Jan. 22, 2008
Recap | Box Score | AP Photo Gallery 
Georgetown Head Coach John Thompson III
On defensive performance in overtime...
I think a key part was during the latter part of regulation and in overtime, Jeremiah (Rivers) and Patrick's (Ewing Jr.) defense was unbelievable. I think those two guys made a huge difference tonight at the defensive end of the floor. That being said (Syracuse) missed some shots that they normally make, but I think those two, the effort and the work was terrific. Spark would be an understatement; what they did was terrific.
On offensive struggles in the second half...
During that stretch Roy (Hibbert) missed a shot or two that he normally makes, Austin (Freeman) stepped out of bounds, DaJuan's (Summers) airball and Jesse (Sapp) missed a layup, you always can say we should be doing something different, something better, but I think we were getting looks, we were getting quality shots it just for one reason or another, you know you step out of bounds and all of a sudden it just snowballs and then (Flynn) gets on a roll and Donte (Greene), who didn't make many shots in the first half, hits a couple of long ones and the rhythm just changes.
On Patrick Ewing Jr.'s contributions...
I said this at the time, I don't look at Patrick as not being a starter. I did this in many ways to solidify the second group and that clearly has happened. He has played very well coming off the bench at both ends of the floor. Patrick has the ability to guard guards and guard centers, in terms of his intelligence and his athletic ability. He's got a little bit of the stubbornness that his father has and that doggedness allows him to do that.
On Jeremiah Rivers' defensive play...
I'm not necessarily bringing Jeremiah off the bench to play defense, but that's one of his strengths. We don't need to send him any special messages, he just works.
On the performance of Syracuse center Arinze Onuaku...
Arinze has played well for them all year. He does a very good job of feeding off the penetration of Flynn and Harris and feeding off the opportunities provided by Donte. He just hovers around the rim and around the basket and for the lack of a better term cleans everything up. You've seen a lot of growth in his game the past couple years.
Coach Boeheim Quotes
Overview of the game...
We had a tremendous effort tonight. We had the lead, just made a couple of mistakes you can't make on the road in that situation but we competed hard, we rebounded, our defense was good. This was the best we played on the road all year, but at the end of regulation we made mistakes you just can't make and they took advantage of it.
On the last possession of overtime...
We tried to get Donte (Greene) the ball off the inbounds and we couldn't get it to him and then the next was to get it to Jonny (Flynn) and see if he could get something off the pick or stop and take the three and I liked the shot.
On the keys to out rebounding the Hoyas...
I think we were aggressive. The past two road games we haven't been aggressive. I think they (Syracuse) were scared. They just played like they were just young players in the first two league road games and I thought today, they just played hard, they expected to win, they made enough plays to win the game.
On the pivotal point in the game for Syracuse...
The turnover at the end, with a five-point lead at the end of regulation was just crucial. That's just the way it goes sometimes. You're going to make great plays, you're going to make some turnovers in a game like this, with the intensity like this, but I couldn't be prouder of the way we competed tonight. I think Georgetown has a great basketball team. We have struggled in our two road games in the league, we weren't in either game really and to come down here and play the way we did is a good sign for our young guys.
