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 Duke head coach Jon Scheyer had to say after the win:
Opening statement
This was everything we could have asked for and more. I just want to thank Coach Self, his staff, Kansas, the hospitality. This is a special thing. The fact that our two programs haven't played here one time, we've played here one time. So doing this home-and-home for an exhibition game, nothing about it felt like an exhibition game. The environment, everything here was beyond special. So for us to go on the road, play a really good team, hungry team, I think we learned
a lot. For me, I thought we showed a lot of toughness. You're still figuring out what you have, even in these exhibition games. Obviously, the job Pat did, he controlled the entire game: his passing, his scoring, his rebounding, defense; I could go on and on. I don't want him to get too big of a head, so I'm going to stop right there.
And then John, obviously we're going through this for the first time together, but from what we've seen in practice, that was what he's done. So really proud of our group, learned a lot, and we're looking forward to starting the season and taking these lessons and carrying us forward.
Message to team before two big runs in the second half?
Well, they're conventional. They have a lot of speed. Stokes is really, you're not going to see many guys like him in college with his ability to push, put pressure on the paint. I mean, we fouled him nine times, but he gets ahead his team downhill. I thought they were just pushing it so fast and just finding a way to get our defense set. And that was the biggest thing. And I thought these guys, we have the versatility to switch and not. We switched probably a little bit more just to stand them up and they only had one offense rebound in the second half, which is big.
On Caleb Foster’s debut since injury
Well, we knew it would be limited minutes. He's ahead of schedule. We didn't think he'd even play in this game and typical Caleb fashion. He just put a lot of pressure on us and finally we came in and said, "You can play limited though." And he goes, "Whatever I can get, I'll give you all I got." So I think just for him, came down to just, he hasn't played. So to play a game, play a road game, it's great to see him out there, and just his body, his presence made a difference for us.
On Drew Scharnowski’s status
Yeah, Drew's getting closer. He's on the court, and hopefully we get him back for the first week here.
On the trend of teams scheduled tough exhibition games
Well, I think if you go back to, really, year two for me as head coach, I just felt like we needed to elevate and put ourselves in as many positions as possible. I also think you'd have to ask them, but I also think they tell you they want to play in games like these. And I hope for our fans, they want to see us in these types of games as well. So end of the day, we make our decisions how to be our best then and how to go through as much adversity as possible. And so all right, you play Tennessee and you play Kansas, you're going to find adversity. And that definitely happened today, but it's really been something I've loved, I've hated as the games get closer because they're big-time games, but we'll continue to do this.
On Tyran Stokes
Well, he's got great speed. He's got really good frame. The thing he did tonight, he shot the ball well. And when you can get a team, he's gone, I think after tonight he's had 38 free throws in three games. So when you get to the free-throw line, that's a big skill. And so he's not even close to scratching the surface yet. And the player he's going to be at the end of the season I think, is probably even different now, but 27, eight and seven, it's pretty good.
On how much Patrick Ngongba has improved
Well, I'll just say with Pat, not often do you get to be on a multi-year journey with a guy as talented as Pat is and as good as he is. And he's just a winning player. And I think his feel for the game, he understood that tonight it was more scoring and more decisiveness and it totally changed our team. It totally changed our team. He's so smart. He's like a point guard in some ways the way he sees the floor. And then his ability to protect, his ability to switch, he's rare in terms of big guy that has that much versatility.
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This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Duke head coach Jon Scheyer said following win vs. Kansas
