Coach K: Our Team Obviously Felt Tonight They Didn’t Need a Win
Duke said that NC State didn’t take the Blue Devils out of their game plan during Wednesday’s 88-66 win. “Because in order for them to take us out we would’ve had to be in it,” he said. “So we weren’t in to be taken out. I’m not trying to be funny. … They were just at a different level of competitiveness. It’s not like we were hunkering down and whatever. We were just never there, and that’s on all of us.”
The performance was the result of bad timing on the ACC schedule for the Blue Devils.
“I’ve been doing this a long time, and this happens,” he said. “It happens to good teams. This time of the year, we’re in conference play and playing against really good teams that need wins. Our team obviously felt tonight they didn’t need a win. This team (NC State) was unbelievably hungry for their win, and they got it. They deserved it. Hopefully we’ll be more … hopefully, we’ll be competitive Saturday and in the rest of our games, but tonight we weren’t. They were at a high level, and that’s what I mean—even if we were there, they were an elite team tonight.”
Duke couldn’t afford a letdown against such a motivated team. The young team was a victim of its own success.
“We’re not that good,” Krzyzewski said. “We’re good, and we’ve accomplished very good, and so we don’t have the consistency of really good with every player. They listened, but they also have won. Of all the maladies you could have winning would be the best one, but it's still a malady, and tonight it was a horrible sickness for us. They (State) were really good. They ran their offense with such precision and had great energy. I thought the crowd was great, but I thought they were greater than the crowd. They made the crowd even better. It was a superb performance by NC State.”
