SOUTH BEND, Ind. -- Following Duke's 87-74 win over Notre Dame Tuesday night, the men's basketball team was finally able to quiet the talk of "getting a monkey off its back."
And it was not a second too soon for acting head coach Pete Gaudet, whose Blue Devils broke a six-game losing streak with the victory. Duke improved its record to 10-8.
"I am not going to worry about monkeys on my back," Gaudet said after the game. "It's a great feeling to see these kids have the success that they deserve."
As senior Cherokee Parks said, "We just wanted to win. It didn't matter who it was against."
What made the difference in South Bend? Certainly, Duke's balanced offense, which scored effectively both from the inside and out, helped the cause. An even bigger key may have been that the team no longer had to concern itself with the uncertainty surrounding head coach Mike Krzyzewski's return.
Last Sunday, Coach K announced that he would miss the rest of the season to rehabilitate his ailing back.
"We've played without him for [six] games and we may as well get used to it," sophomore guard Jeff Capel said.
"I think [Sunday's announcement] helped," assistant coach Mike Brey said. "It eliminated a lot of distractions and questions that [the players] were getting about when he was coming back."
The Blue Devils said that they hope the win over Notre Dame will lead to bigger and better things for the team.
"Everybody has said that we need a win," Gaudet said. "Well, we've got our win. Let's see now what happens."
Said freshman Ricky Price: "I think we're still No. 1. We still have a chance. If we make it to the [NCAA] Tournament, of course we are going to be a contender. They used to call the Final Four the Duke Invitational, and I don't think there is any reason we can't make it."
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