Syracuse Coach and Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. Manhattan, NCAA First Round
Friday, March 21, 2003
Fleet Center, Boston, Mass.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
On the game:
"Manhattan is a difficult team to play. They throw a lot of different defenses at you. They do a great job of changing up and trying to force you into errors. We had a lot of turnovers in the first half. We were a little bit better in the second half. Carmelo did a good job of getting the ball up the court. I thought this was just one of those games where you have to find a way to hang in there and survive. We did just that, survive. This first game is always a difficult game to get by and I thought our young players handled it pretty well."
On sophomore forward Hakim Warrick's play after being ill:
"I came this close to not playing him at all. He didn't practice the last three days. My experience has been when guys don't get to practice they don't play well. At the start of the game he let Flores have an open three. At halftime I was about 80-20 that I was not going to play him. He's a very important part of our team, especially in a game like this against a smaller team like this where he can take advantage down low. He had a 101 temperature for three days but it broke last night. In the second half I thought he got going. He made a couple of mistakes but he was very fortunate to make those two free throws because he was coming out if he didn't make them. But then he got going and got 10 points. He missed two or three layups in a row but that's just not playing and not practicing. He's an important part of our team. He's really been there all year for us. Hopefully he'll be able to get stronger and eat again. He lost about 10 pounds, which is 40 more than he can afford to lose."
On freshman guard Billy Edelin:
"In the first half they went to that man-to-man and he kept getting to the basket. He gets to the basket probably as well as any point guard we've had. He's very strong and he's very good off the dribble. People are so concerned with the play of Carmelo and Gerry and Hakim that there was a lane there. Josh Pace was terrific in the first half. He got to that basket area and made some big, big baskets. As Carmelo said, he was probably looking a little too much for the jump shot in the first half. Josh and Billy really took advantage and kept us in the game. I thought Josh was terrific in the first half. Billy is a power player. When he gets to that basket area, he's a finisher. It's been a tough two years for him. He's no where near the player that I think he is, but when you don't play for a year and a half it's tough. So he's actually playing better than we could have hoped for."
On team coming together:
"I think we've been difficult to read all year. We're in every game, but I guess that's good news and bad news because we're in EVERY game. We're certainly not strong enough and experienced enough to put people away. We could have put Manhattan away a couple times today, but I think that's inexperience. We're good enough when we get it going. We have a lot of players and different guys who can score. Sometimes we play our best when Carmelo doesn't score a lot. I think we're a good enough team, but I watched the tournament yesterday and there are a lot of good enough teams out there. A lot of teams are pretty good. That's college basketball."
Freshman forward Carmelo Anthony
On Manhattan:
"Manhattan is a scrappy team. They left it all out on the court and they stuck with it until the end."
On Manhattan freshman Kenny Minor:
"He was scrappy, along with Flores. It was just a tough team that was everywhere on the court. Every time we beat one, another was there."
On his perimeter shooting in the first half:
"All day, everyone was telling me to take advantage of the height that I had on them."
Senior guard Kueth Duany
On the game:
"They played a great game and started out competitive. We just played our hearts out both teams."
On SU's three freshmen:
"Just like they have been doing it all year long, they are coming up with big plays, making big shots. Carmelo, he just does everything: gets big rebounds, playing on defense, scoring. Gerry (McNamara) is making big shots. (He) was really consistent all game. Billy (Edelin) was consistent all day."
On surviving the first game:
"That is the most important thing in the tournament is to win and basically to survive in the tournament as much as possible."
