Justin Robinson: Senior Night Was "Storybook Ending"

Justin Robinson got his first career start on Senior Night, along with classmates Jack White and Javin DeLaurier. He had a big game, hitting 4-of-6 from three and scoring 13 points in Duke’s win over the Tar Heels.

“So it started with the defense,” he said. “Me and Jav knew we had to get the bigs. They had very talented bigs. We had to set the tone there. Then the shots fell. I’m excited. I’m a little tired right now, but it’s the best feeling. That’s a storybook ending to my life at Cameron.”

As a captain, Robinson wanted to make sure the team was looking forward to what’s next—the ACC Tournament, which starts for Duke next Thursday, and beyond that the NCAAs.

“That was the whole point of going through this,” he said. “Every game is a stepping stone to the future—the tournaments. Now we know we have to recover, rest up and then go into Greensboro ready to win.”

Robinson was asked to guard UNC’s Garrison Brooks, who is one of the top five scorers in the ACC. While Brooks scored 26 points, he was held in check for nearly seven minutes late in the game.

“He’s very talented,” Robinson said. “We just had to keep going at him. That was one of our big keys was the post defense—him and (Armando) Bacot—they’re obviously very talented players. He was scoring at will for a little bit, but we just had to keep bringing it to him, keep bodying up, keep trying to front him in the post. We picked up the defense on him in the last stretch.”

Prior to the game, Coach K gave his seniors advice on their start.

“He said to set the tone to start the game,” Robinson said, “when he told us we were going to start, especially defensively. We’re all veterans. We know what we’re supposed to be doing. We know the game plan. Just set the tone with our talk and our energy and then just to play free. Have fun.”

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