Monday, March 5, 2012

Krzyzewski: Offensive struggles affected defense vs. UNC

After Duke’s players indicated that they thought their offensive struggles in the first half against North Carolina affected their defense on Saturday, Blue Devils coach Mike Krzyzewski said Monday that he’s not sure it won’t happen again this season.

“That’s just who we are,” Krzyzewski said during the ACC teleconference. “You can tell them not to do that, but I tell ‘em to block out and they don’t always block out. It’s going to happen. It’s reoccurred through the season and hopefully during this postseason, we can eliminate that.”

The Blue Devils shot 26.5 percent in the first half on Saturday against the Tar Heels while UNC shot 52.6 percent on the other end. The discrepancy helped the Tar Heels build a 24-point halftime advantage.

While Duke is prone to defensive lapses from time to time, Krzyzewski stressed that he isn’t any less confident in his team as it prepares to open the ACC tournament on Friday night at 7 p.m. against the winner of the Virginia Tech-Clemson game.

“Who they are is they’re a bunch of human beings who are 19-22 (years old),” he said. “They’re 26-5. They’ve had a helluva year. I’m confident in who we are – I wish we were faster, I wish I had bigger wings. They’re a bunch of things you can wish for, but who we are has been very good. I mean, it’s been really good.

"More people can beat this team than some of my teams in the past. But on 31 occasions, on 26 of them, these kids have won. They’ve proven that they can win. I’m confident that they’ll have that type of attitude going forward.”

-- Jack Daly

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

They simply got HAMMERED Saturday night as we all know with everything on the line. Now they will probably face FSU on a neutral court will somethig to prove. They got exposed on defense, and looked very average. Go Noles!

Anonymous said...

Dook got torched on the boards...and this time .....shot a woeful 28% from the 3 point line ....With the H*les shooting 54%....what you get is the ingredients for a butt whuppin'...
That said.....the H*les can still not beat any body from the 3 point line...if they ever have to go there !!!

Anonymous said...

Why would UNC shoot 3's when they can simply throw it 2 feet from the basket and dominate the post?

You're a douche. That's like saying "you're kicker can't make 50 yard field goals" when the other team is consistently scoring touchdowns.

The Heels shoot 54% because Dook can't defend a junior college team. If they play again on Sunday expect more of the same.

Anonymous said...

For 78 minutes of the 2 games Carolina outscored Duke by about 30points. Carolina probably beats them 8 out of 10 times with the 2 being nights Duke's 3's are falling.

Anonymous said...

You wanna beat UNC...OUTrebound them and shoot at least 43%...like UNLV...like KY....like Fla St.....

only exceptions were:

-Mich St shooting 30% with a +15 rebounding advantage

-Outrebounded Duke ....but outshot 14-1 at the three point ......

You better OUTrebound them (easier said than done)..to beat em