Quotes: Duke 68, Elon 61

Duke Head Coach Joanne P. McCallie

Opening Statement:
“Well obviously it wasn't a terrific game for us. We did some things to get the ball game but I don't think we played the way we wanted to play. Rebounding is a concern of mine at this point in time, rebounding was very poor on our behalf. But I think that I am happy to see that Lexie got 1,000 (career points). It is always fun for an individual thing like that to occur. From a team perspective I think there are just great lessons and we will enjoy the film tomorrow.”

On Lexie Brown's offensive impact:
“I don't think we need to get dramatic about it, we have had balance for 10 games now, or at least nine games. The reality is we have to be focused and ready to play, you can't miss layups. That will tell half the story right there. So it is wonderful when a player can step up like Lexie did tonight, that's important, and you need to have that, and at the same time we have plenty of scorers. But you have to execute, and give Elon some credit, I thought they played much harder than we did. I thought they played much harder for four quarters and you know when you play that kind of basketball, when you kind of play hard then you don't, in and out of the game that disrupts tempo, a lot of things, offense, defense and things of that nature. So it is a good lesson for our team, we are going to take this lesson relative to how we play, and again I can't take anything away from Elon. I thought they did some really nice things, and I thought they played really hard.”

On whether it was hard to replicate the emotion of the South Carolina win:
“Well, it's not supposed to be an emotional win if we have a mature team. I mean we were technical and did a great job playing for each other and being technical in that game. There is nothing emotional about it. Media makes it emotions. Right now we just want to play every team the way we want to play them. We did that against South Carolina, and of course we did not do that tonight. So it is not that I want more emotion, you want execution, you want energy and you want focus, and those things are very important. You can't treat opponents differently like we did tonight. All opponents are very capable. They are all capable, I don't care what their records are, I don't care what their backgrounds are. There are so many good teams that play at this level, the mid-majors are becoming better and better. I mean look at Wisconsin Green Bay, if you look at Elon, it's going to take a mature team, a team that understands that, and gets ready to play every night. And it is a little bit different in basketball, like in football there is a once a week thing for a while, and they're able to get a rhythm and a routine. In basketball, we have a lot of games, and they come up at different times. You play on a Sunday and then a Thursday, we have finals coming up. You know we could make every excuse in the book of why we didn't bring our A game, but in reality there is no excuse. … If you want to be a special team, you learn to bring it, every game, no matter what, under any circumstances. So I think this will be a good lesson for us.”

On playing daughter Maddie McCallie:
“Actually again that's the drama provided by the media. We are a basketball family, okay, basketball has been a part of our life. I am really proud of Maddie, and I had no problem preparing for this game, no problem getting ready for this game. I am very impressed with this team, they presented problems to us, and I think that it is a wonderful story for women's basketball just to see different things happen in families. But relative to my own difficulty, no it wasn't very difficult. I am proud of her, I am sure she didn't play the way she wanted to play, because kids are tough on themselves, and they will kind of self-evaluate. I think it's an awesome thing for women's basketball to have stories like this. So again it's wonderful, but I was quite comfortable with it and very proud of her”

On Duke's defensive effort:
“Well you know it was good. For a while there we played kind of ugly, but we did well defensively, which is a good thing, it's a good sign. But the reality is there were a lot of easy shots that they missed, a lot of easy shots around the bucket that were just falling off. You have to speak the truth here, it wasn't like we were totally taking away everything, some of it was I think them getting used to playing and what not. Again we have a great film to watch, we will take care of that, this is an important growing point for our team, especially because we are going into break, and now we have got a big break to do a lot of different things and be the team we want to be. I will tell you what, if we don't start rebounding, that's a big problem, and it was a problem last game and this game and a problem other games. We have got to start being a rebounding team.”

Junior Guard Lexie Brown

On her strong offensive performance:
“Not really, I just felt like the way our offense was running, I was just getting open shots. My teammates did a really good job setting screens, setting me up for easy scores. Like Coach P said, we're just a very balanced offensive team and some people just missed some bunnies and I just happened to be able to make shots, but on Sunday it was the opposite way around. They picked me up big time on Sunday, so I was just glad that we were able to pull out the win.”

Elon Head Coach Charlotte Smith:

Opening statement:
“I am proud of the effort that our team put forth tonight. The two things we talked about that we wanted to focus on in this game were defense and rebounding. We accomplished that on the boards, tying the boards 39-39, so we did a really good job there. For the most part throughout the game, I felt we did a good job defensively, so I am just really proud of our team tonight.”

On bringing out players' performances:
“The good thing is our players are motivated. They want to win and be a championship team so they do a really good job of doing what I ask them to do on a daily basis. You just have to recruit kids that love the game and that is the biggest thing.”

On getting behind in the first half:
“We just weren't hitting shots. We got some really good looks but we weren't able to finish and I felt that we didn't get second chance opportunities. When Lenaira Ruffin came in the game, she gave us some energy off the bench because she is a great rebounder. We just went through a stretch when we didn't get second chance opportunities.”

On Lexie Brown:
“She is an outstanding player. We miscued on a couple ball screen assignments but she is a great player who is very difficult to defend. We need to do a better job of being up the gap and try to contain penetration on her.”

On Ra'Shika White's game:
“She is a great player and once she figures out how to play with a little more power, she will be a dominant force inside. When she gets it inside, she is very confident in what she brings to the table. We talk about how a great post player cannot be stopped one-on-one and right now she is playing with a lot of confidence and I'm glad to see that.”

On Shay Burnett's game:
“She gave the effort tonight but I think the biggest thing is getting over the mental hurdle. The last couple games she has struggled with her shot. I want her to be confident and that is my job to get her back to being the confident Shay.”

On positives moving forward:
“We talked about just getting better in practice and pushing each other to be better. We are a really good team now but the more we push each other in practice to become better, the sky is the limit for this team. The non-conference schedule we've had has definitely prepared us for conference play and so we want to go in focused and confident knowing we can do well this season.”

On ACC stretch:
“We are really good and we're not playing to the best of our ability right now. Shay and Lauren Brown both had really great games against Wake Forest, both having 25 and 20 points. The last couple games against [North] Carolina and tonight, they've struggled a little bit. Just imagine this team if we're clicking on all five cylinders.”

On Maddie's experience tonight:
“Once I cross those lines, its competition and game on. I'm not thinking that it's my former coach. I'm thinking what I can do to prepare my team to be the best they can be out there. It was just another game once you get into the momentum and flow of the game. You're not thinking that it's your alma mater.”

Senior Guard Maddie McCallie:

On how it felt playing in Cameron:
“At first, it was a little strange but as we got warmed up and the game started it really kind of felt like just another game. But it was obviously fun to play in Cameron.”

On if she is relieved the game is over:
“I wouldn't say relieved. I don't know. I don't know how to feel about it to be honest.”

On her emotions after making the three-pointer:
“It definitely felt good to knock it down. Just a good feeling.”

On what the best part of the game was for her:
“We didn't come out with the win so I don't know if there is a best part. I like the atmosphere but overall, I'm kind of disappointed that we didn't win the game.”

Players Mentioned

Lexie Brown

Duke information