Boston College Athletics
BC-Duke Coach Quotes
January 02, 2016 | Men's Basketball
Boston College head coach Jim Christian
"I thought we got off to the start we wanted and executed what we wanted to do, especially on the defensive end of the floor until we fouled way too much. We turned the ball over uncharacteristically more than we usually do in the first half and corrected it a little bit in the second half. Give (Duke) a lot of credit. Brandon Ingram is a tough, tough matchup for us because of this length and skill – even a tough matchup for a lot of people. Just a lot we can learn from this. Our team just has to become more mentally tough. They made one run early in the game, which they're going to do, you've got to respond. And I thought we weren't mentally tough at that point."
"A couple of silly fouls in (the Duke 8-0 run on free throws), overly aggressive fouls, one-on-one situations. At that point, we were stopping them, we just had to keep them off the foul line. We had a lot of guys out there playing their first ACC game. There are a lot of things we learned from this game."
"Happy for some things, but disappointed in a lot. We missed a lot of shots tonight. We told them team, to win these games – at the end of the day – you just have to make plays you make every day. Shots you make every single day. We missed point-blank shots, we missed wide-open shots. You're not going to beat them if you're going to miss wide-open shots. When you get wide-open shots, you're not going to make them all but you have to make them pay. Especially when you're on a run. And I thought we could never really get on a run."
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski
"(BC's) kids, in watching them on tape the last three, four games – even before that because they had a whole team that was sick for a while – they play really good defense and they're together. (Eli) Carter and (Dennis) Clifford have a good thing going for them. They're the fifth-year guys, but they set the tone for the team with their ball screen stuff. That opens it up for their other guys. I thought we did a really good with it most of the game, but it takes constant vigilance really. Eli is such a great player."
"For our guys, (it was) the first road game in a conference – on someone's opponent's court – but more importantly, a conference game. Conference games are different. I thought we were a little bit tight early and (BC was) good early. It was a combination. Our defense stuck in there and we got some stuff off of our defense. Luke (Kennard) and Brandon (Ingram) really gave us a big, big push. I thought Marshall (Plumlee), even though he didn't score, had a huge presence because it's the best he used his defensive voice to keep us together. You could hear him the whole game, whatever our defensive coverage was supposed to be, and he kept us coordinated. I thought he did a great job of leading. I'm pleased with the effort and obviously pleased with the win."
"We have mostly underclassmen. So our underclassmen are going to score a lot of points, hopefully. We have three really good scorers in Brandon (Ingram), Grayson (Allen) and Luke (Kennard). For us to have a chance to win, they have to put up good numbers. Both Grayson and Luke did an excellent job of staying in the game with two fouls: playing without fouling and still paying hard. Those things you can't teach in practice. (I'm) real pleased with that. Matt Jones was a stud, just solid. He was solid for us. That's what we need. He and Marshall (Plumlee), that's what we need – to be solid for us."
"I thought we got off to the start we wanted and executed what we wanted to do, especially on the defensive end of the floor until we fouled way too much. We turned the ball over uncharacteristically more than we usually do in the first half and corrected it a little bit in the second half. Give (Duke) a lot of credit. Brandon Ingram is a tough, tough matchup for us because of this length and skill – even a tough matchup for a lot of people. Just a lot we can learn from this. Our team just has to become more mentally tough. They made one run early in the game, which they're going to do, you've got to respond. And I thought we weren't mentally tough at that point."
"A couple of silly fouls in (the Duke 8-0 run on free throws), overly aggressive fouls, one-on-one situations. At that point, we were stopping them, we just had to keep them off the foul line. We had a lot of guys out there playing their first ACC game. There are a lot of things we learned from this game."
"Happy for some things, but disappointed in a lot. We missed a lot of shots tonight. We told them team, to win these games – at the end of the day – you just have to make plays you make every day. Shots you make every single day. We missed point-blank shots, we missed wide-open shots. You're not going to beat them if you're going to miss wide-open shots. When you get wide-open shots, you're not going to make them all but you have to make them pay. Especially when you're on a run. And I thought we could never really get on a run."
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski
"(BC's) kids, in watching them on tape the last three, four games – even before that because they had a whole team that was sick for a while – they play really good defense and they're together. (Eli) Carter and (Dennis) Clifford have a good thing going for them. They're the fifth-year guys, but they set the tone for the team with their ball screen stuff. That opens it up for their other guys. I thought we did a really good with it most of the game, but it takes constant vigilance really. Eli is such a great player."
"For our guys, (it was) the first road game in a conference – on someone's opponent's court – but more importantly, a conference game. Conference games are different. I thought we were a little bit tight early and (BC was) good early. It was a combination. Our defense stuck in there and we got some stuff off of our defense. Luke (Kennard) and Brandon (Ingram) really gave us a big, big push. I thought Marshall (Plumlee), even though he didn't score, had a huge presence because it's the best he used his defensive voice to keep us together. You could hear him the whole game, whatever our defensive coverage was supposed to be, and he kept us coordinated. I thought he did a great job of leading. I'm pleased with the effort and obviously pleased with the win."
"We have mostly underclassmen. So our underclassmen are going to score a lot of points, hopefully. We have three really good scorers in Brandon (Ingram), Grayson (Allen) and Luke (Kennard). For us to have a chance to win, they have to put up good numbers. Both Grayson and Luke did an excellent job of staying in the game with two fouls: playing without fouling and still paying hard. Those things you can't teach in practice. (I'm) real pleased with that. Matt Jones was a stud, just solid. He was solid for us. That's what we need. He and Marshall (Plumlee), that's what we need – to be solid for us."
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