Here is some of what Krzyzewski had to say about his team’s 15th win in 18 games and fifth Atlantic Coast Conference win in eight contests.
Opening remarks
Obviously it was a great, great college basketball game. I thought both teams played their hearts out and Carolina was great. (Raymond) Felton is an amazing player. He put on a show. I thought they were terrific. We had to play so hard and well in those last 10 minutes of the game to give us a chance to win. I thought we executed some things offensively and we had about three or four straight stops. And then we executed well and scored there and we got that two-possession, five- to seven-point (lead). I thought we rebounded well in the second half, especially in the last part of the game so they didn't get the second shots that they had been getting.
Obviously Chris (Duhon) was great. He was such a good leader tonight – setting things up, communication with the bench. It was by far his best game. We went to a little matchup there and Duhon looked like a traffic cop in Times Square, making sure that everybody was in the right place. Things like that are what I'm talking about. I thought even the one-on-one (Dean) Dockery hit there kept that little margin.
We feel very good about the win because we know we beat a team that gave a great effort. It's the way a game should be played. It was so hard, so clean. I admire their kids. It was a great, great night for the ACC and for Duke and North Carolina. It was an honor to be in this game. This was a really good basketball game, one of the better ones I've been in the last couple of years because of both teams playing so hard.
On the play of Duhon
He’s been putting too much pressure on himself. We tell him, ‘Just relax and have fun and let things come natural.’ It's mostly him, but whatever it is, he responded well. That one shot he made, that little scoop, was a huge bucket for us.
On how senior forward Dahntay Jones played
Dahntay played like he’s played just about the whole year. Dahntay has (usually) played like that. Good defensively and strong, hitting shots, being a veteran, and he’s really probably our best player.
On using a zone defense at times
It was a matchup. It was Duhon’s matchup because he orchestrated it. We’ve worked on it because we’re playing a lot of teams that have small guys. Just having something where Casey (Sanders) is in the middle and we can kind of match up. It gave us a couple of exchanges, and they probably missed a couple of shots. It was a hell of a move.
Senior writer Andrew Jones is in his seventh year with Inside Carolina. He also covers the ACC for the Wilmington Star-News/Morning Star and can be reached via e-mail at: AndrewJones@AM630.net.