NC State
Duke's Scheyer: 'In March, you have to find a way to win ugly'
Duke coach Jon Scheyer discussed the Blue Devils' 79-64 victory against NC State at PNC Arena in Raleigh on Monday, March 4, 2024.
All right, I just want to start off to say, um you know, it was a great win for us and it felt a little bit like Deja Vu, you know, the first couple of minutes there, the way the game started off, but for us to show, I just thought we showed poise, you know, what you have to show against these guys. And then a lot of toughness and you know, the story of the game for me was, uh you know, against them, you have five turnovers against their pressure, all game Tyrese Jeremy and Jared, they did a terrific job handling their pressure. Uh But then they only scored four fast break points, which is important and then our bench, you know, the job that obviously Sean, but TJ and Ryan in that first half, you know, Ryan had four offensive rebounds. TJ had some big time plays. He actually had the one pass to Sean and TJ did without even making shots, which I know he's gonna do. Uh And then Sean throughout the thing Sean did, he just competed, man. He just, you know, burns is, is a handful, obviously. Um But we took away their threes. So it's kind of, you know, sometimes it can hurt you where you're giving up both, you're giving up him and giving up threes. And our thing was just trying to make him work for everything. And uh we did that but Sean TJ and Ryan really proud of those guys with what they did. And uh it was a big win for us, John, how you describe what you guys were able to do on the road this season, particularly tonight, you know, what happened last year? Yeah, it's, it's, you know what, it's uh a lot of growth, a lot of tough, you have to be tough to win on the road and, you know, we lose our first two road games. I don't know exactly what our record is since then, but I know it's really good and uh I know it was really good at the end of last year as well. Uh But, you know, this group when you, you gotta go through some stuff and we have and, you know, I didn't even bring up last year to this team. I don't, I don't think I had to, I think they knew maybe I, I, after the first two minutes, I thought maybe I should have because that was on me the way the game started. Um, but uh they're tough, you know, and, and for the bench, the development of our bench too from um just providing toughness. They were just really, really good. Like, uh, they were responding great. I mean, I think everything I said, they all knew and felt and could see themselves. It was just calm, like you have to calm down, you know, an offense you can't play the way that they wanna play. You have to play how we wanna play, which is, you know, being tough and stops on defense and then obviously we wanna push, but you're not just gonna be able to come down after one pass or no pass and score on them, you have to make them work and break them down. And, uh, Tyse's basket, it was the first basket of the game was, was really important. Just we had a hard time scoring. So just to settle us down, that was, uh, that was huge and then to, you know, Steve to go through the first half and play the whole half an hour flip and you end up having to lead. Um, you know, you hope that doesn't happen, but it did. And uh that was, that was a lot of growth uh, by our teeth tonight, John, the past three games with Sean, is that maybe more a product of more playing time and confidence with Cale B and he's gotten that war. Is there something that's happened in practice? That kind of led you to believe he's ready for? Well, it's, uh they both go hand in hand, right? And all the time in practice. You know, the thing that nobody else gets to see, uh, is practice and his work has been consistent the whole time. There's just, there's two things. One, we have two really good players and flip and, and Mark who are established. So the, you know, window to play is it's there, but it's also, it's gonna be those guys are gonna play as well and the job that Sean has done just adjusting to the college game, you know, it just is a, is an adjustment sometime. I think Derek went through it last year. You know, Sean has gone through it this year and he's just gotten better and better. And naturally, as a freshman, the more you play, the more confidence you can get. And, um, you know, we felt really about halfway through the year or even earlier. I mean, you could see Sean provides something that we don't have. You know, he just, he's our best athlete. Uh, hi, his versatility on defense, his touch around the basket. Uh, he's a, he's a lob threat, uh, and his skill is gonna continue to get better and better. So you're trying to find ways to get him out there. But, you know, today he just pretty simple. We're, we're better when he's out there and he just did a terrific job. He competed at the highest level and that's something, you know, sometimes as a freshman you're adjusting to and all that. Uh, but he's helped us in a lot more games than just this one. But obviously tonight, the amount of minutes he played, uh, hit his free throws. Um, he was great. I'm really proud of him. Jared's seem to come. Do you ever get any inkling when he's about to start in or is it just something that happens? And then he's, you know, he's go through the next four or five, you know, I think with, uh, with Jared, you know, he, he actually, he missed wide open ones in the first half and you just believe that sometime they're gonna go in and you tell him to keep going, uh, and for a freshman to not let, he doesn't let missed shots affect the way that he is his demeanor, the look on his face how hard he plays. Um, he, uh, you just feel it's gonna happen and so you keep trying to find him windows and forcing we could in the second half and obviously he can break loose in transition. And that, that wing three he had, uh, to go up 10 was one of the biggest shots of the game just to gain separation. But when Jerry mccain shoots, I believe it's going in, it doesn't matter what he shot so far in the game. A bit of a two part question for you. One, can you talk about a little, can you talk about the scout on DJ? Burns going into the game and then also what you saw different on who was guarding him, whether that be or Ryan or Sean. Well, um I think this is high this season. I mean, uh I'm not su not positive on that, but he hasn't scored, you know, as much. I know he's averaging 10 points a game and he can look, he can score, he can really score. Obviously, he had 27 on us. He can really pass though, like he can really pass. He's second on the team in assists the last four games. Um and when he passes, half his assists are for threes. And so, you know, he's the, the double scared us, you know, so you're trying to make sure you wanna keep flipping the game, you know, naturally you're worried about foul trouble with him. Uh and he can go, it's not just his left hand, he can spin off it, he can go both ways. Um But I thought once flip got two fouls Ryan and Sean just battle with him, made him work for everything and you know, he, he has 27 but he took 19 shots and, uh you know, in the meantime, Horn, we did a really good job on him, you know, just you're not gonna take away everything. So for us it's battle him, make him work and take away the threes. Jeremy had a couple of key bucks there. It was, you know, I got seven out of eight threes. How much trust do you have in him in those kind of situations, Jeremy? And I, we've been in a lot of these games now, at this point, you know, even when I was an assistant coach and so I know what he's made of. I know he, how he's wired like he's gonna find a way and he's got a knack for putting the ball in the basket too. And, uh, you know, he had 21 without even shooting that great. And so you just know Jeremy is gonna make plays and I have full confidence in him. Hey, coach, do you, you've had 21 more threes attempted in state and shot 30% from three tonight. Uh This mostly have to do with state's game plan to attack the basket and your defense limiting their threes. Um What does today's win say about this Duke team's ability to find different ways to win and score in different ways? Well, I think it, it, it, I told the team after the game, it, it was great to win without shooting that. Well, you know, we hit shots late but in the first half, I, I'll have to go back and see, I thought we missed really good open shots and, uh, you know, we had 14 offensive rebounds, we just kept battling, kept finding a way and it's March, right. So in March, you have to find a way to win ugly. Sometimes you have to find a way to win when you're not at your best. And that's what we did tonight. So I think, I think it says a lot but our toughness, our growth and, uh, you know, you have to keep getting better though. You can't be satisfied with this. You, you gotta move on, figure out how you can get better, which we can't, I promise we can get a lot better still. And, uh, get refocused for our last home game in that, in that second one that Sean is playing really well. Well, it was both, you know, look, Mark didn't have his best night, obviously. And, uh, you know, Mark's been a key guy for us throughout, you know, he did rebound tonight though. But Sean, you know, sometimes you just go with, you find a group that's getting separation and you gotta go with that. And so, you know, Mark obviously have all the confidence in the world and him and that's why you have a team. You, you don't just have five guys and Sean stepped up. Uh they played some together and that was really just a product of us gaining separation and going from there. All right. Thank you. Thank you. That's ok. Ok. All right. Just you see it where? Yes.