Tre Jones: We Can't Stand Around Being Lazy on Offense

Lack of effort led to Pitt comeback on Tuesday

Sophomore point guard Tre Jones said that the team was still hurting from the death of Kobe Bryant..

“It’s been extremely tough on us,” he said after the Pitt game. “Everyone looked up to him. He was the idol for almost all the basketball players out there. It’s extremely tough, but just knowing he’s in a better place now, he’s around us, always watching, that’s really the good thing you can take from it.”

On the court, Jones was concerned about Pitt’s comeback on Tuesday. The Panthers cut an 18-point Duke lead to three.

“We had to get back to our offense,” he said. “I think we got a little bit tighter there on offense and started standing around, being lazy there on offense, not getting the shots we wanted. That led to them getting easy looks on their end, and that let them back in the game. Just getting back to our stuff on offense, getting the ball to Vernon (Carey) inside and working from there. Attacking.”

Carey, the team’s freshman center and leading scorer, is the key to Duke’s offense.

“I think (getting Carey the ball) is extremely huge for us,” Jones said. “That’s how we play. We’re going to play through him, because when he’s one-on-one down there, he’s not stoppable. When they’re helping off him, everyone else has to step up and make plays. We’ve just got to keep feeding off of each other.”

Jones leads Duke to Syracuse for a Saturday night game against the Orange at the Carrier Dome.