Syracuse Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. Massachusetts
March 25, 2008
Syracuse, N.Y. – Carrier Dome
Donte Greene, Fr., F
On what he was thinking during the last eight minutes of the game:
“I just didn’t want to lose the game. I can’t even remember what was going through my head, really. I was just – I didn’t want to lose the game, that’s all.”
On whether or not he is returning to Syracuse next year:
“I don’t know yet. I don’t know.”
On the crowd at the Carrier Dome:
“I appreciate them a lot. I played 40 minutes – however many minutes I played. It’s hard sometimes, and the crowd definitely keeps you energized and I love Syracuse fans, and I just want to thank them for a great season.”
On squandering a 22-point lead:
“Too many threes. We were still scoring, but we’d get a lay-up and they’d come down and get a three. Or we would miss a lay-up and they would come down and hit a three. It’s easy to lose a 20 or 30-point lead doing that – missing lay-ups and coming down and giving them threes. It’s real easy for them to come back.”
On the biggest regret of the season:
“Losing to UMass the first time. We lost the Pitt game close, but I mean, I feel it was just one win period that kept us out of the tournament, so I think it was UMass. UMass and Rhode Island.”
Kristof Ongenaet, Jr., F
On Massachusetts’ second-half shooting:
“We needed to stop them at the three-point line, and we knew what their strengths and weaknesses were. One way or another, we just couldn’t stop them.”
On ending the season with a loss:
“It’s really disappointing. But the fact of the matter is, you can’t do anything about it. It’s tough, it’s really tough. I still can’t believe it, but it happens.”
On Syracuse’s missed chances:
“Yeah, even the second-chance shots we missed, and the lay-ups. But I think eventually, if we would have been decent in the second half on defense, these lay-ups wouldn’t even matter. We would have been in control like the first half, and we would have won the game easily. We didn’t and we lost control of the game and they took advantage of it.”
Paul Harris, So., G
On the Massachusetts comeback:
“I didn’t know what happened – it went fast. It was crazy. They wanted us to score, so they could go down and hit a three.”
On how UMass climbed back in the game:
“I think it was basically that we weren’t contesting a lot of shots. A couple of times, I was getting caught up. They were putting two good shooters on one side and I would go to one and the other one would be open and he would make it.”
On the team’s next step:
“We’re just getting to the offseason, and everybody can get ready to prepare for next season and take a run at it next season.”
