Wake Forest - Duke Post Game Quotes
2/13/2003 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 13, 2003
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Wake Forest vs. Duke Post Game Quotes February 13, 2003
Wake Forest Head Coach Skip Prosser
"I've been doing this for 30 years. And this is as good as any game I have been part of. It was a battle. That's just the way it is in the ACC. Duke and our guys fought well and we feel fortunate to walk out with a win after a hard played game. We had good looks, got the ball inside, but unfortunately we had 24 turnovers. Our pregame emphasis was to guard them."
On the freshmen: "Only time will tell how well. They played a big overtime. They stepped up and played well."
On Josh Howard: "It was a hard game to officiate. Josh was thrilled that our other guys were able to step up and play well. Duke guarded him well."
On Trent Strickland: "He was an energy guy. He had 2 really good practices before coming and I felt he would play well and he did."
On overtime: "We don't worry about the last play, we worry about the next play. I knew it would be a hard-fought game and we possessed tremendous resolve."
On the crowd: "They were tremendous. The students were great and that's fun. We're trying to make the Coliseum a hard place to play. Players deserve the fans' support and the fans appreciate the way our players play."
On pregame: "They were quiet before the game and that usually means that you're either scared or ready and we were ready. Until we actually beat them, the kids would just think I was another coach telling them they could do it. I'm just happy for Steve (Lepore) and Josh (Howard)."
Wake Forest freshman Justin Gray "It feels good to play again in a game. People asked me if I was scared, but my teammates gave me confidence and I knew I could play."
"Duke is a great team. Tonight, that was the best game that I've seen or played in. The emotion of the fans and the team was great. That was the best game I've ever been in."
"I just said, 'This is for Josh and Steve,' in the huddle. The team wanted to get [the win] for them. We had to do it for them, both were hurt in the [NCAA] Tournament last year, so we just played hard for them tonight."
"Both teams have deep benches. Everybody's ready to play, and tonight the bench played great for us."
Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski
"You knew going into overtime that it was going to be a great win or a tough loss. In the second half is a battle. There was a lot going with guys with guys in foul trouble and everyone playing hard. I think this is the hardest we've played on the road this year, so it was a disappointing loss. Congratulations to Wake. They just made a few more plays and hit a few more shots than we did."
"We had our open looks. We just haven't shot the ball well for about three weeks. Some are wide open, so the kids just have to keep shooting them. I'd be down if our shot selection was bad, but they're good shots. We won't go away saying that we didn't get our looks."
"If you want to single out one Wake player, single out Justin Gray. He hasn't played in a month. Give credit to all of their players because they all played hard, but Gray is mature and poised out there and it helped them immensely. The game was under 70 at the end of regulation and points were definitely hard to come by. That's when Gray's points were most important."
"It's our schedule and we play it. We're not going to cry about it. We're big boys. We just have to go to Virginia now."
