Postgame Player Quotes
Syracuse vs. Villanova
February 22, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, NY
Andy Rautins, Jr., G
On wanting to be in to make the last shot:
“It would’ve been nice, but I have faith and confidence in my teammates to make that shot too. Somebody had to foul the ball carrier since there was only 15 seconds left. It just had to be me.”
On being done with games against the elite BIG EAST teams:
“It’s a lot easier said than done. We’ve put ourselves in a tough situation right now. St. John’s is as physical as any team in the BIG EAST. It’s going to be a war. We just have to come back and bounce back and play the way we are capable of.”
On causing turnovers and staying in the game during the last few minutes:
“We showed a lot of grit and a lot of heart at the end of that game. We forced a lot of turnovers and gave ourselves some pretty good opportunities to get back in the game. We just weren’t able to capitalize. All around it was just a great effort from the guys. We could’ve easily given up but we didn’t.
Kristof Ongenaet, Sr., F
On having three good chances at the end but having none of them drop:
“We had a chance. I don’t know. I don’t think we could blame ourselves. The only thing we can blame on ourselves is the fact that we were behind for most of the game. At the end, we had a chance and just missed the shot. Our intensity was good and it worked for the rebounds. We got them. We got open opportunities, we just missed.”
On Villanova being a tough, all-around matchup:
“I mean they have great guards. They don’t play with a real center, so it’s pretty much all forwards and guards. It’s a different team out there. We just have to adjust and play hard like them, even a little harder and that would’ve been the game. We just shouldn’t have gotten behind in the first half.”
On the defense letting Villanova go on many little runs:
“I don’t know if it was communication or concentration. We just need to be a little more consistent. We proved at moments that we’re really good. There were times we just couldn’t get a stop and that was the problem we had.”
Paul Harris, Jr., F
On how it seemed Villanova got the looks regardless of what defense SU played:
“I think Villanova is a higher matchup team for us. They start four guards and one forward. Dante Cunningham is not a center, so that is a matchup problem for us because we have two big men out there. They can be a quicker team than us. Obviously, you think that since they’re quicker, we should be stronger, but they denied us so much because it’s hard to get the ball down low.”
On being behind for most of the game but not giving up:
“Earlier in the year we got behind and fought back and won a couple of games. In the BIG EAST, you can’t just get down by 10 or 11 points because coming back is very tough. I’ll give our team a lot of credit. We really fought back. If you we were watching this game on TV, you’d think there was no way Syracuse would have a chance to come back with two minutes left in the game. We just chipped away and fought back. The game plan at the end was for Eric [Devendorf] to come off the screen and hopefully the defender would jump and foul him. He didn’t go for it and I grabbed it. I didn’t even know I had enough time to get the shot off I did, and then when I missed it I saw Jonny [Flynn] had a wide open three. I thought we were going to overtime, but it hit the rim.”
On whether constantly playing from behind helps:
“You never want to get in a hole. You always want to stay ahead of the other team. I would never say that.”
On what it is about Villanova that causes trouble for Syracuse:
“I guess it’s just a higher matchup for us. “
