I think [they're] the best basketball team in the country. They have them ranked second. And that's not to put any pressure on Billy. Second, first, I don't think it matters. He has a tremendous basketball team. |
I thought our kids came out the second half and played at that other energy level. We made a lot of plays for Charles Rhodes. |
I was proud of our team's effort. The Florida basketball team presents many problems. |
I wish we could just forget about the first half. Unfortunately, we can't separate it that much. |
I wish we could just forget that first half. But we have to approach every game the same, whether we are 1-7 or 7-1. It's a 16-game season. |
I'm awful proud of that win, especially because of the effort. I thought it was our ability to defend. I thought we took it up a notch (in) that second half. |
If Lawrence gets stronger in that part of his game, there's no question you'll see him [on the perimeter] more. We're going to play to the strengths of our players. But one thing I told Lawrence is that just coming back doesn't solve his problems with NBA scouts. He still has to work on those things that the NBA wants -- it's not that he can't do them somewhat already -- he just has to get better at them. |
If we can come out of there in any form of survival, that's big. |
It seemed like every big play that had to be made down the stretch, Duke made those plays. That's why they've been so successful though the years. |
It sounds crazy. But he finds a way to get it up in there. |
It sounds like an old, broken record, but it's a 16-game season and I know it's a little different being 1-7 at this point, but you can't approach games that way. The only way you can be consistent in the way you approach things is to keep the focus on working hard. |
It was a special effort. For our kids to have the attitude and energy after losing some games when they're not used to it, it tells you a lot about the makeup of this basketball team. We put together 40 minutes, from start to finish. |
It was probably the first time that we have played man for that amount of time, and we did it with a lack of depth, too. We played man against a very good team with a lot of experience. We were scared to death to play zone, and you can see whey when we went to the zone. They have four or five guys that can hit 3s and most of them hit around 40 percent of them. |
It's an important year for him, and I'm glad to see his team do well, believe it or not. To win every game every year, that's not going to happen. ... We've had a lot of success against them. |
It's going to be difficult. We're going to play a really good basketball team. But we're looking forward to playing them. |