Duquesne Quotes
Sophomore Guard Jordan Price
On the hot start:
“It was very important. We knew that they were going to come out in a zone. That’s what we practiced again; our scout team prepared us very well. We knew what we were going to get and that’s the shots we took and we knocked them down today.”
Sophomore Guard Cleon Roberts
On the outside shooting:
“They were in a zone and we practice those shots every day against a zone. We prepare very well and our coaches help us to prepare for the zone.”
Senior Forward Jerrell Wright
On what they expected out of Duquesne:
“We treat every game the same. Coach did a great job preparing us as well as the scout team this week. We knew that we had to stop their shooters; we knew they had a lot of three-point shooters out there. I think we did a great job on defense stopping them from hitting outside threes.”
On transitioning the transfers into the program:
“Before they ever step on the court they are great people off of the court. We accept everybody, we knew that Cleon and Jordan came from different situations and that they would fit right in. Last year when they were on the scout team we knew they would be great fits for the starting lineup. This year they have gone out and done a wonderful job.”
Head Coach Dr. John Giannini
Opening statement:
“Duquesne gave UMass everything that they could handle. It was a tie game at UMass, a team that beat us twice this season, they were tied with UMass with four minutes remaining before UMass pulled it out. The game before that they were up double digits the whole way against George Washington. We knew this was a dangerous team. We played great, they didn’t look as good as they had the previous two games but they are a good team. We had a lot to do with them not playing as well as they did against UMass and George Washington.”
On the three-point shooting:
“Their zone is really good. One of the reasons it is really good is they take away the high post and low post, they take away cutters, frankly it’s pretty packed in. The teams that have struggled against them are hesitant to shoot threes or they don’t make them. There is a military saying that if you defend everything you defend nothing. If you try to do everything you might not do everything that well. What they are saying is you aren’t going to get the ball to the high post or the low post. You aren’t going to drive it on us. If you try to do some tricky stuff or set plays against their zone they are really good at that. What we talked about was to attack and pass and knock it down. Attack, pass and score. You have to make threes against them. Their zone is really good, unless you do make some threes.”
On the hot start:
“It was good. We knew what they were going to do. One of the reasons that we struggled early in the year is Jordan and Cleon and D.J., D.J. his sophomore year led the A-10 in three-point percentage, these guys are so unselfish we had to beg them to shoot until the last month. They’re such good shooters. They’re finally getting to be aggressive. They have been unselfish to a fault.”
On the upper classmen leadership:
“D.J., Steve, Rohan, Jerrell, they did an amazing job this offseason. We really worked hard this offseason. I have never had a team work harder. They have set the bar high for those guys. The reason we struggled in some games is we are just now getting better offensively. Those guys want to get back to the postseason. We aren’t giving up on that as a possibility. We are going to try to beat St. Louis and take it one at a time and see if we can’t get on a good long winning streak.”
On Jordan Price:
“He is a player who needed to improve his conditioning and his defense and the things that go into winning a basketball game. The thing he has never had to improve is his ability to score. A lot of times guys are fine with playing time and scoring but they might not win as much as they’re supposed to. The thing we have told Jordan since day one; I will mention the best players in history not just college. No one says Michael Jordan was a great scorer they say he was a great player. No one says Kobe is a great scorer, they say he is a great player. Those guys are all defense, they fill up the stat line, they get rebounds, they make their teammates better. Jordan has bought into that, hence he is passing the ball, hence he is rebounding, hence he is defending. He really wants to be good. That’s the best thing about Jordan. I take his offense for granted, yeah he is skilled but he works on it. A lot of that is talent but I am more about effort. When you combine talent with effort you can have a really special player and he wants to do that. I love that we have him for two more years and he keeps getting better. He can do really special things for this team and for himself because of that attitude that you mentioned.”
