Shelden Williams Quotations

We felt like we were getting good shots and open looks. They fed me the ball early, and they started seeing I was getting the ball in the hole. I kept getting more and more looks.

We both know two guys can't do this thing by themselves.

We knew they were a team that wasn't going to go away. They saw that scoreboard and saw they were only down a few points.

We're a team, me and him, ... We take the weight and onus on our backs every game. If he's not doing something I'll take it up for him and I know he'll be there whenever I need him.

Maybe he's thinking too much about his shot and his moves, but I don't see that happening in the Tournament. I think he'll be re-motivated and be the player he has been for us.

I found it unnecessary, and that's why I jumped back up. It's part of the game.

I don't think we're feeling any added pressure, we always have pressure, anyway, because we have a Duke uniform on. But it's something we always wanted. We feel like we have as good a chance as anybody to do that.

Fortunately I think we're standing up to the pressure right now. Hopefully we can keep on doing what we're doing for the remainder of the year.

He has a little more of a swagger when he plays against me. I hope that he can become more consistent and take that to the court against whomever he is playing.

He missed a few shots early, but he came up big for us in the second half. When you miss shots, you have to keep shooting. He missed a lot of shots that usually go in. In the end, it was the same old J.J.

We've got to regroup and rebuild. We kind of have to analyze things. We're still 14-2 in the conference, so we still did a pretty good job. Our two losses just came at the end.

Hopefully, we can win out the rest of the league games and end with a special ACC season.

I think we responded well. We came out here as a mature team.

I saw him throw the elbow the first time, so I tried to go in a little closer to see if he'd do it again. He did it again.

People have different paths in life. Quincy's led him to a different place. What matters is how you play.

Some of the guards were allowing their man to get past them to help me out with the triple-double because I've been close a couple of times. So I've got to give credit to my guards, I guess.

That block gave us a lot of confidence. We got rolling from there, making our free throws and taking our time. That was a momentum changer. (Cedric)'s a good basketball player. I see a lot of potential in him. He has a bright future ahead of him.

I think I am going to be getting more extended minutes coming up this weekend, I am starting to feel better,

I think I've evolved because I'm more than just a shot blocker. I've been involved in those plays where I'm not just the last line of defense. I can also go in and get steals and play perimeter defense.

I thought it was an unnecessary foul, and that's why I kind of jumped back up like that. But that's part of the game, and you've got to fight through stuff like that.

We came out, and we played like we knew we could play. Everybody responded well, and we came out and played like a mature team. Virginia Tech is good - they fight to the end of every game.

We haven't had a close game in a while and we let up a bit. We weren't strong with the ball late. We gave them a turnover. We had to regroup and concentrate in the final minutes.

We came here today trying to rekindle our swagger and play like we know how we can play.

We can't look back and say we only went past the Sweet 16 one time. This is a different team, and this is a team that we think can do something special.

We knew last year things were going to be kind of hard for us to win a national championship because of our depth problems. But this year we have higher expectations and hopefully, we can gel right away and get on a roll.

Both teams are trying to establish themselves as a top team in the country.

We have to do a good job playing defense on their guards and not allow them to penetrate.

With J.J. having nights like that, I can't be upset about being overshadowed.

It was a long, dog-fight game, and it was just a battle the whole 45 minutes.

I wanted to come out here and make a point and kind of redeem myself. I set the tone early. Having our shooters go out there and shooting 3s kind of opened up the middle for me.

Defense is something that we need to be more consistent on and something that we're still working on. Some players are still young and they're trying to grasp the intensity on the defensive end.

That took its toll toward the end of the season. This year we have a lot more guys to give us depth. If we give these guys experience early on, they'll be there for us later.

They're a really good team. We know that going into their place they're going to be really up for us, and it's going to be a dogfight for 40 minutes.

It wasn't serious basketball. We just put on a show for the fans.

It's a great disappointment the way we lost.

It's only annoying if you have something to hide. It's no problem for me. I don't have anything to hide. Being tested is I guess a walk in the park.

It's going well so far. He needs to be consistent on playing defense and rebounding. I think he's picking it up now.

It's something that we've been doing all along. If he gets started, I get started after that. Or if I get started, he'll get started from the outside.

They were a very hungry team. A team like that, playing like that -- I hope they play like that for the rest of the season.

Once I quit helping so much, I was able to play him more one-on-one. That worked better. I felt he was a great player. I see a lot of upside for him.

I'm my biggest critic. I knew I hadn't played well in the last game. I wanted to make a point and redeem myself. That's one thing I did. I set the tone early and my teammates responded to that and we all played well together.

I knew from the first time I started playing this game, when my dad taught me to be a defensive player, that defense is not something as glorified. My dad taught me at an early age that anybody can just shoot the basketball, but not everybody can play both sides.

I'm more comfortable in the post now, ... Plenty of times last season I'd try to do moves without even thinking about what the defense was giving me. Now I'm slowing down, making moves off of the double team instead of just trying to bulldog my way through the defense.

I had a lot of unfinished business here at Duke University.

He threw the elbow the first time, so I just tried to go in there and get in him a little bit more to see if he'd do it again. Of course, he did it again, and I took the charge.

He's an incredible player. Somebody that size, who moves as well as he does, it's just amazing to watch. I know it's going to be a very physical game in the low post throughout the whole course of the game. I know we both are prepared for that, and hopefully we'll play the game without any injuries going on.

If I see my teammates getting beat, they can trust that I'm there for a last line of defense. Being there to help them out is a great feeling.

I couldn't give any help-side defense. They kind of have a similar style to N.C. State, where I'm guarding the high post for the majority of the game. That's one of the things that can allow a lot of backdoor stuff.

He's one of the big aspects of our team.

The kind of team they are, we knew they were not going to give up on our big lead. I guess we let up a little bit.