Quotes & Notes - November 11
vs. Arizona
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, congrats to Arizona. They’re very talented. They're gonna have a great season. They're really good, well coached, and you gotta give them credit. They're a very good team. I thought they were more aggressive in the first half, and I didn't think we played our best. Despite that, we're right there. At the end of the game, it comes down to one or two plays. I think the biggest thing for me - we didn't play together, and that's hard for me to swallow. That's not okay for us. We didn't play Duke basketball and I take full responsibility for that. There's too many plays where we just, zero-pass, one-pass possessions. We’re just giving the ball up and that's on me, and that's something we're going to get back to working on tomorrow, Sunday, Monday, as we prepare for Michigan State and move forward. I think the thing about this game though, you learn so much more about yourself playing in it. And it's a great reality check. I'm sure even if we won this game, there's a lot that we have to clean up and do better. So for me, never going to enjoy losing. For me, as long as I'm coaching and as long as I'm competing, I will always hate losing. That's me as a competitor. But I also know that I'm thankful for this opportunity. Playing a team like Arizona, playing them this early in the year, I think it’s a great thing for our program. I would hope or would think Tommy [Lloyd] would say the same, and for us, it’s back to it, just like if the outcome was any different.”
- Coach Scheyer’s opening statement
“No question. The difference of, we made them work on defense and the shot quality that we got, versus when we just came down right away and tried to make it happen….That's not how we're gonna win games and we have too good of players, we have too much firepower that we can have on the court, just to go one-on-one, and you’re just not gonna be able to do it against really good teams, and they are a really good team. They have guards that can defend the ball. They have rim protection inside. And too many wasted possessions, bad shots, turnovers. I thought not only do you not score, but it leads to early run outs for them. So the swings, just starting the first half were so drastic, and it really started with our offense.”
- Coach Scheyer on whether lack of ball movement impacted their offense
“Tommy’s a great coach, he’s done a great job….I do know, playing this game in the long run, like for the season, is going to be the best thing for us - no doubt in my mind. And it’s hard to see that right now because you’re still thinking about how you could have won the game and the plays we didn’t make but we knew we were going to be tested. When you play a program like them, when you play a coach like he is and their staff and all that, it’s what we expected - we did this, we’re going back to their place next year - it’s a great thing for, hopefully the sport but also, most importantly for our team. There’s no other way other than experiencing something to know what you have to improve or you have to do better. And so, thankful for them for the reality check, you know for the game - because I do know we’re both coming out of here, I wish it was with a win, but I do know we’re coming out of here with a lot that we can do better and a lot we can learn from.”
- Coach Scheyer on what it means to have this experience early in the season
Stats
Rebounding and paint points were an obvious advantage for Arizona in a game that was very close in offensive efficiency, and featured 11 ties and 10 lead changes. In the first half, the Wildcats won the offensive glass 11-2, outscoring Duke 10-0 in second chance points before halftime.
Notes
Jeremy Roach became just the 68th player in Duke history to eclipse 1,000 career points. As he has done throughout his career, JRoach made some big time plays last night and although it was a tough loss, I wanted to make sure to acknowledge and congratulate Jeremy on a great accomplishment.
Next Play: Tuesday, Nov 14 | 7:00 pm ESPN | It will be another good test for Duke as they travel to Chicago to take on Michigan State. The Champions Classic has been a great early season event for college basketball. I was fortunate to attend in 2013 (also in Chicago) - it was awesome to see four great programs in one building for a night, and I’m happy the event is slated to continue through the start of the 2025 season.
Thanks for reading, Go Duke!
Sources