Jordan Goldwire: We Had to Come Out and Play Harder Than Them
After losing by 22 earlier in the week, Duke knew what was required against Virginia Tech in the next game.
“We knew what we had to do,” guard Jordan Goldwire said. “We had to come out and play hard harder than them and try to get back into the winning column. We just had the focal point of just trying to be hungry.”
Duke managed to do that, leading from the very outset on its way to an 88-64 win over the Hokies.
Goldwire had seven points on 3-of-6 shooting, with six rebounds—which tied for his season high—four assists—which tied for team high—and no turnovers. Goldwire has scored seven or more in each of his last four games, after doing it just five times in the first 23.
Goldwire also helped key Duke’s pressure defense which produced 17 fast break points and 11 points off turnovers against the Hokies.
“Definitely a focal point for us was to come out and try to play stronger, play harder, be physical, get back to how we were playing before Wednesday’s loss,” he said.
Unlike Wednesday’s road game, Duke had the home crowd to help lift it on Saturday against Tech.
“There’s no other feeling like it than when Cameron starts going crazy,” Goldwire said. “You’ve got the crowd on your side, and you feel like you cant miss a shot. That’s how it feels to have that crowd behind us and to play like that.”
Goldwire said the team learned a valuable lesson from the loss.
“It was definitely a wake-up call,” he said. “We didn’t come out Wednesday and play hard. We didn’t defend. We didn’t run our offense well. It was definitely a lesson learned. We’ve just got to move forward and keep going like we did today.”
