March 1, 2007

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Head Coach Gary Williams

On the significance of the game:
"I'm very proud of our team. This is a great win for us tonight, and I'm proud of the way they handled things when it was going poorly for us earlier in the season. It didn't change anything in the way that they practiced. That was the key for us to be able to win some games. We didn't have to make guys work harder, we just kept working. Once we got a pretty good rotation going, we could see that we were going to be OK, but we just needed those wins to get us some confidence."

On going forward from here:
"There's a lot of season left and a lot of work to do, and we just have to keep going."

On Duke:
"You think about all the years that Mike Krzyzewski has had championship caliber teams and didn't get the coach of the year award. He's done a tremendous job this year with a lot of young guys. They're an extremely good team. We're fortunate to win this game."

On Greivis Vasquez:
"He knows the game. He's advanced for a freshman in terms of knowing the game. He knows who should get the ball. He is long, but he is able to get by you. He's been doing that for a while for us, and he plays with a great deal of confidence. Both he and Eric Hayes have done a great job for us this season."

On shot blocking:
"We've been a good shot blocking team. We've been fortunate to have the guys who can get up with the timing to block shots. Ekene Ibekwe has been doing that all year, and James Gist is a good blocker. Bambale Osby can do it too."

On the bench contributions:
"It seems like we're always able to get someone like Bambale or Will to step up off the bench and give us good minutes when we need them."

On sustaining Duke's second-half run:
"I thought Duke was going to make a run; it was only a matter of time. I told our players to stay tough and hope to get a stop. If they had gotten the lead, it could have been a very tough situation, especially here. I'm very proud of our guys. This has been a tough week for us. We're really working hard to make sure the players' emotions are there every time we play."

On the transition game:
"We like to run when we get the ball. That isn't a different game plan for Duke; that's the way we play. We have good ball handlers, so we should be able to handle the ball and get into transition. With Mike Jones out there, he can get open on the 3-point line and we like to let him go."

On inside play:
"We tried to run our offense, and part of that is penetration and part of that is the flex. We want to take advantage of Greivis' ability to get into the paint, and when he gets in there, he's big enough to do something."

On D.J. Strawberry:
"He is a great leader. He wants to be here. I think anyone who is hurt like he was and worked as hard as he did to get back and ready to play will try to help the younger guys to get us ready to play. Some seniors are wary of younger guys, because they see it as less playing time for them, but that is not D.J. He knows that we need those guys to be successful this year."

On the team's recent run:
"We've improved. I don't think we could have beaten North Carolina and Duke in a week a month ago. When you coach, you try to get the team to be as good as they can get. I think these guys have bought into that really well this year. They have come in with the attitude of `Let's just see how good we can be this year as a basketball team.'"

Senior Guard D.J. Strawberry

On the game:
"We tried to play as a team today and take what their defense was giving us. We wanted to match their intensity, and we played well."

On getting transition baskets:
"I try to use my speed. I just get out there and run, and they always seem to find me in front of the defense"

On the team's recent success:
"It's fun to play well right now. It's fun to come in here or to play Carolina and be playing well enough to win this late in the season."

Freshman Guard Greivis Vasquez

On the team's recent success:
"We play as a team. It is all about the team. Its amazing the way were playing now. We just have great chemistry right now."

On sustaining Duke's second-half run:
"We just needed to be tough. It came down to who wanted to win the game more. We have to give them credit. That is a good team in their house with a good crowd, and they made it really tough."

On making his first trip to Cameron Indoor Stadium
"It was fun out there. You know how it can get out there, and I was having fun with it. I just wanted to get my teammates fired up."

Senior Guard Mike Jones

On fighting back from a slow ACC start:
"We worked hard from the start. We just had to come together as a team. To finally come together like this as a senior class after two tough years is great. We want to keep having fun."

On Duke's second-half comeback:
"We expected them to come back. This is their house, and we knew it was going to be tough. But we just knew that we had to stay tough out there."

On the key to the team's success:
"We never gave up. The past couple of weeks, we've done a good job of focusing on the next game and not looking ahead. The seniors are definitely teaching the younger guys and they are learning quick. We're all feeding off each other."

On Greivis Vasquez:
"He is great. He is fantastic. I love his energy. I love what he brings to the floor and the team. Sometimes we have to calm him down a little bit, but that is OK because we know that sometimes he'll bring that boost that we need for the team."