Paolo Banchero reveals Duke mentality entering crunch time

Sunday’s NCAA Tournament second-round matchup between No. 2 seeded Duke and No. 7 Michigan State didn’t disappoint – by any means. In a matchup between two of the most storied programs – and head coaches – in the history of college basketball, Mike Krzyzewski’s Blue Devils were able to outlast Tom Izzo’s Spartans for a 85-76 win.

While Duke is now headed to the Sweet 16 in Coach K’s final season at the helm of the program, there were times Sunday when it looked like Krzyzewski could be coaching his last game. Michigan State put together a strong performance and tested the Blue Devils, but the higher-seeded club ultimately made more plays down the stretch to come out on top.

Following Duke’s win over Michigan State, Blue Devils’ star Paolo Banchero – who scored 19 points and grabbed seven rebounds – met with the media for his postgame press conference and was asked about the team’s mentality as they entered crunch time against the Spartans with their season on the line.

“I mean, it’s the NCAA Tournament,” Banchero said. “The season’s on the line every single game. So I mean, that’s really all that needs to be said. We knew that. We got down. We were in the timeout, and we were just like, look, we got three – I think it was like 3:40-something or four minutes. We were like, man, we got four minutes. We can either lay down, or we can turn it up.

“That’s really all it was, man. Just fighting, like you said, having heart and just trusting each other, really.”

Following Duke’s win over Michigan State, Coach K’s team is now set for a Sweet 16 matchup with No. 3 Texas Tech on Thursday night at the Chase Center in San Francisco. Tipoff is scheduled for 9:39 p.m. ET on CBS with an Elite Eight trip on the line.