Duke used massive games from Patrick Ngongba and John Blackwell, along with two big runs in the second half, to take down Kansas, 90-84, in the Blue Devils' final exhibition game of the preseason.
Here is what Kansas head coach Bill Self had to say after the game:
Opening statement
Well, I thought it was a pretty damn good exhibition game. That's a high-level team for October, and we played them today. And I thought we hung in there and did some good things. They're more mature and more poised in a late-game, over-40-minute situation than we are. But that doesn't mean we can't get there. When you're two best players offensively or freshmen, and they're playing with seniors, they're two best offensive players. I think we saw that difference a little
bit. But tell you what, when we get our full-complement guys, and we are fortunate enough to see them in the tournament at some point, I can see that being a hell of a battle.
On Keanu Dawes playing center
I thought if our guards rebounded, I thought it would've gone really well. They moved the ball so quick the first half that our ball screen defense was non-existent, but it wasn't because of the bigs, it's because the ball moved and they could take advantage of short roll and all that stuff. We don't do that well yet. And so we went small to switch, and if Pat dominated the game, Pat and Blackwell, but if we were able to be better equipped on switching and weak-side help and attacking the ball when the ball's in the air, things like that, we could have done better. But what we saw today, Keanu's matchup when a five-man guard is in place to our advantage. So I thought he did well.
On what went wrong during Duke’s two big runs
I don't know what went wrong. I thought we had a lot of shots at close range that didn't go in. And I also thought we took some very marginal shots when you need to have a great possession. We're just not mature enough yet to play to the defense breaking down. We more or less just played a one-on-one. So we'll get better at that. But right now, I think that's one of the biggest things that we do when you talk about time and score and knowing when you have to have a good possession, leave a timeout, and we make one pass or no passes and guys shoot guard shots. That's what we got to get better at.
On his team responding to getting hit in the mouth
Well, to be honest, we hit them in the mouth starting out. And then we tasted our own blood, and I thought the kids fought hard. I actually thought it was a long game, but we did some really good things. I thought that there were times that Mel put pressure on them, but you stop and think about it, Melvin and Trey combined for 17 and against Louisville, they combined for 48 or whatever. So that's a positive. So I just think that we got to figure out who we are, how we're going to play and how to win the most important possessions. And right now we don't. They were much more poised winning the most important possessions than we were today.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Kansas head coach Bill Self said following loss to Duke
