SU Player Quotes vs. St John's
SU Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. St. John’s
February 11, 2007
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, NY
Sophomore guard Eric Devendorf:
On what the win means to the team:
“It’s big getting a win. St. John’s is a really talented team and they played great, you have to give all the credit in the world to them. Now we have to go on the road to South Florida which is another tough opponent. But we have to get a streak of wins going right now and I think we’re prepared to do it. We know what’s at stake.”
On St. John’s ability to keep the game close:
“It’s tough because everybody’s trying to play good defense. There were times where didn’t play good defense and they got a wide open three and hit it. I think at the end we did a better job of working on the defensive end.”
On Demetris Nichols’ scoring ability:
“Demetris had a great game today. He is the type of guy who can just turn it on when he needs to. He had a great night and he put us on his back and I was just hanging on for the ride.”
Sophomore guard Andy Rautins:
On today’s game:
“Well St. John’s got a lot of wide open looks and they were knocking the shots down. I think that we could have played a little bit better defense in the second half. But they shot well and we shot well and it ended up being an offensive shootout.”
On his own performance:
“When I see a wide open lane and a defender that’s five feet off of me I’m going to try to take it to the rim and maybe get fouled. Primarily I’m on the floor to shoot the ball but I’ll drive in every now and then when it’s wide open.”
On the team’s ability to shoot three-pointers:
“When you got so many guys who can shoot the ball I think it becomes a big part of your offense. You just have to go in there to shoot the ball and shoot it well and I think we did that today. Eric is going to keep his head up and obviously Demetris had a good game shooting it and guys were lining up good screens for him.”
Senior forward Demetris Nichols:
On what the win means:
“This win is really big for us, for one because they beat us a couple of weeks ago. We knew we couldn’t lose this game because that would be a four or five-game losing streak so we had to step it up.”
On his performance:
“My teammates were doing a great job of setting me up and guys were finding me on offense in good spots. A lot of my shots were wide open. I put in a lot of hard work all year and I guess this is the result of that. I was in one of my zones and it was a great day. I can’t explain it but (being in the zone) is one of the best feelings in the world. I guess after I made my first shot of the second half I realized I could hit almost every shot I take. It was great because we won and I got my career high. I almost got 40 (points) but it’s ok because we still got a couple more games to go.”
On the state of the team:
“I think this win is very important for us but these next couple of games, we have to win them. We have to continue to hit the boards and just play hard the whole game.”
