DJ Steward on Coach K's Message to Duke in the Win Over Clemson

Duke blew out Clemson on Saturday to win its second straight games. The Blue Devils offense got a boost from the transition game. Duke outscored Clemson 25-6 on points off turnovers and 15-2 on fast break points.

“We were getting stops really early,” said freshman guard DJ Steward. “We were getting defensive rebounds and boxing out. We were just pushing the ball up really slow, and then we went into a timeout and Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski), he told us, ‘Get the rebound and get out.’ And the bigs have to run with us – they can’t be lagging behind us. I feel like the bigs, they ran the floor really well tonight so it really opened up.”

Duke led at half, 41-22 and opened the second half with back-to-back threes, putting the game out of reach.

“We had a big lead going into halftime but Coach said to stay hungry,” Steward said. “He said, ‘Don’t be happy and content.’ We always say our first four minutes have to be the best, at the beginning of the game and coming out in the second half. I feel like we really executed in the second half coming out, so that was great for us.”

Duke limited Clemson below 30 percent shooting in the first half, holding the Tigers to 22 points. For the game, Clemson shot just over 35 percent, while Duke had seven steals.

“We were locked in,” Steward said. “I feel like it started with J-Gold (Jordan Goldwire) pressuring the ball really well, and it just really carried over. We were getting body stops, we were bodying up on them, boxing them out. We were just doing everything right in the first half on defense.”

Duke looks to continue on its roll after starting the season 5-5.

“Our work ethic has been crazy in practice,” Steward said. “So it’s not very surprising that we’re finally coming along and we’re playing together well. We’re just going to keep playing hard, keep practicing hard, just doing what we do, and wins are going to come. … This is definitely our launching pad. I feel like this was a great win for us. That’s a really good team in Clemson. We’ve just got to continue. We can’t go to Miami and not play hard. [We have to] be aggressive and do what we did today. We’ve just got to keep it going.”

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