Quotes & Notes - January 30
at Virginia Tech
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
“Really good road win. A lot of respect for Virginia Tech and what they’re capable of doing and the team that they have. They return a lot of the team that beat us here last year…I just thought our team had great togetherness, some timely threes and some guys stepped up in key moments. I thought Ryan Young, just in his 14 minutes, was terrific. His three offensive rebounds – probably one of the best plays of the game was he switched out to Cattoor, then came back in for the block. Which is just a huge play at a big time. I think it was our defense – to hold this team to six threes is not easy…they run so many tough actions, misdirections. You have to have great communication. We did that. I thought our guards really controlled the game and then [Kyle Filipowski] came through down the stretch, just playing through him a little bit. Proud of this win. You get a chance to play two games in three days, and to win both of them is really good. Looking forward to building from here.”
- Coach Scheyer on the game at Virginia Tech
“They’re difficult to guard because of how well they shoot the three. You have to pick your poison a little bit. Our thing was try to take away threes as much as possible. Because of that, we gave up some drives and they got to the paint a little easier. Probably had some breakdowns guarding the ball, talking on switches, but I thought our communication for 40 minutes against these guys, one-day prep, was terrific. It was as good of a turnaround that we’ve had, playing them in that situation. And then, we had resistance at our basket. They only got four offensive rebounds. To out-rebound them 38-20, I think that speaks to the level of fight and resistance that we played with. I think our versatility too, Mark [Mitchell] switching onto everybody, Flip did a good job besides the fouls, and our guards, they really bust their butts. Jared McCain comes up with 10 rebounds.”
- Coach Scheyer on Duke’s defensive effort
“This team has been in a lot of unique environments already. Ton of respect for Virginia Tech. Ton of respect for the environment here. I think our guys – this is the reason you come to Duke. To play in environments like this. They were ready to play. I thought they did a great job focusing on what you can control. So often you can worry about a crowd, you can worry about what people are saying, and for our guys, they were just locked in on the game and the job that needed to be done. I’m proud of them for that.”
- Coach Scheyer on playing in a hostile environment
Stats
Duke committed 14 turnovers but was able to take care of the ball down the stretch, with only 3 turnovers in the final 14:37. Virginia Tech turned it over just 4 times, but only gained an 11-7 advantage in points off turnovers. The Blue Devils assisted on 19 of 31 made baskets (61.3%) and earned a +18 margin on the glass, outscoring the Hokies 15-8 in second chance points. Duke generated 1.59 points-per-shot in three-point efficiency, connecting on 9 of 17 threes, while Virginia Tech only managed to hit 6 of 22 from beyond the arc (0.82 pps).
Notes
Duke in the NBA: This time of year, with the NBA All-Star game approaching, I like to do some updates on Duke guys in the league. Jayson Tatum was voted a starter for the Eastern Conference, in what will be his fifth All-Star appearance. Tatum is averaging 26.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 4.4 assists for the league-leading Boston Celtics (36-11). Grayson Allen currently leads the NBA in three-point shooting at a career-high 49.8%, while also posting career-highs in points (13.2 ppg), rebounds (4.1 rpg), and field goal percentage (51.5%) in his first season with the Phoenix Suns. I’ll do a few more of these updates prior to the February 18th All-Star Game.
Next Play: Saturday Feb 3 | 6:30 pm ESPN | Duke makes the short trip over to Chapel Hill to visit North Carolina.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources