Player Postgame Quotes
Syracuse vs. LeMoyne
November 7, 2007
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, NY
Eric Devendorf
On the season ahead:
“The BIG EAST is a grind-it-out conference, you’ve got to be ready at all times. Obviously, with our schedule this year it’s a little bit tougher. It’s going to be a grind it out season, so be ready for anything.”
On the team’s performance tonight:
“We played real well tonight, we got up and down the floor and I think that’s what we want to do. We’re a real young team but we’re a real talented team and I think a lot of the talent showed tonight. “
“We have a lot of new faces on this team, and I think you saw tonight that we have a real talented team. When we play together, we play real well.”
On the importance of playing on the defensive end:
“Defense is coach’s number one priority, eventually we’re going to have to get out there on the defensive end. You can’t really strategize on the defensive end. It’s a lot of heart and you have to take pride in your defense and I think that’s what we did tonight.”
Arinze Onuaku
On what changed from game vs. Saint Rose
“We watched the film and we learned a lot. We want to focus on defense. Coach keeps talking to us about the defensive part of it. We can score points. You saw tonight we scored over 100, so our focus needs to be on the defensive end.”
“Offense and defense, we want more chemistry. As we play with each other, we learn our spots and where others like the ball.”
Paul Harris
On how well the freshmen played:
“The freshmen were lighting it up. Donte’ Greene, he does what he does, shoots the ball and plays terrific. I hope that continues as the season goes on. “
On his chemistry with Jonny Flynn:
“That’s Jonny – I try to throw him the alley-oop and he tries doing something special with it. I just can’t wait for the rest of the season and I hope the fans are ready to see that.”
On what tonight meant:
“That’s the kind of game we needed going into the regular season games. You need to see everybody smiling and everyone getting in the game, getting touches. With the starters on the bench the second half, it’s good to let the second string get in there and do well… they played like they were the first string. “
Donte’ Greene
On making progress:
“There’s always something to work on, we’re not a great team. There’s always something to work on. Right now it’s our defense because our offense is going to come. Coach Boeheim is stressing defense, and that’s what we’re going to work on. “
On defense in the paint:
“We’ve got to protect the paint, not letting them get lay-ups. They had 15 buckets in the first half, 11 of them were lay-ups, so we really have to cut down on that. “
On the promise of a highly-touted freshmen class:
“We’re young, but we’re very talented. Myself, Rick, Jonny and Scoop were all top 50 players coming in, we’re not slouches. We come, we work hard, we’re ready to play and we’re going to bring it back to the ‘Cuse.”
“We’ve played with each other over the summers, so we had chemistry before we got here. Now it’s just putting it together with everyone else and coming together as a team and try to go back to the tournament.”