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ATLANTIC COAST CONFERENCE MEN'S TOURNAMENTMarch 15, 2013Mark TurgeonDezmine WellsGREENSBORO, NORTH CAROLINA Maryland: 83 COACH TURGEON: Obviously I'm really happy. We had a lot of guys play well. You know, I thought the difference was we came out of the gate and Duke wasn't themselves at the start. We got up 12, 10 or 12 points, and our guys kept fightin', we got confidence from that. I thought our defense was phenomenal. We wanted Mason Plumlee to beat us and they missed some shots for us, too, you have to be good and to be lucky to beat a great team. We're a little bit of both. Just really proud of my kids. I've been saying since Georgia Tech, we're getting better, getting better, wasn't showing up in the win and losses, now in the last couple of days it's showed up. So I'm really happy for my guys. Watching them play tonight I think they fully expected to win that game and that's a good feeling when you have such a young basketball team to play on such a big stage in such a big game and to play with the poise that they played tonight. Q. Mark, you got Dez eligible for the start of the season, and he's helped you a lot over the last couple of games and how much has he grown and how much has that meant to this team get to go a point where it could do some damage here? COACH TURGEON: I had to learn how to coach Dez, didn't have him all summer. Last year Dez had two guards that did everything and he stood there and got it or they threw a lob to him. Now he's had to take a different role and as a coach you're trying to figure out your team and Dez has stepped up and Nick Faust has stepped up. I've been ridin' Nick all year, been on him, playing better as a defender and playing with poise. Happy for Dez, tonight was a big‑time performance and I'm happy for him. Two weeks ago he was 1 for 5 at the foul line, tonight he was 10 for 10, I didn't forget that and I know he didn't either, but we've been shootin' free‑throws and dialed in. Pretty focused tonight. Q. Dez, you said you grew up watching Jason Williams among other guys, how hard did Duke recruit you out of college and how does it feel to beat them? DEZ WELLS: I never heard from them, no recruitment letter or anything from Duke. That could be because there were a lot of players that were better than me in high school. A lot of people would consider me a "late bloomer," coach is a great coach, they have a great program, that tradition is huge, but I was going to do my best and give my best effort to whatever school I went to, and where David Mayer is, is where I'm at. Q. Coach, what does it mean for this huge rivalry for you guys to take the rubber game against Duke. There have been comments about David Mayer going to the Big 10 and for you guys to win on this stage? COACH TURGEON: This has nothing to do with a rivalry or not a rivalry, it's about building a program, okay? We came here two years ago and six guys, first day on the job, I didn't envision this to be honest at the end of the my second year. Dez didn't go through all the stuff I had to go through last year but for us to be such a great program, first time they've lost with Kelly, figured out how to do it, means a lot to my program. Whether it was Duke or whoever it was, it means a lot, it's great. It helps me with my fans, I know that. Q. Duke cut it to 1, you hit a free‑throw and then it was a 2‑point game and Mason Plumlee got called for the charge and you immediately went on a 17‑6 run. What's your memory of that run, what you did well? COACH TURGEON: Well, we defended well during that stretch. I just thought we kept guarding. The thing that we have had a hard time with is playing with any type of poise. You look at our first possession of the second half, after they scored, we came down, used the clock, got Jake a wide‑open three in the corner, we couldn't have done that three weeks ago. Guys would have dribbled off a knee or shot it or something. The guys executed a great game plan, guys kept making plays, we kept gettin' to the rim and we felt that was the only chance we had tonight, getting to the rim and of course we got to the foul line and made a lot of free‑throws. Q. Coach, you just said a minute ago "It was neat to figure out a way to beat Duke with Kelly that nobody else had done it." What did you figure out that you haven't seen others do? COACH TURGEON: Well, you know, maybe I'm trying to give myself too much credit. I'm not trying to do that, I apologize for that. My guys just played. Coach Spinelli, it was his scout, he said we got to switch 1 through 4 and I said I don't know if we can do that the whole game, but we stayed small and our small lineup worked. We've gotten better at our small lineup, we have added more offense and gotten better. Right now it's a good lineup for us. We switched, they missed some shots for us, I think our press kinda confused them early. Used 9, 10, 11, 12 seconds before they could get into their offense. Our guys played smart, they knew when to stay in the press, when to get out of it, when to switch, every adjustment we made in the game they did it right away. It's been a battle with this group so for them to do it is a good feeling. Q. Dez, you mentioned Duke's tradition, one of them is the floor slap where you're feeling frisky, where you do the floor slapped! How do you feel about your defense on them? DEZ WELLS: I was trying to energize my guys, and at that moment I was thinking we have to get a stop. I do whatever I have to do to get my guys pumped. No shots at Duke or anything like that, I just wanted to get my guys energized. Q. Mark, you have talked about different lineups for different match‑ups, it seemed this time with Jake Layman in there matching up with them, did it seem like you dictated things more than usually, that kind of stuff? COACH TURGEON: Whenever you're playing well you can dictate, when you're not playing well you can't dictate, it's easy to sit there and dictate when things are going well. We kept telling our guys we were built for Marchand a tournament run, Shaq' hardly played last night, tonight he had huge minutes and he guarded Mason Plumlee, tomorrow might be a whole different deal but we have practiced enough lineups where we feel comfortable playing any lineup that we have to play. It was a tough process, it was tough on these guys and we felt like we had to do it and we've gotten better at it. We're happy with the win, halfway home, though. Q. Mark, you guys seemed to be particularly animated and energetic on defense right away, and I saw your defenders were kinda clapping their hands, was that a way for you to come out and assert yourself defensively? COACH TURGEON: We played ‑‑ they missed some layups, kinda got us going and they make those layups might be a different outcome, they miss those, we're up 12‑2, they made a couple of runs at us, we may have folded a couple of weeks ago, we didn't fold today, we're growing up. Q. Mark, how have you walked the line with this team in wanting them to be confident in what they're doing and trying to draw them back away from some of the overaggressive turnovers and shots. COACH TURGEON: It's hard, it's really hard and Nick is tired of me saying be disciplined, under control, don't go crazy on me, Nick. I don't know how many times he's heard that but with that said, Nick is growing up. It's hard. It's hard, but you know what, they're figuring it out. The thing is, take me out of it, they're gaining confidence in each other and how they need to play to win. I'm just over there putting guys in but they're figuring it out as a group. They have respect for each other as people and now they're getting respect for each other as players and they're playing that way as a team. THE MODERATOR: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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