Student-Athlete Quotes - Eastern Michigan
Syracuse Men's Basketball
Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan
Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
C.J. Fair, Senior, Forward
Give me a couple thoughts on the ACC.
“I’m excited personally. It’s our first year in there. We have a lot of expectations from the media and from ourselves. We want to live up to our potential and start (Syracuse’s tenure in) the ACC off strong.”
What are those expectations?
“From our team, we want to contend for the title and win the ACC tournament. That’s one of our goals to get us ready for the NCAA Tournament.”
Are you looking forward to the excitement of it? The new towns, the new fans, all that kind of deal?
“I love playing away games. It’s fun going to different gyms and having the crowd rooting against you and stuff like that. We’re not playing in a lot of NBA arenas. It’s going to be a lot of on-campus packed houses.”
Trevor Cooney, Redshirt Sophomore, Guard
As far as the ACC goes, you guys won’t see a lot of zone. Give me your assessment of that.
“You never know in the ACC. It’s a good conference, so maybe teams might come out and play zone. To have a good test for when the ACC season starts is good for us.”
Coach said that the hot start is what did it for you, but then after that, he said you guys kind of leveled off. Is that what you saw?
“Yeah, I mean, for Villanova, we didn’t come out to a good start, so we tried to get it back. Today, we started off really well, and kind of lost it momentum-wise a little bit, but we have to play 40 minutes no matter who we’re playing against. For us to give up a little bit, I mean they almost got right back in the game, but we were fortunate enough to jump on them again.”
Rakeem Christmas, Junior, Forward
When Coach Jim Boeheim told you that you only scored eight points and you did not play well, what did you think of that?
“I agree with him. He knew what he wanted me to do and I did not do it so I had to improve in the second half.”
How would assess yourself today?
“I did alright. I want to put it behind me and get better so I will go to practice each day and work hard."
You are going into the ACC 13-0. You have been here long enough to know that there is something to be said about being where you are at right now, correct?
“We just want to go into the ACC strong, show everyone what we can do, and a lot of people think we will not do good in the ACC. So we just want to go in there and be strong”
Tyler Ennis, Freshman, Guard
Have you had a game when you did not score and still have an effect on the game?
“I think I had games where I didn’t score a lot, but I don’t really look at stats to determine how I play. I think we could have scored a lot more, but the way my teammates are finishing, it wasn’t necessary for me to score.”
Does it bother you when you don’t score?
“Not really. First of all, I just want to win the game and that’s the most important thing and there are plays where I could have scored and I gave it up. That’s something that a point guard has to do sometimes, get other guys going and give other guys confidence. Whether I score or not is not how I determine how I’ve played.”
How can you assess your guys’ playing now that the non-conference schedule is over?
“I thought we had some ups and downs, some good halves and bad halves, but I think we have the best possible record we could have right now. So we were doing something right. Coach says we have a long way to go before we are at the level we want to be at.”
Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan
Tuesday, Dec. 31, 2013
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Student-Athlete Quotes
C.J. Fair, Senior, Forward
Give me a couple thoughts on the ACC.
“I’m excited personally. It’s our first year in there. We have a lot of expectations from the media and from ourselves. We want to live up to our potential and start (Syracuse’s tenure in) the ACC off strong.”
What are those expectations?
“From our team, we want to contend for the title and win the ACC tournament. That’s one of our goals to get us ready for the NCAA Tournament.”
Are you looking forward to the excitement of it? The new towns, the new fans, all that kind of deal?
“I love playing away games. It’s fun going to different gyms and having the crowd rooting against you and stuff like that. We’re not playing in a lot of NBA arenas. It’s going to be a lot of on-campus packed houses.”
Trevor Cooney, Redshirt Sophomore, Guard
As far as the ACC goes, you guys won’t see a lot of zone. Give me your assessment of that.
“You never know in the ACC. It’s a good conference, so maybe teams might come out and play zone. To have a good test for when the ACC season starts is good for us.”
Coach said that the hot start is what did it for you, but then after that, he said you guys kind of leveled off. Is that what you saw?
“Yeah, I mean, for Villanova, we didn’t come out to a good start, so we tried to get it back. Today, we started off really well, and kind of lost it momentum-wise a little bit, but we have to play 40 minutes no matter who we’re playing against. For us to give up a little bit, I mean they almost got right back in the game, but we were fortunate enough to jump on them again.”
Rakeem Christmas, Junior, Forward
When Coach Jim Boeheim told you that you only scored eight points and you did not play well, what did you think of that?
“I agree with him. He knew what he wanted me to do and I did not do it so I had to improve in the second half.”
How would assess yourself today?
“I did alright. I want to put it behind me and get better so I will go to practice each day and work hard."
You are going into the ACC 13-0. You have been here long enough to know that there is something to be said about being where you are at right now, correct?
“We just want to go into the ACC strong, show everyone what we can do, and a lot of people think we will not do good in the ACC. So we just want to go in there and be strong”
Tyler Ennis, Freshman, Guard
Have you had a game when you did not score and still have an effect on the game?
“I think I had games where I didn’t score a lot, but I don’t really look at stats to determine how I play. I think we could have scored a lot more, but the way my teammates are finishing, it wasn’t necessary for me to score.”
Does it bother you when you don’t score?
“Not really. First of all, I just want to win the game and that’s the most important thing and there are plays where I could have scored and I gave it up. That’s something that a point guard has to do sometimes, get other guys going and give other guys confidence. Whether I score or not is not how I determine how I’ve played.”
How can you assess your guys’ playing now that the non-conference schedule is over?
“I thought we had some ups and downs, some good halves and bad halves, but I think we have the best possible record we could have right now. So we were doing something right. Coach says we have a long way to go before we are at the level we want to be at.”
