DUKE HEAD COACH JON SCHEYER
Opening Statement:
“First of all, it’s great to get that first win under our belts. In some ways it feels like it just happened so quick to play our first game and in other ways, feels like it’s taken a long time. And I think our guys were just ready to play a game in Cameron, a real game. Jacksonville, I was worried about them for a little while because of how solid they are defensively; they can make it hard for you to score. I knew they were returning a lot. Kevion Nolan is a really good player, there was a big key for us tonight to try to key in on him and make life difficult. But just proud of our team with how they came out and played defense and rebounded. Jeremy Roach really set the tone for us. That’s what we need him to do all year long. And I thought it was a great collective effort. Kyle [Filipowski], getting a double-double on his birthday, I thought each guy stepped up in different ways. And great to get this first one, we’ll enjoy tonight. And then learn from this, move on. Hopefully we can figure out what we can improve on and build from here.”
On his first experience taking in Cameron for the first time as a head coach:
“I’ve had a lot of friends who are coaches, obviously, and they’ve all, not all of them, but a bunch of them have sent me messages just to enjoy it. Try to enjoy it as much as I can. And it’s not easy, right? You’re anxious, you have some nerves, were you ready to get out there, start to get going. You put in so much work, you want to see it translate on the court. So for myself, I just took a moment before going out there. What an opportunity, what a moment. This is a place I’ve grown up in, playing, coaching, and to be here as a head coach, I was not going to be anywhere other than this moment right now. And hopefully I can do that, going forward through the ups and downs. But for me tonight, that was my main focus.”
On Kyle Filipowski overcoming his slow start:
“I think it’s an adjustment. For our young guys, they’re used to having the ball in their hands all the time, used to valuing scoring as the way to make an impact. And really, for us, we’ve emphasized, defend and rebound. And I thought he was a great example of that tonight. He started off probably missing a few shots he normally would hit, and he just stuck with it and made some big-time rebounds. And a couple of them translated into easy baskets on the other end. It’s a lot easier to…
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