Feb. 18, 2010

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Syracuse 75, Georgetown 71
Verizon Center
February 18, 2010

Georgetown University Head Coach John Thompson III

Opening Statement ...
I'm proud of our guys. Losing is hell and after a loss there is nothing but misery and pain, and there is misery and pain right now. But I'm proud of how our guys responded and in no way this program, this team does not believe in moral victories, but I'm just proud of our guys. I think that is a very good team that played very well tonight. We dug a whole for ourselves and fought and had a shot to win, but that's the way the ball bounces. Syracuse's First Half Defense ... I think that's the best I've seen that zone this year. There team is playing that defense as well as I've seen it played. I need to go back and see if I realiy believe this, but we got looks, the ball out. Even at the start of the second half we got looks, we got quality looks on the inside. We played them the first time and spent too much time on the perimeter. This time off of penetration and off throwing it in we got the ball in both halves into the meat of their zone, we just got some unlucky bounces.

On the offensive strategy late in the game ...
We were doing what we did the whole second half. We wanted two guys in who could get the ball into Greg and let Greg make the decision if he had anything or kick it out to (Chris Wright or Austin Freeman). While that was going on I thought Chris and Austin did a good job of hunting and pecking and finding room to penetrate.

On Greg Monroe getting in early foul trouble ...
He picked up two fouls by around 17:43 and he gets another one the first possession of the second half also, but that's life. We have guys that when he's out who can step up and play their role and we were able to play through it and function.

On the schedule ahead after the loss ...
We have to go on the road against a very good team and we have to try to get a win. I give the same answers because that's how I function and that's how we function. It's misery and pain, you know, we can't get stuck, we can't wallow in that, because the next opponent will always be a good opponent.

Coach Jim Boehiem Quotes

Opening Statement...
"I thought for 30 minutes we played about as well as we could play. We were really good defensively, offensively played really really well. I thought what happened was we came down missed two layups, a dunk and another opportunity around the basket and they scored three baskets and it's now a 12 point game. When you're on the road, I told the players, you got to keep playing and keep scoring. Kris (Joseph) had just a horrendous night. He kept missing layups... and that's why I went to him at the end because I knew he was due. He made a great play on the drive. We knew we had Monroe and we thought that he could get by and make a play and he was able to get all the way to the basket, which he should have been doing earlier instead of taking that half six footer but I thought he made a great play, made our free throws at the end of games. The reason we've played well on the road is we've made key free throws down the stretch, we really have. I thought Wes (Johnson) was great in the first half but he's missed so much practice and just trying to get healthy. I thought he just died the second half, he just ran out of gas, he had nothing left. He was just hanging on by a thread and Arinze (Onuaku) being in foul trouble we didn't have another option, I'd rather have (Wes) out there, half of him, than anybody else. I thought Kris (Joseph) made two great plays at the end and then we wanted to foul with less than 10 seconds, get the ball into Andy and he's going to make free throws down the stretch.

I thought the thing that hurt us was Monroe and we just didn't do a good job of keeping the ball out of there. We usually don't have the problem with our defense but we did. You can't double him down there because if you do he will throw it out and they make threes. So you have to bother him as much as possible, and try to get him to miss one or two and try to put him on the line but you know they are going to come back. They were down 19 to Connecticut here, you knew they were going to come back and I think the reason they did is we just stopped scoring, you can never stop scoring especially on the road and I thought that was the difference."

On Andy Rautins performance...
"He's the key to the whole team, defensively, offensively. Say whatever you want to say he makes the plays and obviously he's a tremendous shooter but he makes plays, he gets other people the ball and is really key on our defensive end. This was really, I thought, one of his best offensive games and they were right there with him and he made some tough shots."

Georgetown sophomore Greg Monroe

On what the key is for the future after two straight losses:
"Getting the next win, Winning the next game and keep on winning the next game. Just trying to win the next game."

On playing aggressive while playing with many fouls:
"Being able to be effective while I am on the court and staying in the game. I've been playing with fouls all my life and I pretty much know how to handle it."

On being in an early hole in the first half:
"The first half things weren't going our way. We made some mistakes and we weren't playing as good as we should. We just have to find a way to play the same way for the whole 40 minutes."

Georgetown junior Chris Wright

On play in the first half:
"In the first half, we were attacking the zone and making good decisions. We weren't making shots. We didn't make plays in the first half. If you're not making plays and they're hitting three's, it's kind of tough. In the second half, we got great production out of Greg (Monroe) down low."

On coming back from a 23-point deficit:
"One thing about this team, we believe in each other. We believe in perseverance and climbing out of any struggle. It's a little rough right now because we came all the way back and we came up short. They made the plays and they came out on top."

On guarding Andy Rautins of Syracuse:
"We try to stay physical on him and make him have to make tough shots. It's hard to defend him coming off multiple screens."

Georgetown junior Austin Freeman

On his 21-point performance to lead the Hoyas:
"I just want to continue to stay aggressive. I had the opportunity so I took it. We know if we're down 23, we have to keep fighting."