Postgame Quotes: Duke 87, Florida State 68

Duke Head Coach Gail Goestenkors

Opening Comment:
“I am happy to come away with a win although I am a little disappointed with our overall effort. I give Florida State a lot of credit. I thought they out-hustled us for most of the game and really came in to battle. They were down 20 and just continued to fight. We have some things to work on, definitely, before we head to Maryland.”

On things that hurt Duke's defense:
“We didn't do a good job when they were penetrating. We drew help and our rotations were not good. We didn't help the helper. That hurt us on the offensive glass and hurt us as far as scoring. We tried to block too many shots and got ourselves out-of-position to rebound and defend. We also got into a lot of foul trouble because of it.”

On what was surprising about Duke in the game:
“I thought we were going to do a better job with their screens on the ball. We worked on that in practice and did a really nice job yesterday but didn't do a very good job at all today. It was a little frustrating for me.”

On if there was a letdown after the long travel last week:
“I don't know. It looks like it but it shouldn't have been that way. I would have expected this kind of effort on Monday but I thought we came to play and played with great effort and intensity in that game. Today we were definitely a step slow. It wasn't just one person it was everybody. There is really no reason for it. We had a day off after the Wake Forest game so I thought we should have been back and ready to go.”

On long road trip coming up:
“This is going to test our character. We have great leaderships and seniors who have been through trying situations before but certainly four games in nine days, all on the road, will test us. They are against exceptional opponents as well. This is going to test us mentally and physically.”

Duke Players
Senior Monique Currie

On her triple-double (21 points, 12 rebounds, 11 assists):
“Coach G told me when I needed one rebound and one assist so at that point I knew I was close. I was trying to get the ball to somebody so they could score. It feels great. You hear about other people getting triple-doubles. My teammates knocked down some shots when I gave them the ball. I made an effort on the rebounding end and got some open shots. I feel really happy about it.”

Senior Mistie Williams

On Sunday's upcoming game against Maryland:
“They have some amazing post players. I think three of them are averaging double figures and are really close to averaging a double-double, so we really need to work on our post defense. We have a tendency to play behind, so we need to work on that. Like Coach G said, we have to really work on our penetration and our rotations. I think in practice we've done better than we have in the past but it's not where it needs to be. We definitely need to work on that in the next three days that we have because it will hurt us in the game.”

On hustling:
“I caught myself a couple of times watching. When there were three people on the floor, you can go on the floor too. It's just little things that can make a big difference in a game, especially when it comes to crunch time and the game is close. It just comes with heart. You can't just turn it on and turn it off. We've got to do the same things in practice like diving on the floor. I think the best person who does that is Abby Waner. She does it constantly but I think it needs to be a team effort and we need to pick that up.”

Florida State Head Coach Sue Semrau

Opening Statement:
“Obviously, they're the No. 2 team in the country for a reason. Gail Goestenkors always does such a fabulous job with her teams, and this team's no exception. When you look at the size that they have and how she's developed their versatility ? when you've got a 6'7” kid and she's not as effective on the block as she is up at the high post ? there's something very special about a team like that.”

On her team's performance:
“I'm just very proud of the way my team competed. I think the one thing we always ask them to do is battle, and I just thought they battled extremely hard tonight.”

On Florida State's inability to cut the Duke lead to less than 12:
“I just think it was a game of battling for possessions, and we're not quite as good as Duke is right now, and we need to continue to grow as a basketball team. You hope that you can, at that point in the game when you cut [the lead], that you can make some big plays. I thought we were maybe a half-step too late getting to the help side or closing out. They have a great perimeter shooting team. Any time we were able to come down and help and drop, I thought they found the outside shooter. I don't know what Lindsey Harding was tonight, but it felt like she was just out of this world. I just thought that they made good plays when they needed to.”

On the play of Monique Currie:
“You stop a player like that if you don't have all the other players around her. That's what makes them such a great team and her such a great player, is you can't lock in on just one kid. She picks her moments, she lets the game come to her, and she's just very seasoned.”

On Florida State's defensive effort:
“That's one thing that we take a lot of pride in, is the pressure that we can apply, especially on the wings. Obviously, if we had sagged off of them and let them see any pass they wanted to see, any lob they wanted to have, it would have been a really long night. That's why I was really proud of especially Tanae [Davis-Cain] and LaQuinta Neely. I thought those two were just up and fighting every single possession and I thought that was a big difference for us.”