Quotes: Duke 46, Xavier 45

Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening Statement:
"That was a very, well, physical and defensive basketball game. It was a great game, a lot of high level contact and play and things of that nature. By no means was it a pretty game, but if you can find a way and you can win ugly, then you can win them all. And that's a good feeling to know that our team had different things happen. I thought Allison Vernery's steal was huge, I thought Leener [Kathleen Scheer] made an out-of-bounds save that was huge; I thought Jasmine [Thomas] kept us in it, being the All-American that she is, and I thought Krystal obviously being as aggressive as she was and hitting a clutch free throw and making stops, that's what it's all about."

On Jasmine Thomas' game-saving block:
"That is truly one of the best plays I have ever seen in 19 years of coaching. As we got back and we all went, apparently for the ball - I'll have to look at it on film to really know - it's a good lesson to staying matched up in transition. Of course, they got it deflected out, which of course was a tremendous benefit to them, and all of a sudden you see this lightning bolt out of nowhere block a great shot. What was interesting about it, what was significant is that #11 [Amber Harris] had been doing that to us for most of the game if you remember her blocked shots. I thought it was very poignant of Jas, I'm glad she was willing to have that drama with us because, man, that was something. That was the most professional block I've ever seen, and Shaq can just step back on that one."

On the shot clock running down several times:
"We took 71 shots for the game, and in the first half I would have died to get to the end of the shot clock, we shot the ball so fast. All we did in the first half was one-pass shoot it, and that cost us greatly because they were much more patient than we were. We only had eight seconds of offense in the first half per possession. They had about 24 seconds, so that was hurting us defensively because we were playing so much defense. Now, granted, yes in the second half the shot clock did run down a few more times than we would have wanted, but I'm going to take patience anytime I can get it."

On the late free-throw shooting and other plays made down the stretch:
"I think it's critical. We didn't shoot many free throws and neither did they, and that was a problem, but when you're attacking some good things happen. This is a one-play game. A couple plays, you've gotta make plays. I thought we made more plays down the stretch and that was the difference. The game can go either way, you clearly saw that. But I thought the critical plays; again, Allison [Vernerey's] steal is huge, out of nowhere getting that steal, and again, the free throws and everything else. We were better in the last two minutes than we were for most of the game."

On how they were able to cause 30 turnovers and pick up 21 steals:
"Great, smart athletes applying great ball pressure and anticipating it. It was everybody - you look here across the board - Karima [Christmas] got her four, Chelsea [Gray] got her four, Ali [Vernerey] had five. Being savvy and being aggressive all the time. It's the aggressiveness, the want to get out there and get the ball. Forcing 30 turnovers, there's a lot of the issue. It's funny - it was a very ugly offensive game, but we only had 12 turnovers. That's kind of an interesting stat."

On Jasmine Thomas taking over in the second half:
"She needs to have the ball, but I think that's Jas' ability to attack. That was her competitive spirit - she wasn't very happy. If I wasn't happy in that huddle, probably Jas wasn't feeling at all good about herself or worse. Her competitive spirit is so strong, it was very irritating to be down nine, and I think - I can't speak for Jas - but I think she took it as an irritant. Definitely in the second half, though, we put the ball in Jas' hands and made an adjustment."

Xavier Head Coach Kevin McGuff

On the quality of the game:
"I thought both teams played really, really hard. Certainly both Duke and us were really good defensive teams. I thought it was very competitive. I thought it was a great basketball game. It was a tough one for us to lose, but I'm just really proud of our effort."

On the last play:
"Yeah you know we were trying to throw long to Amber [Harris]. My biggest fear was that we couldn't get it that far down the court. Megan [Askew] made a great pass and made certain we got the ball in good position. It just didn't go our way."

On the last four possessions:
"Yeah we were trying to get the ball to Amber in the middle of the zone, and, you know, we turned it over, and that was certainly a problem throughout the game. And Duke's terrific on defense, and a lot of our turnovers were a direct result of their pressure. "

On what the team will take away from this:
"Well if we play that hard and compete like that, I think we're going to be fine and get everything we want out of this season. Duke's a terrific basketball team. They play really hard. They've got great players. They certainly have a chance to be one of the best teams in the country this year."

On defense in the second half:
"I thought in the second half our defense was great but we gave up too many offensive rebounds. They really, really compete on the glass. And they got too many second-chance points in the second half."

Duke Senior Jasmine Thomas:

On her vantage point of Xavier's final possession:
"After the free throw, I thought they would try to inbound it as fast as they could so I took the closest guard to me. I remembered matching up as soon as I could. I didn't know whether it was [Special Jennings], [Tyesha Moss] whoever. But then when I saw the ball go up and take five years in the air to come down and I just looked and no one was back there, so I just knew that someone had to sprint back so I sprinted back and whether it was a foul or a block it had to be done because if she would have had just a wide-open layup the game would have been over."

On being down nine early in the second half:
"I noticed that was about the time where I went to the one spot and stayed at the point guard spot for about the remainder of the game. I think just from the nature of their defense, the options were coming from the top whether it was a dribble entry play to keep the ball in my hand or just a play that eventually got the ball back to me, that was what was open and I wasn't finishing as well as I would have liked to but those were the takes and the looks that we needed."

On her mindset in the second half:
"I just had to be aggressive and that's what I did. I kept getting to the basket, like I said, not finishing but still staying with my pull up, still staying with my drives and eventually down the stretch, I hit a layup and a free throw."

Duke Senior Krystal Thomas:

On her thoughts on the last play:
"It was amazing, the fact that she was able to get back there and get that block. I had to get it together, but it was pretty amazing."

Xavier Redshirt Senior Amber Harris:

On her performance:
"I think it went pretty well. There are a couple of things I should cut down on, like my turnovers. But other than that I think I did pretty well."

On her team's performance:
"Yes I am [very happy]. I think we played hard. We competed with them. It was just a good game."

On what she saw in the last play:
"I thought she had a wide open layup. Jasmine came out of no where. I thought there was a foul there, but they didn't call it so, I mean, we just have to move on. I saw Special [Jennings] behind all by herself, so I just tried to block out my player so she could get the ball."

Players Mentioned

Kathleen Scheer

Jasmine Thomas

Duke information