Everything Jon Scheyer said following Duke's win against TCU
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Opening statement
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TCU coming in, we knew how this would be a hard-fought game. I just keep coming back to the character of these guys. For Pat to come back to this game, was not easy by any means. He was fighting like crazy. He even came up to us before the first game, and just in the best interest of him, and ultimately our team also -- well, we always want him back out here, but we tried to get him ready for this game. That was pushing to begin with. But the fact that he's fighting to com back.
It's ironic we have our front line here because the job these guys have done. You look at the rim protection, you look at the rebounding, 42-25, these guys are big-time winners. It's as good of a front line that there is.
Again, we're more whole with Pat being back, obviously Caleb's working every day like crazy. I just thought the defense in the second half was big time. We found it, and really that's what willed us.
On if his team has a weakness
'm not going to tell whoever we play this is our weakness. Again, I feel as a coach, I feel there's a lot of things to clean up. What's happened with us the last two weeks is the fact that Pat and Caleb have been out. We didn't practice as much as I would have liked.
Even going forward, that's something we have to be smart with. So just the habits, just the habits we've developed all year. I think especially on the defensive end, the consistency we saw in the second half, I would like to see that all the time.
Then just to me it's habits. I can show you offense, defense, both ways, just those are the things that actually you can lose later in the season. I think that's going to be a big point of emphasis for us -- our passing habits, taking care of the ball, finishes. I can go down the line on defense too.
On Cameron Boozer running the offense
He's really a point guard. We have two point guards on the floor with him and Cayden. His ability to play pick-and-roll, his ability to pass, and his ability to create his own shots and get downhill, we call it, starting the dominoes, he does a great job of that. It's a luxury having two guys on the floor that see the game, think the game that way.
He did a great job in the second half of just controlling it.
On playing to Duke's identity
I thought the second half was -- it was there after the first minute and a half, two minutes. Even after the first half, you're not going to blow people out. Is it felt like a big-time tournament game. You have a four-point lead, you wish, man, can you have gotten it to nine or ten the way the last few minutes went.
But you have the lead, and I thought when we got back to just guarding the way we can, valuing the ball on the offensive end, that's where we got separation, and that's been the identity all year.
On having 17 turnovers but still winning
We always talk about fighting for the rim. That's the best shot you can get in basketball is a dunk. For us, our best 3s come from when we can hit the post, get a cut, get a drive, where we touch the paint.
I thought in the first half we were just very perimeter oriented. Credit them, they have a very good defense. They pressure you. They have active hands. I thought in the second half we just had more poise of understanding how we're trying to fight for the rim and making more really simple plays.
On Cayden Boozer's impact
The thing I love about Cayden is he understands what it takes to win. It's been his scoring the last couple games for us, and tonight we just needed him to run the show. He was very patient, very efficient. Last two games he has 10 assists, 2 turnovers. 5-to-1 ratio is pretty good. And then he's guarding. He's just impacting the game in a whole bunch of different ways.
On getting by a pesky TCU squad
I hope it gives our guys confidence. No matter who you play when you advance, today's game was a good example. I think we've been in some wars like this. We've been tested and slower pace, faster pace, different kind of defenses that play different coverages.
I think the thing for us is we have a unique team with how we play. So it's hard to look at somebody else and say, this is what they're definitely going to do. Part of that's personnel. Part of that's how we play.
I think the confidence that our guys have from the schedule, I think that really showed in the second half.
On difference between first game and second game
I always -- for me, when a game doesn't go the way that it should, I spend a lot of time just thinking about -- again, you can't have a lot of time in this quick turnaround, but I took that night, a few hours afterwards just to think about how I could have helped our guys better.
I think it snuck up on me that our two most experienced guys in the Tournament or a game like that are Caleb and Pat. Maliq is a senior. Maliq has never played in a first-round game, NCAA Tournament game. There's just a different feeling associated with it. It's the first time you're playing where it could be the end of your season. It's your first time playing where the other team doesn't want to go home.
I thought there were incredible lessons there for me, for our staff, for our program, but most importantly for our players. I thought the urgency we had tonight was there from the get-go. That doesn't mean it's going to be perfect.
I'm just really proud of them for coming off three games in a row last week, Thursday finding a way to win. Second half again, just finding a way. And now we have to get refreshed the next two days, find out who we're playing, and keep this thing rolling.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Jon Scheyer said following Duke's win against TCU