Duke is on the cusp of reaching the Final Four of the NCAA Tournament last season with Mike Krzyszewski. Duke gutted Texas Tech’s best offense in the second half, scoring 1.53 points for possession in Thursday’s 78–73 Sweet 16 win. Arkansas is in Duke’s path. Duke’s stars joined Krzhizhevsky Wendell Moore Jr. as well as Paolo Bankero to view Saturday’s Elite Eight clash.
Duke’s offense was a big problem against Texas Tech, but a key defensive move also helped Duke a lot. Krzyzewski and the Duke players agreed to switch to zone defense, which helped slow down Texas Tech’s attack.
“I mean, it was really just a conversation,” Moore said. “For us, it was just a dump. All five knew we needed to stop. The zone was going great for us, but we just realized they were a couple of buckets late and we wanted to finish the game with our defense. “All year we hung our hats on our individual defense. We knew we needed a stop. All five guys just came together and the coach trusted us. He trusted us enough that we could do what we wanted to do. mind, it paid off.”
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Here’s what Krzyzewski, Moore and Banchero had to say at the press conference ahead of the Elite Eight vs. Razorbacks matchup.