Video: Coach K says Clemson was terrific

by TigerNet Staff - Sat Jan 11 17:26:41 GMT-04:00 2014

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski

Overall thoughts:

“First of all, congratulations to Clemson. Brad and his staff and his team just had a heck of a game. Their kids played so hard, and it started from the get-go. From the start you could tell they had a great verve. I thought that in the first half we did a good job of countering that, but their physicality and athleticism and determination wore on us. We got doubled on the score in the second half. A lot of it was their defense. We missed some shots that we should hit. In saying that, I’m not sure that that would have been enough to beat them. [Jaron] Blossomgame had an amazing game, 14 and 14. He had two big three-point shots, that I think turned the tide definitely in their favor. That’s how games change. They killed us on the boards, 48-30. We’re not a good team right now. We’re a small team and we need make up for it in other ways. We’re not some powerhouse. When you watch the game, they’re bigger. [K.J.] McDaniels is one of the best players in the league. He’s the best athlete, and he’s also an outstanding player. They were terrific, and we need to get a lot better. We’re not very good right now and that’s on me as a coach. I never bad mouth my team or any guy. We win together, we lose together, but we’re not very good right now and we’ve got to take steps to try to get to be good, because the league is unforgiving.”

On why Duke isn’t good:

“The other teams are good. We’re not physically strong, so we have to do things collectively, like rebounding. Everybody has to rebound, and then you hope that you can match the other team. We don’t have to out-rebound them, but match them. When I say we’re not very good, we’re not very good compared to who we’ve been, and who we’ve been has been very good. We can’t live in the past, we have to live in the present and figure out how this team can win, and that’s our responsibility as a staff to do that. Today we weren’t able to do that.”

On Clemson’s toughness down the stretch:

“Guys play hard. Duke doesn’t own the patent to play hard, or any team in the United States. Everybody’s allowed to play hard, and this team played really hard against us. We also have to understand that whenever we play, we’ll probably get that team’s best shot. They didn’t have pom poms here on Thursday night; it wasn’t a packed house. That’s nothing against the Clemson, that’s not a knock on the crowd. They came out and they were great. What I’m saying is that’s what we get. That’s what I’ve done for 25 years, and I understand that. My team has to understand that. When we see a team on tape, it’s not necessarily the team or the crowd that’s going to show up for our game. Again, they were outstanding. Their crowd, everything. They were obviously the most deserving of winning.”