Student-Athlete Quotes - Colgate
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Colgate
December 9, 2017
Carrier Dome. Syracuse, N.Y.
Student-Athlete Quotes
Frank Howard, Jr., G
How are these stretch of games molding this team into what it needs to be?
“It’s been great for us. We’re getting into the grind of things between traveling and studying for finals. I think the young guys have shown a lot of mental toughness.”
“The last two games our ball movement has been lacking, and that’s where the turnovers are coming from. It’s been a lot of over-dribbling, and not moving at the pace we can play at. There’s been a little mental fatigue for us, but I’m proud of the way we fought. We’ll watch film, and focus on our defense.”
Colgate hung tough with you guys today. What are your overall thoughts on the game?
“They had a great game plan. They over-loaded one side with their ball screens. Our bigs move a lot, so they were able to get some corner 3s. They did a great job of finding the guy in the middle. Kudos to him, he played great. They kept themselves in the game, and played great defense.”
How would you assess your play over the course of the last five games?
“Teams are starting to adjust to me and Tyus (Battle). They brought an extra guy on us to give them some extra help. I need a little more ball movement, to get the defense moving. That will help us a lot. This will cut down the sloppy turnovers, as its too much over-dribbling by me. That’s something I need to work on.”
Tyus Battle, So., G
Talk about Colgate’s effort today as they really hung tough throughout the game:
“We knew this game was going to be a challenge today, because they have a lot of good shooters. That’s what they were looking for the entire game. They were gapping us, and hitting corner 3s. It was a great learning experience for us, as we won’t see many teams that can shoot the ball that well.”
Coach has been preaching that the offense needs to get better. On your end, how can you make that happen?
“We need better movement. We get stagnant sometimes, and hold the ball. We need to get some of the other guys involved offensively. The key for us is really just our ball movement, and our movement on offense.”
How do you feel when you are playing forward. Is it different for you?
“I think I’m getting used to it. I know when Frank and I are at the top of the zone we cause more problems. We’re both really long, so we get steals, and make it tougher to get to the middle.”
Howard Washington, Fr., G
What was it like getting out there in the three-guard lineup specifically?
“It’s the same as what I think you’ve seen on twitter; there’s been a little bit [of talk] about coach’s lack of confidence in our three-guard lineup, but we work on it—we always do. We put Tyus (Battle) on the back line on his own, and we’re working on that every day. Once we have confidence, hopefully we can run that lineup some more.”
That was also the first-time you guys went with a super small lineup. Did you feel like spacing was better when that was going on?
“A little bit. When we have guys like Marek (Dolezaj) and Oshae (Brissett) that can stretch out and can play the five defensively, rebound, and guard, but can also, on the offensive end, stretch the defense out when they have slow guys guarding them on defense. I feel like that’s a good lineup for us to get going.”
Oshae Brissett, Fr., F
You had a big game; this was probably the best shooting game of your SU career. How were you feeling?
“If you could see the shots I was taking, they were mostly inside on smaller guys and that’s what I’ve got to do, just exploit the defense and try to score.”
They took a lot of 3s today. I think one of the problems coach had was the quality of a lot of them. Could you talk a little bit about playing a team that can put four guys on the perimeter like they can?
“Like you said, it was the quality of the shots, they were wide open. If they were contested then coach would have been a lot happier with them. It’s harder when you have four shooters around the perimeter, and you close out one guy but then there is someone else is open on the corner. But that’s something we just have to work on. We either have to bump to the corner or make Paschal (Chukwu) go out to the corner and make a couple of plays.”
It seemed like they just made really quick decisions in regard to the quality of their passing. This was a good test for you guys:
“We’re going to play a lot of really smart teams. They were able to get in the middle then kick it back out really fast, or get in the middle and dump it down. They threw a lot of things at us and it’s good for us to go back and watch film then capitalize on what we can do better.”
Syracuse vs. Colgate
December 9, 2017
Carrier Dome. Syracuse, N.Y.
Student-Athlete Quotes
Frank Howard, Jr., G
How are these stretch of games molding this team into what it needs to be?
“It’s been great for us. We’re getting into the grind of things between traveling and studying for finals. I think the young guys have shown a lot of mental toughness.”
“The last two games our ball movement has been lacking, and that’s where the turnovers are coming from. It’s been a lot of over-dribbling, and not moving at the pace we can play at. There’s been a little mental fatigue for us, but I’m proud of the way we fought. We’ll watch film, and focus on our defense.”
Colgate hung tough with you guys today. What are your overall thoughts on the game?
“They had a great game plan. They over-loaded one side with their ball screens. Our bigs move a lot, so they were able to get some corner 3s. They did a great job of finding the guy in the middle. Kudos to him, he played great. They kept themselves in the game, and played great defense.”
How would you assess your play over the course of the last five games?
“Teams are starting to adjust to me and Tyus (Battle). They brought an extra guy on us to give them some extra help. I need a little more ball movement, to get the defense moving. That will help us a lot. This will cut down the sloppy turnovers, as its too much over-dribbling by me. That’s something I need to work on.”
Tyus Battle, So., G
Talk about Colgate’s effort today as they really hung tough throughout the game:
“We knew this game was going to be a challenge today, because they have a lot of good shooters. That’s what they were looking for the entire game. They were gapping us, and hitting corner 3s. It was a great learning experience for us, as we won’t see many teams that can shoot the ball that well.”
Coach has been preaching that the offense needs to get better. On your end, how can you make that happen?
“We need better movement. We get stagnant sometimes, and hold the ball. We need to get some of the other guys involved offensively. The key for us is really just our ball movement, and our movement on offense.”
How do you feel when you are playing forward. Is it different for you?
“I think I’m getting used to it. I know when Frank and I are at the top of the zone we cause more problems. We’re both really long, so we get steals, and make it tougher to get to the middle.”
Howard Washington, Fr., G
What was it like getting out there in the three-guard lineup specifically?
“It’s the same as what I think you’ve seen on twitter; there’s been a little bit [of talk] about coach’s lack of confidence in our three-guard lineup, but we work on it—we always do. We put Tyus (Battle) on the back line on his own, and we’re working on that every day. Once we have confidence, hopefully we can run that lineup some more.”
That was also the first-time you guys went with a super small lineup. Did you feel like spacing was better when that was going on?
“A little bit. When we have guys like Marek (Dolezaj) and Oshae (Brissett) that can stretch out and can play the five defensively, rebound, and guard, but can also, on the offensive end, stretch the defense out when they have slow guys guarding them on defense. I feel like that’s a good lineup for us to get going.”
Oshae Brissett, Fr., F
You had a big game; this was probably the best shooting game of your SU career. How were you feeling?
“If you could see the shots I was taking, they were mostly inside on smaller guys and that’s what I’ve got to do, just exploit the defense and try to score.”
They took a lot of 3s today. I think one of the problems coach had was the quality of a lot of them. Could you talk a little bit about playing a team that can put four guys on the perimeter like they can?
“Like you said, it was the quality of the shots, they were wide open. If they were contested then coach would have been a lot happier with them. It’s harder when you have four shooters around the perimeter, and you close out one guy but then there is someone else is open on the corner. But that’s something we just have to work on. We either have to bump to the corner or make Paschal (Chukwu) go out to the corner and make a couple of plays.”
It seemed like they just made really quick decisions in regard to the quality of their passing. This was a good test for you guys:
“We’re going to play a lot of really smart teams. They were able to get in the middle then kick it back out really fast, or get in the middle and dump it down. They threw a lot of things at us and it’s good for us to go back and watch film then capitalize on what we can do better.”
