Syracuse Player Post-Game Quotes
Syracuse vs. Oakland
November 21, 2008
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Jonny Flynn, So., G
On playing Florida in Kansas City:
“We’re used to this. In the BIG EAST, we’re in the big leagues. We’re used to playing against good teams. This will be a great chance for us early on against a well-coached team by Billy Donovan, and Nick Calathes is a great point guard. We have to state our defensive principles and execute our offense, then we should come up with a win.”
On making a case for man-to-man:
“I’m happy Coach Boeheim sticks with it. I think the only way to get better at man, like we’re doing, is to keep playing it. Sometimes you have to work defenses through trial and error. I think we’re progressing every day on man-to-man. I think we still need to work on our zone defenses. It’s always good to throw in another defense to throw teams off. We just have to work on both defenses and be good at them.”
On playing man-to-man defense:
“With man-to-man, you can get after it. You can set the tempo with man-to-man. With zone, you sit back and let them make mistakes. With man-to-man, you can pressure and create offense for yourself like we did tonight. Man-to-man is a great defense, like I said, but we need to work on our zone too.”
On man-to-man energizing the team:
“I think man-to-man energizes everybody on the basketball court. Whenever you get a key stop, you get a steal, you get in the passing lanes, it just does something to you and makes you want to go back and keep playing defense. That was the case tonight. We had a couple of key stops early and we just wanted to get back on the defensive end.”
On playing a relaxing game:
“I wouldn’t say it was a relaxing game. Playing against Johnathon Jones, who is a great penetrator, made me stay on my heels. He had 30-something against Oregon, and I didn’t want him to put 30 on me. I wouldn’t say it was a relaxing game, although it might have looked like it the way we played defense and contained penetration. This was a great test for us, playing against a team that likes to go one-on-one to isolate you, so your man-to-man principles have to be on point.”
Kris Joseph, Fr., F
On making plays:
“That’s what I’m trying to do. My role on the team isn’t to score because we have guys like Eric [Devendorf], Jonny [Flynn] and Paul [Harris] to do that, but if I’m in a situation where I need to score, I can do that. I would much rather make plays for my teammates.”
On playing Florida:
“I am looking forward to it. We’re 3-0 right now and very confident in ourselves and the way we’ve been playing. We’re looking forward to playing in Kansas City.”
On the way the team started the game:
“In our last couple games, we let down in the second half on defense, so we just wanted to stay strong for 40 minutes instead of just 20. We wanted to go strong in the first and second half.”
On traveling to play Florida:
“We’re confident. Our confidence is really up right now. We feel like we can play with anybody in the country. There have been a lot of upsets going on, and we feel like we can be one of those teams that just sneaks into the Top 25.”
On the progress made from Tuesday’s game against Richmond:
“We’re a lot better. We work extremely hard at practice on defense, so that’s what really generates our offense is our defense plays. We’re looking forward to keep doing that.”
Andy Rautins, Jr., G
On the game:
“We came out really aggressive. A couple of their guys had 30 in the last couple of games, so we shut down their individual play and, in turn, that shut down their team offense. Playing such an aggressive defense, that opened up things for us in transition, and we got out and ran and got easy buckets.”
On winning by 20 points:
“This lays the groundwork for the games coming up ahead. We played well tonight, and I think we’re going to continue to play well if we continue to be unselfish and play aggressive defense like we have the past couple games.”
On making a case for man-to-man defense:
“We have the guys to do it. We’re a pretty aggressive team and we’re athletic. We haven’t played much zone in the past couple games and I don’t think we need to because of the way we’re playing man defense right now.”
On how the man-to-man contributed to the lead:
“It was big for us. We shut them down early and us. Getting out on the break and establishing our offense was big for us. We shut down their main guys early, and we held them to very limited good looks. If we continue to isolate their main guys and shut them down, I think we’ll be alright the next couple of games.”
On Rick Jackson:
“Rick’s playing great; he’s playing aggressive. Kris Joseph is playing aggressive, too. Everybody just has to play their role and things will fall into place. I think we’re doing a great job of that right now.”
On whether he is ready for what lies ahead:
“Absolutely. We have the talent to beat any team out there, it’s just a matter of how we play and how our mindset is.”
On playing against Florida:
“It’s Florida. Billy Donovan is a great coach. They always have a great recruiting class. They have a couple of returning guys that are pretty big and athletic. We don’t underestimate any opponent we play, so we’re ready for the game.”
Paul Harris, Jr., F
On the first half play:
“I think it started with our defensive intensity. We came out right off the bat pressuring them and getting turnovers and steals. We were ready to play, right off the bat, for 40 minutes.”
On the difference in play during the first and second half:
“I think when you get into a running-style game like that, sometimes you make mistakes here and there. We have to limit the number of turnovers coming down the stretch during the season. When we play Florida, it’s going to be tough in Kansas City.”
On Kris Joseph stepping up:
“That’s what we need, we need everyone. It wasn’t just him, it was Rick Jackson. We need all the guys. This is going to be a long season; to get to the Final Four and make the NCAA Tournament is going to be tough. We have a big dream.”
