Coach K on Duke's Late-Game Heroics: Real Players Don't Run Plays, They Make Them

Duke has been saved by clutch plays in recent games

Duke has had some desperation plays at the end of the last two games—from Tre Jones’ putback of an intentionally missed free throw to Wendell Moore’s buzzer beater in overtime, both against UNC, to Matthew Hurt’s offensive rebound to help clinch the win over FSU.

“Those are like making plays that you don’t diagram,” Mike Krzyzewski said. “A real player doesn’t run plays. A real player makes plays. You run plays for people who aren’t players. That doesn’t mean you don’t run them for players too, but players make plays, and our guys are making plays. They’re making really good plays. Damn am I happy about these guys.”

Krzyzewski also praised Javin DeLaurier’s contributions down the stretch, after the senior captain played limited minutes in recent games.

“I mean, Javin was terrific,” he said. “His two-handed rebounds, blocked shots, free throws, and he’s been playing well, but you know, we could hardly do anything yesterday at practice with most of the guys. So we did with a couple of the guys who didn’t play as much—really intense individual work, and I stay and I watch all of that stuff, and Javin had an amazing workout. I brought him over after and said, ‘Man, you’re going to a whole other level.’ In our game we have a thing called trust your work. In other words, if you’re working hard and whatever, when you get out there, trust it, and he worked really hard and he trusted it.”

Now the team needs some time to rest and recover.

“We need a full day off, man,” he said. “This is a nine-day period with three road games and this game, and our kids won all four of them. It’s a lot of travel, a lot of stuff. They’re really developing into a good team. I really love these guys, because it’s different guys. We don’t have a starting lineup. We have a team. Sometimes when you have a starting lineup you put a ceiling on the other guys in ego, in opportunity, in all that. It hasn’t happened here with this group.”