What Duke coach Jon Scheyer said after Elite Eight win over Alabama

NEWARK, N.J. – No. 2-seed Alabama lost to 1-seed Duke, 85-65, on Saturday night in the Elite Eight of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. After advancing to the Final Four, Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer spoke to reporters at the Prudential Center. Here is everything he said.

*** Editor’s Note: Quotes are courtesy of ASAP Sport.

JON SCHEYER: San Antonio sounds great. I mean, look, first, couldn’t be more excited and happy for these guys to my left. I think Tyrese and I, the feeling of losing last year at this point, every decision we made, everything we did was to get back here and then have the team have the opportunity to advance to the promised land. To go to San Antonio, to go to the Final Four.

Couldn’t be more proud of the team as a whole. Their attitudes the whole season, from day one, I think this group has been different. They make fun of me. I keep telling them, don’t change. Don’t change, keep being them.

I thought the story tonight against an incredible offense — and Nate does an amazing job with their offense and the way they play, it’s like nobody else. To hold them to 65 points is incredible. Watching them play the other night, they score 113, 25 threes.

I think the biggest thing for us was not to take the bait of getting so spread. Youngblood, Sears and Holloway had 21 of the 25 threes. We want to use our length and size, and these guys did an incredible job. Couldn’t be more proud.

I’m going to shut up. I’m going to let you talk to these guys, and then you’re stuck with me afterwards for a little bit. But couldn’t be more proud.

Q. Jon, what did you think of the Prudential Center as a host, and what do you think of them as a potential future host for this?

JON SCHEYER: I thought it was good. I thought the crowd was great. I think selfishly when you get a chance to get back to the northeast, you see a lot of Duke fans, which is amazing. But just the entire setup, everybody here, the help, professionals, it was first class here.

Q. You’re led here by your freshmen. The mentality might be an issue because this is a stage that they’ve never played at before. Is that a little bit of a nagging doubt that you have in your mind, and if it isn’t, what about, say, Kon, Khaman, and Cooper really makes them stand out from that perspective?

JON SCHEYER: I think if you were around them every day, you wouldn’t have doubt yourself. I’m not saying you do, by the way. I’m just saying for me, they’re mature. Age is just a number. And obviously it’s different to have three freshmen starting. What, tonight we played five freshmen on a team that’s going to a Final Four. I think for our program, we’ve always thought about doing things differently.

I think the key to this team, one is you bring in the right people as freshmen, but then you have great balance. Tyrese is a junior. Caleb coming back. Sion, Mason, Maliq, that balance is huge.

I think that was really important for us in the off-season to add that in addition to really mature freshmen who are loose, confident, competitive and not fazed by this environment.

Q. At one point I think early to mid-February, Caleb kind of fell out of the rotation. What is it about him that kept him focused, kept him engaged, and how big of a lift did he give to you night in the first half?

JON SCHEYER: Caleb was huge tonight. And to your point, look, this thing is an evolution, and the year hadn’t gone the way that Caleb or I had both hoped. But I think the most important thing was our dialogue throughout of just ultimately wanting him to help the team the best that he could, him having an incredible attitude, his family allowing us to coach him.

I had great confidence in him because he had been stringing together some really competitive, good games. Tonight his minutes were huge. He had a couple baskets, but the three assists, the defense, I couldn’t be more proud of him. And that’s part of what makes this thing special, too, is the relationship to be able to hang tough when things aren’t going as well.

Q. Coach, you followed one of if not the greatest college basketball coaches of all time. With that history comes the pressure of legacy, and legacies begin to take shape in the round you just advanced to. Were there moments where you reflected on the pressure that might come following a legacy like Coach K, and if so, what are the emotions after a win like tonight?

JON SCHEYER: Well, look, as I was going through the interview process, I did my homework. When you look at successions, very rarely is this thing — do people succeed following — Coach K is one of one, but following a legendary or a great coach.

I’ll tell you, for me, a huge thing was having that year, though. For Coach K to be able to have the vision — I don’t know how many coaches genuinely want to see the program succeed when they leave. And for me, I’ve always wanted to make him proud. Part of his legacy isn’t just the wins. I want his legacy to be how our program continues to be right there as a top program, and that’s something Coach K and I have talked a lot about.

So obviously there’s a responsibility you feel and a pride. But this hasn’t been about outside noise for me because it’s just — I don’t know if you can ever win. So my energy has gone into everybody that’s in our building, our team, what we can control.

And I just couldn’t be more proud and thankful for having a group that’s believed in me, us, the support from our administration, just down the line, has been incredible.

I’m really proud of the people that have believed in me and us to get to a Final Four.

Q. How do you plan on getting your team ready for the Final Four while your players are there for the first time, you’re there for the first time? How do you plan or getting your players ready?

JON SCHEYER: You know what, I’m already thinking about it up here, and I have to remind myself I should enjoy this tonight and we’ll have time to do that. We’ll find out tomorrow who we play. Either way, I know it’s going to be an absolute battle and a great game.

How can we continue to be us with different distractions and different environment? And so that’s up to us to help as a coaching staff. But I know our guys will be excited and up for the challenge.

Q. In previous games this season when teams have done a good job against Alabama’s three-point shooting, they usually get a lot of mileage out of pick-and-roll action. That really didn’t happen tonight. Can you speak to your interior defense on that topic?

JON SCHEYER: Well, for me, look, Sears is one of the best players — obviously one of the best pick-and-roll players, as well. We have a luxury to have a guy with Khaman where he can really play different coverages. We have a 7’2″ guy switching onto one of the best guards in the country, and he’s doing a pretty good job moving his feet. Same thing, we had him in a deep drop, as well, because just trying to protect our paint more and have our guards really fight over. And then Sherrell came in and hit two threes. So we had to change that.

But I think it’s a credit to our guys for not getting spooked by the 25 threes, because it can spook you where you’re so spread, but obviously where you still have to contest because they can go, like that. So I think it’s a credit to our guys.

I’m sure we’ll look back and we’re fortunate that they missed some open ones, as well. But really I think the versatility for our guys is a big thing for us.

Q. Obviously in the Elite Eight last year, Tyrese didn’t have one of his best games. What does it say about the redemption he was able to get today playing the way he did compared to 365 days ago?

JON SCHEYER: I think that’s part of what college basketball is all about. Unfortunately I know in my playing career, coaching career, there’s — I failed before succeeding. Again, I don’t want to call Elite Eight a failure. Elite Eight is a special thing to be in this game.

But for Tyrese in that moment, I think the maturity that he’s shown, his preparation throughout the summer. And we focused a lot of what we do on being ready to be at your best when your best is required. And this isn’t a best out of seven. It’s a one game shot you have at this.

So a lot of our focus is preseason, summer. During the year has been about winning the mental game, winning the preparation, winning the energy you put into these moments.

Q. Where are you most pleased with Kon’s development throughout the season that then got him ready to step up on a big stage tonight, especially with Cooper not shooting the ball the way you guys are accustomed to?

JON SCHEYER: Well, I think for us, we have multiple weapons, and different teams play us different ways. So depending on matchups, depending on the coverages we’re seeing, for me, I feel very confident. Obviously there’s a three-headed monster with Cooper, Kon and Tyrese. Sion is such a connector, Khaman is such a connector for us, as well.

But to have their — the different actions we ran for each of them — I think with Kon, his versatility is huge for us, and his size. He’s able to pass. He’s able to finish. You feel he’s always going to get off a good look because he has great pivots in the paint and great patience.

Again, a lot of times you have the second defender on him because the best defender usually is guarding Cooper. So I think for us, just understanding how different teams play us.

It’s a luxury for me, though, really having four guys on the floor you can put the ball in their hands, you trust they’re going to make good decisions, and they can get us into offense. I think that’s an incredible luxury to have.

Q. You got a few more minutes out of Maliq tonight. Can you talk about what you saw from him tonight and how he is looking heading into the Final Four?

JON SCHEYER: Yeah, so look, it’s an incredible thing what Maliq did, to make himself available for these two with games. The intention was not to play him again. And there was just that moment, Pat picked up the two, I thought it was a long game for Khaman, and Maliq came in and just gave us a good lift.

We need to get him right this week. That’s the main thing, just to get him stronger, more stability as much as possible. It’s not going to be what he or I would hope, of course, but I think another week will do him a lot of good.

But I’m thankful for him for just his attitude and being available. But we need to get him stronger, healthier, and I think I’m more confident in what he can do next weekend.

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