Somber Duke Locker Room Discusses Wake Forest Loss
Duke players were short on answers during a somber post-game locker room following the Blue Devils’ loss to Wake Forest on Tuesday.
“I just wasn’t finishing today, really,” center Vernon Carey said after a 10-point effort. “I just had to be more physical, and I wasn’t, I felt like.”
Point guard Tre Jones had 24 points, but a turnover late in regulation cost Duke a chance to win at the buzzer.
“We didn’t make the right plays at the end,” he said, “and let them back into it. … In double overtime, they got the lead and put us away.”
Jack White didn’t get much playing time in the game and has been out of the rotation in recent games, but the senior captain shared his thoughts on what he saw.
“We’ve got to win that game at the end of the day,” he said, “but s*** happens.”
Duke has 16 turnovers, including two crucial ones in the final minute of regulation.
“You’ve got to treat each possession as serious as the next,” White said. “You’ve control what you can control. Ultimately, you’ve got to fight, be hungry and win. That’s really it.”
White cautioned his young teammates not to get too down.
“I mean, you’ve just got to keep your head up,” he said. “As much as this s*** sucks, it’s only one game, at the end of the day. We can’t be walking around with our heads low just over one game, as s***y as it is. You’ve got to move on. Just like if you win, you’ve got to move on. If you lose like this, you’ve got to move on. You can’t get caught up in highs and lows of the season. Just got to move on. Be better.”
