Student-Athlete Postgame Quotes
Coach Jim Boeheim Press Conference Quotes
Syracuse vs. West Virginia
February 4, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, NY
Paul Harris, So., F
On his double-double performance:
“I think whenever I come out and play aggressive, my teammates feed off of me and they pick up the energy. I haven’t been playing great lately, or even good lately, but today I think I played okay and it’s just me being aggressive. I get the rebound and I think I can make plays for Eric [Devendorf] and Jonny [Flynn].”
On coming out flat:
“Honestly, I think when I come into the game and I don’t get a shout out for ten minutes, which kind of hurts me. Honestly, to tell you the truth, even if I miss it, I feel like I have to take a shot or something. Coach called the first play to me, which is rare, and that was kind of a confidence booster to me too.”
On returning to his form:
“I think I’m going to be back to myself and we’re going to be back on a winning streak.”
On Ongenaet:
“He came in and he made some key plays. That big block, rebounds, put-backs, he played really good.”
Eric Devendorf, Jr., G
On Ongenaet:
“Kristof came in and played tremendous today. He was taking shots, rebounds, taking chances, and to tell you the truth, he’s the one that kind of put the seal on the game.”
On the upcoming road trip:
“We have to go to Villanova Saturday, and that’s going to be a tough game obviously. Then, we have Connecticut on Wednesday. We’re going to play hard, and hopefully get two wins out of it.”
On winning after three losses:
“This team has a lot of heart. We have to let those three games slide. It’s the BIG EAST, you see everybody losing. You have Georgetown losing to Cincinnati, Notre Dame. It’s going to be like that sometimes. We just have to keep our heads up and get through it and keep playing. This team is capable of doing big things, and we have the most talent in the country right now. If we can put that together on the court for 40 minutes, anything is possible.”
Kristof Ongenaet, Sr., F
On completing plays:
“I’ve been working on it for months now. I think I’m proving myself out there. Coach is giving me a couple minutes, giving me the opportunity.“
On contrast in defense:
“I think it was better preparation. I think we were more focused and we were home. It’s always more difficult at someone else’s court. I think we just overall did a better job and were more focused on who was a danger offensively and who we had to stop.”
On Villanova:
“Villanova is the team that knocked us out of the NCAA tournament and we’ve got to get them back. I’m confident we can get a win on Saturday.”
Jonny Flynn, So., G
On the win:
“I think this is how we have to play. Even though we have five people, I think our defensive intensity was lacking a lot this season, except for in the beginning of the year. But, if we play like this, keep playing defense, limit their shots, get hands on their shooters, then I think we can become the team that we really want to become.”
On if it was a must-win game:
“It definitely was a must win game in a sense, just for our team - not for the season but just for team, just so we could get back on the right track. It really takes a toll on you mentally when you’re losing games. You know, I think what the team did was refocus. We had a team meeting and we were like ‘Lets win a three or four games like everyone else did,’ and hopefully we can achieve that.”
On Paul Harris’ double-double
“If we would have had this Paul against Providence, we could have won the game by 20 or so points. But, Paul is a guy who, like you said, is an X-factor. In my opinion, they don’t scout him as high as they do me or Arinze, but he’s a guy that can go out there and really hurt you.”
On the upcoming Villanova game:
“This is going be a good game. Not only do I want to play them because they knocked us out of the tournament, but there are a lot of guys on the team that a lot of us went to high school with. So, we have a little rivalry going on. But, I can’t wait to go down there and really give it to them after they beat us last year.”
