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Syracuse
Syracuse-Pitt Post-Game Quotesheet
1/23/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 23, 2006
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POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
January 23, 2006
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon:
Opening Statement:
"I thought we came out quickly and executed, which was key. We were mentally prepared to attack the 2-3 zone, and I thought we adjusted well when they switched out of it quickly. We did a good job getting interior touches and ball reversals in the offensive zone. On defense, I thought we were patient, and stable throughout their long possessions. We played especially well on McNamara, forcing him to take tough shots."
On rebounding from a loss:
"It's something we've done well in the past. It's certainly a set-back, but it's not as big as some make it out to be. I thought the difference today was that we played much better in the first half."
On the play of Pitt's guards:
"We thought we'd see more zone than we did. I thought Carl was great hitting threes and Keith penetrated and got to the basket great tonight. Once we forced them into man-to-man I thought we did a good job using our size and quickness to our advantage."
On the play of Carl Krauser:
"I thought Carl made some good passes early. Once the defense collapsed, he recognized where he needed to go with the ball. I thought his defense was very good, and getting better every game, and that's something we especially stress."
On the play of Keith Benjamin:
"Keith penetrated and got to the basket very well tonight. Defensively, he made them earn their points, forced them to take tough shots. He's also exceptional at finishing on the wing in transition, which also saw a lot of tonight."
On holding
"One of our strengths as a team is that we don't foul or overextend ourselves. We try to play sound positional defense which keeps us out of that kind of trouble. Even with the depth we have, we always stress to our guys that we can't give fouls away."
On Pitt's rebounding:
"We didn't out rebound them by ten, which is our goal for every game. They're very good on the glass, but that's a number we have to get to in order to win games."
On where the team stands so far this season:
"With our record I'm not going to complain. We're getting better and improving every game. Even on Saturday we got much better in the second half. Tonight you saw Tyrell Biggs finish plays and get to the free-throw line. He's another guy learning as he goes and playing a key role."
On Carl Krauser breaking out offensively:
"Even though the numbers didn't show it, the coaches felt the
On
"It's tough to play on the road in the Big East. I have tremendous respect for Coach Boeheim and his program, but nothing comes easy in this conference."
On Aaron Gray's play:
"Aaron was very active around the basket, the 11 rebounds were very important. He missed some close shots, but as long as he's good on the boards and making good decisions, I'm happy. The most important things don't always show up on the stat sheet."
Quoting Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening remarks
"We got off to a slow start even though we got back under control. I thought we battled well, I thought our first half execution was good. We just couldn't make a couple key shots and couldn't get every good opportunity. We look like a team that's been out playing a lot, we look like we're ready to go home. Krauser was great. We got into a situation this past weekend where we came within four, we just couldn't get it done. We still have a lot of work to do, just this was a very difficult way to start the season."
On regrouping after three loses in a row
"We'll be alright. We need a few days off, we'll be ready to play. It's sad that you have to play such great teams back to back then you have six days off. It's not the right way to play your best basketball. I am proud of the way we've battled back though. This has been a very difficult way to start."
Quoting Pitt's Carl Krauser:
On his success career against
"It's not about playing
On playing without Aaron Gray for much of the first-half:
"When Aaron goes out it makes it tough, but we have the kind of team that can play a different style without missing a beat. We have a lot of competitive guys who play his position, so we look for them to take advantage of the opportunity."
On setting a career high for points in a game:
"I had no idea I had a career high until the game was over. It was just another game for me. I was just trying to help my teammates and to go out and compete as hard as I could. It's especially meaningful to get it in a Big East game, though."
On his low scoring numbers the last three games:
"Different games call for different styles. I'm just trying to do what the coaches tell me, and put is in a position where we're capable of winning the game."
On Pitt's ability to avoid losing streaks:
"No one wants to have back-to-back losses. You win by playing the game the right way, and that's what this team does. We have unity, character and we stay together. We love each other."
On Pitt's schedule:
"We're not tired, and we make no excuses. We're student athletes, this is what we signed up for and this is what we love to do."
Quoting Pitt's Keith Benjamin:
On the play of Pitt's guards:
"We shot very poorly in our previous game, so we wanted to come out and re-establish that, especially to beat their zone. We felt that if they went man-to-to man we could control them on the inside."
On the team scoring 80 points:
"Our goal was to take good shots. We wanted to make the extra pass and not just fire away. Once they switched out of their zone, we tried to get an inside touch on ever possession."
On Levon Kendall staying out of foul trouble:
"Levon being out there made a big difference. He does excellent things on the inside and the outside and really opens things up for us offensively."
Quoting Pitt's Ronald Ramon:
On the difficulty of
"They're very good at it. We saw something similar with
On guarding Gerry McNamara:
"The way they get going is by him hitting his shots. We wanted to stop him early so he couldn't get any momentum going. It's something that we worked on in practice the last couple days."
