SU Player Quotes vs. Northeastern
SU Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. Northeastern
November 15, 2006
Carrier Dome-Syracuse, N.Y.
Senior forward Terrence Roberts
On his performance:
“I just wanted to do my best defensively. Coach got on me early in the game and I went and got two wide open jump shots. We got off to a slow start, but we came right back and we worked really hard as a team. I think some of the younger guys like (freshman forward) Paul Harris stepped in and he played like a real role player, a real back-up player and that’s what we need.”
On Paul Harris’ performance:
“Paul brings tremendous energy to our team. Besides me and (sophomore guard) Eric Devendorf, Paul Harris brings an enormous amount of energy on both ends of the court and that’s what we needed to really get going tonight and he did it consistently.”
On winning the game:
“I just wanted to do whatever I could defensively and rebounding wise to get my team to win. We had four guards out there so there was really no need to push the ball down low. It was a team effort; I’m not going to take total credit.”
Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf
On his shooting from the outside:
“Last year, we really didn’t get to show all of our players that could shoot the ball. A lot of them didn’t get that much time, but now (sophomore forward) Andy Rautins is showing that he can really shoot the ball, (junior guard) Josh Wright hit a couple and (freshman forward) Mike Jones played well. We can shoot the ball and if we can do that consistently every game, we’re going to be in good shape.”
On the second half run:
“I think we kind of came out sluggish, but then we saw we were down 15 points and we had to make a run. We picked up our intensity on defense, had a couple of steals, a few buckets and we took it from there.”
On Paul Harris’ dunk:
“I’ve seen Paul do that millions of times in pick-up games and in practice so it’s nothing new to me, but it was a great play.”
Freshman guard Paul Harris:
On his dunk:
“It does really mean a lot because its gives the crowd something to get going. You don’t want to have 19,000 people just sitting in their chairs. You want to have them cheering for you and that’s what they were doing.”
On his level of comfort:
“I’m just trying to get better every game. Coach told me to stop settling for jumpers. I only took one today. He still looked at to get to the hole, so ever since then I was just trying to go to the hole and get the rebound. I’m making progress. I’m not at my best yet. I think about mid-season I’ll be OK. I’m just getting better and we’re getting better as a team. We have to work on our defense a lot. We had about 18 turnovers and we can’t do that come BIG EAST time.”
“A lot of people don’t see why I don’t start. I say that it’s no big deal. When I come in I’m just going to play with energy no matter when I get in. I’m not one of these people that has to start. You just play hard and I’m going to play hard no matter when I get in.”
On college basketball after four games:
“I’m getting more comfortable, but I still have a lot to learn. I played pretty good today, but I’m still going to go tomorrow and watch tape with coach Hopkins and he’s going to show me a couple of things I did wrong. I’m still going to get better as the season comes along. If we want to win national championships we have to keep working hard and keep practicing hard. My weakness is my jump shot. I can’t just go out there and settle for jump shots. I have to get to the hole and find out how to find open shooters like Andy Rautins, Eric Devendorf and (senior forward) Demetris Nichols.”
