Mike Kryzyzewski About the Spectacular Game Back

Post game response by Duke head coach Mike Kyrzyzewski after Duke beat Syracuse, February 22, 2014. Syracuse had beaten Duke three weeks earlier in an overtime game at the Carrier Dome.

 
"Another great game. Different from the first one because it seemed like both teams were scoring easy up at Syracuse and today it was really difficult to score. I don’t know how either team could play any harder. What a great environment. I want to thank our fans, the whole … their celebration of basketball up there and our celebration of basketball here was phenomenal. It’s what makes our sport so good.

I mean I love the NBA to death but this is something they can’t do. And we should always recognize that… the thing at Syracuse and here… that’s our product. That’s our product. Genuineness, purity, and my guys to fight like they did today, that’s their fourth game in eight days, coming after one of our worst halves of the season at North Carolina, and they played great there… I'm not knocking them. They made us look bad. But to come back and play with this level of intensity was spectacular. Just absolutely spectacular.

Our defense was really good; their defense adjusted. What they did in their zone when we flashed , they stayed with shooters, and so up there when we flashed they collapsed a little bit and you could kick out and you have a shot. They stayed with shooters today, and so that’s why we , what turned out to be a good move, putting Rodney [Hood] there, and what that did was then he could run offense in there a little bit, not great, but better, and Rodney, that part of the game was amazing. "

Duke Coach Mike Kryzyzewski

Transcribed by RLYoung