March 9, 2001

Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski
"This was a tough game for us, especially coming off the North Carolina win and now the reality of Carlos not being with us. We knew that State would be dangerous, especially on the boards. We did a good job of staying kind of even on the boards. Our guard play was excellent. Probably the key to the whole ballgame was Reggie Love. We were ready to play and they knocked us back with a different lineup. We were going to try to something different against their big lineup, but they started four perimeter players and they moved it down the court quickly. When Reggie came in, he gave us a big boost. He not only scored four points, but he was responsible for a couple of traps and loose balls that seemed to generate some easy baskets for us. We went up by six or seven and then after a timeout we got it to double digits. His play was unbelievably instrumental in the win, and it's good to see that people are coming off the bench and doing that for us. I thought Nate gave us a big boost tonight. That's the best he's played in a few weeks. We tried to shorten the game at the end and save some possessions to pace ourselves and hopefully play three days here.

"I thought Casey played well. He was a presence and he blocked some shots. They kept going small, then big, so Reggie took Matt Christensen's minutes today. We're real encouraged about Carlos and we're hoping that we'll get him back soon.

[More on Nate James] "He's had a terrific year, worthy of third-team all-conference. He earned that, but in the last couple of weeks, he hasn't played to that level. He's a human being, he just hasn't played to that level. Tonight I thought he made a big step toward becoming the old Nate, and we need that.

[Black uniforms] "I was hoping we'd avoid that. There's an intramural team playing with them [white uniforms] in Durham right now. We don't have them here. They were left with our warm-ups in Durham and we found out about it just before the game. I waited for Herb before the game. I know NC State has black uniforms also, and I thought, This will be the time NC State that they'll be black and we're going to have to get some white shorts and t-shirts to play. We weren't trying to make a fashion statement. It was a faux pas. Our managers do a great job, but we just told the team, forget it, we all make mistakes. Herb was great. He said, Don't worry, you don't have to wear your underwear.

Shane Battier, Duke Forward
[On becoming winningest ACC player] "First of all it says that I've played with great teammates. I'd love to take single credit for 123 wins, but I've been blessed to have the best coach in basketball and some of the best teammates. It isn't something you do overnight. It's really a product of four years of putting out consistent effort. This could be the most special moment I can share with my team that I've achieved."

"Initially there was a shock that Carlos wasn't going to be there, and a very brief period where we might have been unsure of ourselves. The day after Carlos got hurt and Casey was inserted into the lineup, we saw that we were still a really good team. It's been more people outside the program who have predicted our demise. We've stayed pretty confident this whole time, and the last two games have reaffirmed that we still have a lot of talent and great coaching and we're in a position to do some things in the postseason.

Jason Williams, Duke Guard
"The only thing that goes through my mind is defense, getting stop after stop. That's the most important thing. Scoring will take care of itself, especially with our team. The main thing we'd like to do is keep getting stops on defense, because if we keep getting stops, we'll be on a big run."

NC State head coach Herb Sendek
"The two previous times we played Duke, especially when we played in Cameron, they really knocked us on our heels. They tend to do that with their pressure defense that creates turnovers and transition opportunities. So we really decided we'd play our 'good hands' team, so to speak, to diminish the possibility of starting the game with a flurry of turnovers. We also felt like, in terms of trying to defend them, it gave us the best chance in terms of matchups with the way they exploit the three-point shot and the dribble penetration."

[On Duke's smaller lineup, playing without Carlos Boozer] "They're a terrific team either way. They've proven that over the course of the last week or so. Everyone knew they were a terrific team previously and I don't think they've missed a beat. Obviously Carlos Boozer is an integral part of their team and he's a great player. I can't speak for them, but I'm pretty sure I can get this one right: They'd much rather have him than not have him."

Damien Wilkins, NC State Forward
" I don't think it's all about what they did. I think it's a lot about what we didn't do. We didn't take care of the ball well throughout the whole game. We didn't rebound as well as we're capable of. We didn't finish well around the basket. If we do those things better than we did them, maybe the outcome would have been different."