Q&A with Duke's Gerald Henderson

Excerpts from junior forward Gerald Henderson’s interview during Duke’s pre-ACC Tournament media availability:

Q: Are you ready to play really late at night?
A: That’s what we’re going to have to do. They’ve got a lot of games. It’s just the nature of the tournament. We’ll be ready for it, though.

Q: Can you kind of gauge the mood of the team coming off the tough loss? You lost your shot at the (regular season) title. How’s the reaction been?
A: All positive. That’s over and done with now. We have to move on to this tournament and one of our next goals. We’ve worked hard all season to get to this point. Even in the game against Carolina on Sunday, we played well. There’s a lot of good things that we’re going to take from that game. We’re very confident going into the tournament.

Q: How important is this ACC Tournament to you and to the rest of the guys? I know with fans, players, everybody’s anxious to get to the NCAA Tournament. How important is this week?
A: This is a very important step for us. When you set goals at the beginning of the season, this is something that you want to win. It’s kind of better than the regular season championship, because you don’t play everyone, but it’s a better set-up in a tournament. So it’s something we look forward to.

Q: How difficult is it to win three games in three days?
A: It’s tough. But everyone’s going to have to do it. If you want to be a champion, that’s what you have to do. So you prepare yourself for that.

Q: Do you think you can really reach your peak with all the starters playing the kind of minutes they did on Sunday? I think (the starters) played all but 18 or 19 minutes.
A: We have good players. We feel like guys can play well throughout a game. But we’re going to need everyone. We can’t rely on just a few guys to score 20 points. We’re going to need it from everybody to chip in for points, rebounds, get us possessions, take care of the ball. We’re going to need that from everyone.

- Ken Tysiac