Quotes & Notes - January 7
at 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
“First of all, we’re excited to get our first road win. We knew it wouldn’t be easy. Credit to Notre Dame. Coming into this game, we knew how tough it was going to be. You’ve seen what they’ve done. I credit Coach [Shrewsberry] with what he’s done with his team. I think that Marist game was a really important game for them and really, they’ve been a completely different team ever since. We told our team, the three conference games [Notre Dame has] played – Miami, Virginia, NC State – all three teams struggled offensively. And for us, it has not been easy. But the last five games, we’ve scored in spurts pretty well. So, I really credit what they did on defense. They made life hard for us, they’re physical, they’re tough. Offensively, they make you work, they put you in a lot of low shot clock situations and you have to have great discipline. I thought late in the clock we got out of our stance a little bit and some of those plays hurt, and they add up through the game. But for our guys, I thought we showed amazing toughness. The way we closed the first half, I think it was 14-3, that’s huge if you can end a half that way when you don’t play your best.”
- Coach Scheyer on the win at Notre Dame
“Yeah, no question. We got stops. We couldn’t string together stops consistently enough to get separation. But it’s very different if you go into the half and it’s a double-digit lead for them or if it’s a lead for us. I think it was right around eight minutes, the TV timeout, all we talked about was winning those four minutes. Not to get ahead of ourselves, not to look behind us, just win those four minutes. We won them, and then I asked them to win another four and then to take it possession by possession. You could tell very early it was going to be that kind of game. It was going to be a possession by possession game. The stops are really what got us that lead.”
- Coach Scheyer on closing the first half
“The thing that Mark has done is he’s been so open to coaching. He’s had to continue to transform, whether it’s what he thought in terms of who he is as a player or who he needs to be. But you see what he’s done as a screener for us, getting guys open. You’ve seen what he’s done attacking the basket. And the biggest thing is that we talked to him about being decisive with his decision. If you shoot it, great. If you drive it, great, If you cut, great. I thought he did an incredible job of doing that. Will Avery on our staff has really worked with him on his shooting and done a terrific job. I’ve enjoyed working with Mark because he’s such a coachable guy. To see it translate this way, the last couple of games, is great. I want him to keep doing this because it changes our team.”
- Coach Scheyer on Mark Mitchell
Stats
Trailing 24-15 at the 7:06 mark, Duke outscored Notre Dame 14-3 to close the first half. As Coach Scheyer alluded to, it was defensive stops that enabled Duke to go into the locker room with a two-point lead, despite 9 turnovers and shooting just 31% before the break. In the second half, Mark Mitchell scored the team’s first 14 points and Duke was efficient from three-point range, making 5 of 12 attempts (1.25 pps) - this helped offset Duke’s lowest points-per-shot from two-point range on the season (0.79 pps). Notre Dame posted a 14-5 advantage in second chance points (+9), but the Blue Devils countered with an 18-5 advantage in points off turnovers (+13).
Notes
In Case You Missed It: Yesterday marked the 84th anniversary of the first game in Cameron Indoor Stadium, as Duke defeated Princeton 36-27 on January 6, 1940. At the time, Cameron was the largest basketball arena south of the Palestra on the east coast, with 8,000 fans in attendance to see the Blue Devils’ first win in their new home.
Next Play: Tuesday Jan 9 | 9:00 pm ESPN | Duke is back on the road to visit Pittsburgh and Coach Capel.
Sources