Jan. 7, 2007

Recap |  Box Score |  Notes

Marquette
Head Coach Tom Crean
"You can't win games if you don't make enough shots and we didn't do a very good job of that at all. There is no excuse for our free throw shooting. Some of these missed shots and missed free throws have got to start to hurt more than they have."

"They practiced hard this week. It is a tough road, especially when you are playing a team with Syracuse's experience. They are a good team. We are going to get better. We have guys who care. We have struggled a little bit putting teams away, so we need to keep finding that way to make key stops, make key baskets."

"We didn't have enough momentum to put it over the top. We have to have some individual soul searching to find out how much time we are going to spend out of practice working individually. We have to have some guys a little hungrier to spend that extra time on the court."

"You can't go 4-for-21 from the three and feel good about the shot selection. But we have to make them, it's not like we can stop shooting them. I would like them to get the ball in the basket by getting to the rim."

Jerel McNeal
"The last game we had against Providence we were zoned a lot and took a lot of forced threes and we didn't want to do that tonight. We wanted to attack and get good shots."

"It is just a matter of time before the shots starts falling. Some of the shots we are taking are shots we really don't want. We could have gotten a lot better looks, but we could have had some better looks."

Wesley Matthews
"We have seen a lot of 2-3 zone this year. We were able to get a lot of shots, but we settled a little bit, over-penetrated a little bit. We didn't execute very well towards the end of the game. We just need to step up and make shots."

"We look at every game as a must win. You never want to think about any game as if we can lose one. We need to analyze this tonight, take the good with the bad, and get the next one."

Syracuse
Head Coach - Jim Boeheim
"Both teams played hard. The turnovers were the result of a good defensive effort by both teams. Both teams struggled shooting, but we also got some decent looks. We kept trying to take the ball to the basket and that's what you need to do."

"We needed to keep James outside, we didn't want let him get into the lane. When they did look for the jump shot, we got out on them. Early we let them get a couple transition baskets, but the second half we were much better."

One defeating a ranked team on the road...
"You have to win your first game in the conference to get your first win. Every game counts just as much - there is not one more important than another. You have to get them at home and away. Every game is tough. There are some teams that play a little better than what you thought and there are some teams that are up and down."