Quotes: Duke 117, NCCU 28

Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening Statement:
"There were some really good things for us as a team, trying to be focused and detailed. I thought everybody on our team did something very important. I thought we played two strong halves. I have never really seen a stat sheet like this in my 17 and a half years of head coaching, in terms of the nine players in double-figures. That's kind of unusual, and I think it's a credit to the team to share the ball like everybody did. You have a choice whether to pass quickly or not and to find your teammate, and I thought our team did a really good job of finding people and moving the ball."

On deliberate offense in the second half:
"They were not instructed, but they've been encouraged that there's a way you create momentum and everyone gets a touch. You need to move the ball, be aggressive with your passing. I thought everyone did a really good job with that."

On the play of the reserves:
"I thought it was interesting. Shay (Selby) in particular, Alexis (Rogers), some of our young players did some good things in practice the past two practices, so I was not surprised to see it transfer [into the game]. But I think everyone was very efficient with their time on the floor in attacking, and that's important for us to build our depth and get better. I thought we got better tonight, and we take that with us into the next game."

"It was fun to try a lot of different lineups and to work through a lot of different defenses and to give people different chances out there to do things. That really is a fun part, to use a lot of players and move people from position to position."

N.C. Central Head Coach Joli D. Robinson

Opening Statement:
"I think our kids came out and really battled in the beginning of the game. They kind of settled down. We have a long ways to go. They are one of the top teams in the nation and they gave us a big picture to see what we need to do and some of the things that we have been working on were working. I think the lead was so big, in the first half it was very hard to recover from that. Playing against a good team like this allows your kids to see personally, what they need to do as individual players, but also help us prepare for our next game."

On Joanna Miller's one-game suspension:
"It was a team rule violation."

On the difference Joanna Miller makes in a game:
"She makes a big difference. When you look at a young lady that is our top scorer on our team ... she makes a big difference in the game. We knew we were going to have problems in scoring, but we were hoping to recover with her absence."

On difference between Duke now and two years ago when they last played:
"It is totally different. This [Duke team] is a totally different team than we played two years ago. You have a group of kids [NC Central] two years ago that were a little bit quicker, a little bit larger and we had more depth on our bench. Right now we are very, very small."

On playing better in the second half, what was talked about at halftime:
"The only thing we talked about is, we still have to go out here and redeem ourselves some, look and do the things we are capable of doing, run our offense and run it like we are supposed to run it. Look to the open person, move the ball more and have a little bit more confidence. We came out and did a little bit of that. On the defensive end, we talked about making sure to get out there in position and making sure that when they shoot to get in position and box out a little bit stronger than what we were doing in the first half and not be afraid to just play."

On the makeup of the team, and where they need to improve:
"I look at my team, and we have a very young, inexperienced team. We talk about it in practice constantly that we still have to get in and use our body and strength to get rebounds. We work very hard on stepping in and getting in there. The kids that came out, some of them did an excellent job on the board. Most of our post players, when I look at our stat sheet in comparison to other games, they came out and did some good things for us. We're still not where we need to be, but we're definitely improving."

Junior, Karima Christmas

On the defense:
"I think we just feed off of our defense. The main thing we've been trying to do is get in the passing lines and deny passes that could easily go into the wings. That's one of our strong points and we've been working on it every game."

Senior, Joy Cheek

On Duke's 22-0 run to start the game:
"I just think we came out focused and intense and we had goals that we kept in mind. We just wanted to hold onto that and execute what we wanted to do defensively. And we were coming off break so we hadn't played a game in a week, and we just wanted to come out sharp."

On the team effort:
"It shows that we worked hard. Especially on rebounds, and scoring is another thing because like [Coach P] said, making the extra pass. I think that was something we kept in mind and executed."

NCCU Sophomore Guard Danielle DeBerry

On looking forward to playing Duke:
"Yeah. Since the game last year, when I found out we would play Duke, this is probably the biggest game of my life. Being from Durham and coming to many, many Duke games, wanting to play for Duke, and actually getting a chance to play on the court is a big honor for me. I have been excited for this game."

On her emotions before the game:
"I wouldn't say I was nervous at all. I guess I'm just used to being here, I already know how it is and how the crowd is. It just exciting to step on the court, when we first started to warm up, shoot around ... there is no better feeling than that."

Players Mentioned

Joy Cheek

Karima Christmas

Duke information