three-point range. Derek Lively will also be at All-Star Weekend in Indianapolis to play in the Rising Stars event. In 26.0 minutes per game, DLive is averaging 9.2 points and 7.9 rebounds, while shooting 73.9% from the field for the Dallas Mavericks.
Next Play: Saturday Feb 10 | 2:00 pm ESPN | Boston College makes the trip down from Chestnut Hill to visit Cameron.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources