Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Countdown to Craziness on October 3, 2025 at 7 p.m.
/
7 p.m.
Men's Basketball
vs Countdown to Craziness
.png&width=24&height=24&type=webp)
Quotes: Duke 84, Wofford 55
12/31/2014 6:12:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
Opening Statement:
“We played well and we beat a really good team today. They're a hard team to defend. They're just really a hard team to defend. In the first half, we could not complete the defensive exchange enough with our rebounding. What happens, and this has happened many years because we use pressure defense, is that when a shot is taken after you've put pressure, especially if a team is moving the ball for 20, 25 seconds, there's a tendency to feel like it's over instead of you making it over with the defensive rebound. Because you get tired. You get on to the next thing. It takes a lot of discipline to complete that. And they were getting second shots and third. In the second half, we did that. And we played great defenses. Our bench really helped us a lot. Matt Jones, that's how Matt is. He can play. [Wofford's Karl] Cochran is a heck of a player but he didn't get open looks. He had to shoot turning. Matt was really good and Rasheed [Sulaimon] was really good coming off the bench. And so was Marshall [Plumlee], and then Grayson [Allen] those last few minutes. I felt like before the break in that second half, like we were really having fun playing hard. We played so hard in the second half and so together. I'm really pleased with the result. These two games have been really good for us. Two such good teams. Overall, we did a really good job against both of them.”
On making adjustments with a bigger lineup:
“I go by feel in a game. We went big. It was the first time for a few extended minutes we had Marshall and Jah[lil Okafor] in. And we'll look at that more going forward because Marshall's playing well. I don't want him to just be behind Jah. Marshall's such a good athlete that he can defend the four. He can go out and put pressure. He's very athletic. They play out, so Justise [Winslow] at the four, he's a good thing because then he can switch one through four. And Amile [Jefferson] can switch one through four. Whenever we'd run our motion at the end, if you don't double Jah, it's going to be tough. And if you double him, he's going to pass out. We have guys who can shoot. And if we miss, we can hit. It's tough to defend down the stretch when we're moving the ball well and we take good shots.”
On the number of assists Duke had in each half:
“I thought we shared the ball well. If Jah dribbles the ball it's not an assist. That doesn't mean we didn't pass the ball in to him. I don't measure it by that. We've never been a group here that has handed out assists – you have to get an assist. I thought we shared the ball well.”
On Winslow attacking the basket:
“He played well, especially the first half. He played stronger. He's learning what he can do. He played very well. We need him to do that.”
On entering conference play this weekend:
“I feel good. We're excited. We all go to 0-0. Four of these guys have never been on this journey so they'll be surprised at how rigorous it is. But these two games have really gotten us in conference mode. We practice tomorrow and get ready for BC Saturday afternoon. We're excited.”
On the effectiveness of the bigger lineup so far:
“We'll see. Jah's a great player and Marshall's a real good player. We should look at it. But Amile's playing really well and Justise is good when he goes to the four. With nine guys, it gives us some versatility, not numerical versatility as much as different roles, different things that guys can do. So I like that. Having Matt Jones play the way he did today is critical for our team, critical. Matt is our toughest defender and he just adds that something that brings out better stuff with our guys. He was not himself the last few games but today he was terrific.”
Duke Freshman Justise Winslow
On what he thinks the team took out of the two games this week against Toledo and Wofford:
“That it's a long game. We're going to make some mistakes, but just the way we handled adversity. Just try to stick to the gameplan a little bit better. We did a better job of that tonight against Wofford. Just in general, coming out stronger and not pacing.”
On limiting Wofford's open shot attempts being an emphasis in the second half:
“Definitely. The guy (Karl) Cochran, he's a great player and a very good shooter. Matt (Jones) and Rasheed (Sulaimon) did a great job on him in the second half chasing him around those down screens. That was definitely a big point of emphasis, and I think in the second half we did a better job.”
On how the last couple of games have prepared Duke for conference play:
“Really well. These teams are really good, very underrated. This is just what ACC play is going to be like. No easy games. It was good to have these two games before we went to ACC play.”
Duke Freshman Tyus Jones
On what was the biggest difference between the first and second halves:
“We were just a little more energetic. We forced them into a little bit tougher shots and it worked out for us.”
On what Duke has learned in the last few games that will help in ACC play:
“Just that you have to be ready at all times. Teams are going to come out ready to make shots and ready to compete. In these past two games, that's exactly what they were doing. It was good for us.”
Duke Freshman Jahlil Okafor
On how the team responded after a quick turnaround from Monday night's game against Toledo:
“I thought we responded well, especially since two days ago we felt like we didn't play as well as we wanted to, especially on the defensive end. Even today, the first half wasn't as good as we wanted. We came here at halftime, talked to the coaches and responded in the second half and really finished the game strong. We're going to ACC play the way we want to go.”
On the second-half burst being more tactical or about effort:
“I think it's more of an effort situation. It's not something we want to make a habit of, making the second half better than the first, but it's just something that we'll have to get out of. Right now, we're going down the right path. Hopefully when we play Boston College, we can start off strong.”
On the mentality going into his first conference game:
“We're 0-0, so that means we're extremely hungry and eager to beat the team.”
Wofford Head Coach Mike Young
Opening Statement:
“I was really proud. I can't say there have been many times in my career when we got our fannies whipped by 29 or whatever it was and I was proud. My guys stuck it up in there and battled against an obviously very good basketball team that is going to go on to win a lot of games. The team from Spartanburg that walked in here this afternoon is going to go on and win a lot of games and I'm looking forward to the journey with my team. I've got a really good team and we've got a lot to look forward to.”
On Duke going with a small lineup as much as it did:
“Well, that's how we guard them. [Amile] Jefferson is outstanding. I was really concerned about his activity on the offensive glass and how we wanted to play because of the big kid [Jahlil Okafor]. That was a lineup we knew we would see and a lineup that gave us concern. With [Justise] Winslow at the four who has the versatility to guard a [Lee] Skinner, can come back and guard a Spencer Collins so that's quite a luxury to have when you have that kind of versatility.”
On trying to guard Jahlil Okafor:
“We were just trying different things. But gosh, what a poised and polished young person he is. Holy smokes. He's just a marvelous basketball player. We really wanted to give help off of Jefferson with our four. That gets a little dicey when they go smaller with Winslow because of his ability to shoot and he made two threes in the first half. That reshuffles the deck a little bit. We just wanted to give him some different looks – on the bounce, on the catch. But you're flipping coins. He's so big and he passes over top of you. We tried.”
On second half shooting from behind the three-point arc:
“They defended very well in the second half and Coach [K] mentioned that walking off the floor. They defended very well. I thought we got some great cracks at it. The first couple come to mind with [Karl] Cochran and he just missed the shot. He just missed the shot. That's basketball. But as the half wore on I thought they were so good defensively. They jack you up and take you out of the things that you want to do and they certainly amped it up a bit in the second 20 minutes.”
On Karl Cochran having to perhaps hurry his shot a little today:
“He's got that green light. He's a dynamic scorer, but I'm thinking all the while I'm okay with that shot because we may not get a better one 20 seconds from now. Spencer Collins took one very similar to that opposite our bench. It was a good look, it was a good crack at it. You'd like to get into the clock more, but they don't relent. They don't dip as some teams will to give them a chance to break down and Duke doesn't break down.”
Wofford Senior Forward Lee Skinner
On defending Jahlil Okafor:
“We just tried to battle with him. We knew coming in that he's a great player. Great size, great hands, pretty good feet. We just tried to battle with him and stay within our team and do what we do and keep him off the glass. You have a player like that there is only so much you can do to try to contain him. I don't think on any night you're going to stop him totally, but as coach mentioned I thought we got better playing a big guy like that as well as a team like Duke. That was our gameplan with Okafor and Duke.”
On the second half and Duke's early run:
“Our thought process was to hang in there and battle, but they went on a run. We fought back and then as coach was saying we got some looks that we wanted and some didn't fall, which will happen. And then when you have a great offensive team like Duke, as well as we may play on defense they're going to get some of those shots to go whether they're contested or not. We're not going to hang our heads. We're just going to look forward to conference play.”
On trying to get on the offensive glass:
“Anticipating our shots is key. Our thing is transition defense and to keep them out of transition offense would be to crash and try to come away with a few offensive boards. Also just try to stay even or win the battle on the boards if we can so we definitely have to come away with a few offensive rebounds and we just didn't do it tonight.”
Opening Statement:
“We played well and we beat a really good team today. They're a hard team to defend. They're just really a hard team to defend. In the first half, we could not complete the defensive exchange enough with our rebounding. What happens, and this has happened many years because we use pressure defense, is that when a shot is taken after you've put pressure, especially if a team is moving the ball for 20, 25 seconds, there's a tendency to feel like it's over instead of you making it over with the defensive rebound. Because you get tired. You get on to the next thing. It takes a lot of discipline to complete that. And they were getting second shots and third. In the second half, we did that. And we played great defenses. Our bench really helped us a lot. Matt Jones, that's how Matt is. He can play. [Wofford's Karl] Cochran is a heck of a player but he didn't get open looks. He had to shoot turning. Matt was really good and Rasheed [Sulaimon] was really good coming off the bench. And so was Marshall [Plumlee], and then Grayson [Allen] those last few minutes. I felt like before the break in that second half, like we were really having fun playing hard. We played so hard in the second half and so together. I'm really pleased with the result. These two games have been really good for us. Two such good teams. Overall, we did a really good job against both of them.”
On making adjustments with a bigger lineup:
“I go by feel in a game. We went big. It was the first time for a few extended minutes we had Marshall and Jah[lil Okafor] in. And we'll look at that more going forward because Marshall's playing well. I don't want him to just be behind Jah. Marshall's such a good athlete that he can defend the four. He can go out and put pressure. He's very athletic. They play out, so Justise [Winslow] at the four, he's a good thing because then he can switch one through four. And Amile [Jefferson] can switch one through four. Whenever we'd run our motion at the end, if you don't double Jah, it's going to be tough. And if you double him, he's going to pass out. We have guys who can shoot. And if we miss, we can hit. It's tough to defend down the stretch when we're moving the ball well and we take good shots.”
On the number of assists Duke had in each half:
“I thought we shared the ball well. If Jah dribbles the ball it's not an assist. That doesn't mean we didn't pass the ball in to him. I don't measure it by that. We've never been a group here that has handed out assists – you have to get an assist. I thought we shared the ball well.”
On Winslow attacking the basket:
“He played well, especially the first half. He played stronger. He's learning what he can do. He played very well. We need him to do that.”
On entering conference play this weekend:
“I feel good. We're excited. We all go to 0-0. Four of these guys have never been on this journey so they'll be surprised at how rigorous it is. But these two games have really gotten us in conference mode. We practice tomorrow and get ready for BC Saturday afternoon. We're excited.”
On the effectiveness of the bigger lineup so far:
“We'll see. Jah's a great player and Marshall's a real good player. We should look at it. But Amile's playing really well and Justise is good when he goes to the four. With nine guys, it gives us some versatility, not numerical versatility as much as different roles, different things that guys can do. So I like that. Having Matt Jones play the way he did today is critical for our team, critical. Matt is our toughest defender and he just adds that something that brings out better stuff with our guys. He was not himself the last few games but today he was terrific.”
Duke Freshman Justise Winslow
On what he thinks the team took out of the two games this week against Toledo and Wofford:
“That it's a long game. We're going to make some mistakes, but just the way we handled adversity. Just try to stick to the gameplan a little bit better. We did a better job of that tonight against Wofford. Just in general, coming out stronger and not pacing.”
On limiting Wofford's open shot attempts being an emphasis in the second half:
“Definitely. The guy (Karl) Cochran, he's a great player and a very good shooter. Matt (Jones) and Rasheed (Sulaimon) did a great job on him in the second half chasing him around those down screens. That was definitely a big point of emphasis, and I think in the second half we did a better job.”
On how the last couple of games have prepared Duke for conference play:
“Really well. These teams are really good, very underrated. This is just what ACC play is going to be like. No easy games. It was good to have these two games before we went to ACC play.”
Duke Freshman Tyus Jones
On what was the biggest difference between the first and second halves:
“We were just a little more energetic. We forced them into a little bit tougher shots and it worked out for us.”
On what Duke has learned in the last few games that will help in ACC play:
“Just that you have to be ready at all times. Teams are going to come out ready to make shots and ready to compete. In these past two games, that's exactly what they were doing. It was good for us.”
Duke Freshman Jahlil Okafor
On how the team responded after a quick turnaround from Monday night's game against Toledo:
“I thought we responded well, especially since two days ago we felt like we didn't play as well as we wanted to, especially on the defensive end. Even today, the first half wasn't as good as we wanted. We came here at halftime, talked to the coaches and responded in the second half and really finished the game strong. We're going to ACC play the way we want to go.”
On the second-half burst being more tactical or about effort:
“I think it's more of an effort situation. It's not something we want to make a habit of, making the second half better than the first, but it's just something that we'll have to get out of. Right now, we're going down the right path. Hopefully when we play Boston College, we can start off strong.”
On the mentality going into his first conference game:
“We're 0-0, so that means we're extremely hungry and eager to beat the team.”
Wofford Head Coach Mike Young
Opening Statement:
“I was really proud. I can't say there have been many times in my career when we got our fannies whipped by 29 or whatever it was and I was proud. My guys stuck it up in there and battled against an obviously very good basketball team that is going to go on to win a lot of games. The team from Spartanburg that walked in here this afternoon is going to go on and win a lot of games and I'm looking forward to the journey with my team. I've got a really good team and we've got a lot to look forward to.”
On Duke going with a small lineup as much as it did:
“Well, that's how we guard them. [Amile] Jefferson is outstanding. I was really concerned about his activity on the offensive glass and how we wanted to play because of the big kid [Jahlil Okafor]. That was a lineup we knew we would see and a lineup that gave us concern. With [Justise] Winslow at the four who has the versatility to guard a [Lee] Skinner, can come back and guard a Spencer Collins so that's quite a luxury to have when you have that kind of versatility.”
On trying to guard Jahlil Okafor:
“We were just trying different things. But gosh, what a poised and polished young person he is. Holy smokes. He's just a marvelous basketball player. We really wanted to give help off of Jefferson with our four. That gets a little dicey when they go smaller with Winslow because of his ability to shoot and he made two threes in the first half. That reshuffles the deck a little bit. We just wanted to give him some different looks – on the bounce, on the catch. But you're flipping coins. He's so big and he passes over top of you. We tried.”
On second half shooting from behind the three-point arc:
“They defended very well in the second half and Coach [K] mentioned that walking off the floor. They defended very well. I thought we got some great cracks at it. The first couple come to mind with [Karl] Cochran and he just missed the shot. He just missed the shot. That's basketball. But as the half wore on I thought they were so good defensively. They jack you up and take you out of the things that you want to do and they certainly amped it up a bit in the second 20 minutes.”
On Karl Cochran having to perhaps hurry his shot a little today:
“He's got that green light. He's a dynamic scorer, but I'm thinking all the while I'm okay with that shot because we may not get a better one 20 seconds from now. Spencer Collins took one very similar to that opposite our bench. It was a good look, it was a good crack at it. You'd like to get into the clock more, but they don't relent. They don't dip as some teams will to give them a chance to break down and Duke doesn't break down.”
Wofford Senior Forward Lee Skinner
On defending Jahlil Okafor:
“We just tried to battle with him. We knew coming in that he's a great player. Great size, great hands, pretty good feet. We just tried to battle with him and stay within our team and do what we do and keep him off the glass. You have a player like that there is only so much you can do to try to contain him. I don't think on any night you're going to stop him totally, but as coach mentioned I thought we got better playing a big guy like that as well as a team like Duke. That was our gameplan with Okafor and Duke.”
On the second half and Duke's early run:
“Our thought process was to hang in there and battle, but they went on a run. We fought back and then as coach was saying we got some looks that we wanted and some didn't fall, which will happen. And then when you have a great offensive team like Duke, as well as we may play on defense they're going to get some of those shots to go whether they're contested or not. We're not going to hang our heads. We're just going to look forward to conference play.”
On trying to get on the offensive glass:
“Anticipating our shots is key. Our thing is transition defense and to keep them out of transition offense would be to crash and try to come away with a few offensive boards. Also just try to stay even or win the battle on the boards if we can so we definitely have to come away with a few offensive rebounds and we just didn't do it tonight.”
Players Mentioned
G
/ Men's BasketballJon Scheyer Press Conference: Summer 2025
Tuesday, July 08
Duke vs Houston: Press Conference
Sunday, April 06
Duke vs Alabama: East Region Champions Press Conference
Wednesday, April 02
Duke vs Arizona: Duke Press Conference
Friday, March 28
