On dreams of playing in NCAA Tournament
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JUSTICE SHOATS: It's been great so far. We're just settling in. Got a practice in yesterday. Going to get a practice in today. We're just feeling it out. It's a great experience so far. So, yeah, we're loving it.
GAVIN DOTY: First off, I just want to start by giving God all the glory. How blessed we are to be in this position. It's a surreal feeling, something you dream of since you were a little boy. Just to finally be here and get down here and get to work, it feels great.
On what strikes them most about Duke on film
BRENDAN COYLE: I would say just their physicality that they play with. They're a very physical, athletic team. We're going to have to do a good job taking care of the ball, not turning it over, and getting good rebounding. They're a very good offensive rebounding team. So just emphasizing taking care of the ball and rebounding.
RILEY MULVEY: They just go through a couple of guys mainly and it's just going to be stopping them, and making sure they, whenever we get a shot that we want to get the rebound, just like BC said, we need to take care of it and be strong.
On why they can be the next No. 16 seed to defeat a No. 1 seed
BRENDAN COYLE: I think our ability to defend the ball. I think we did a good job in the MAC tournament showing how we defend the ball and really shutting teams down. You combine that with a large amount of confidence in ourselves as a group to go out and perform. The capability on any given night for these guys to go out and score double figures. I think, when you put it all together, we have a really good team with a lot of confidence going into this tournament of why not us?
RILEY MULVEY: I think what BC is saying confidence-wise, we all have confidence in each other too, not just ourselves. We believe in everybody on the court to do everything. There's never a moment where it's like can't go in. Every shot that we take can always go in. Everybody can defend everybody on the court. We just believe in each other.
We've come in with so much professionalism that we've had the entire year, and we're going to keep going and keep being our best selves.
On dealing with the nerves of playing the No. 1 team in the country
FRANCIS FOLEFAC: Just taking it day by day. We try to prepare -- I feel like we prepare as much as anybody in the country. We have a great coaching staff that provides us with great scouts and help us figure out what we need to do on the court offensively and defensively and just playing together.
GAVIN DOTY: Just taking it all in. I mean, Duke's a whole different beast. They're probably the best team in the country. We're going to have to be really connected. We're going to have to guard really well, knock down some shots, but got to believe. You really do.
On Gavin Doty's sense of confidence
GAVIN DOTY: I would say the guys in the locker room and the coaching staff. They do a phenomenal job, through the scout, the preparation through film. We work really hard and get a lot of shots. Seeing these guys to my right and left here, I have full confidence in these guys.
BC, he could be the next white boy who goes in and knocks down a bunch of shots. Francis is a beast. Mulvey is a dog and Zip is on the best point guards in the country. I believe in everybody down the line here.
On playing for Gerry McNamara
JUSTICE SHOATS: I don't know about any stories, but he's definitely a great coach. Gerry and I are from the same area. We play the same way. We're both competitive, and we both want to win. It just shows throughout the whole season, what we did, what we accomplished, everything we've been through, adversity.
I'm proud of this group and what we did, and I know what we could do. He's a great guy, and I'm glad he's able to coach us in everything he did this year. All these guys next to me, I'm glad I was able to play with them as well, and it's going to show.
On importance of getting off to a good start
RILEY MULVEY: With the team that we're playing, we're going to need to get off to a good start because there's not going to be much margin for error in this game. Usually there isn't much, but we've got to take it to the next level and play our best in this game throughout the entire 40 minutes.
On taking his defense to another level
RILEY MULVEY: It could play a huge factor. It just depends if I can do what I did in the conference championship, get five blocks again, that would be a big upside. Then I have to make sure I grab every rebound down low that we need because, whenever we force a miss, we have to get the rebound, because they're a great offensive rebounding team. So we need to play to the standard.
This article originally appeared on Duke Wire: Everything Siena players said ahead of matchup against Duke