Syracuse Defeats UConn: Quotant Quotables

The Syracuse Orange defeated the Connecticut Huskies 85-67 on Saturday. Here are the quotes to prove it:

Jim Boeheim on how well the Orange played offensively today:

"I think offensively this is the best we've played all year...We made a lot of shots. When you make a lot of shots the game is a lot easier.

Jim Boeheim, who always finds a way to turn a positive into a negative:

"If we shot a normal percentage we would have been beaten. We can't play much better offense then we did."

George Blaney, who has coached against quite a few Syracuse teams in his day, on how good this team is:

"This is as good as team as I've seen Jim have. I have not seen one of his teams be deeper then they are. We they get in trouble they can isolate so many different people that can just beat you."

Boeheim on C.J. Fair:

"C.J. Fair was tremendous tonight. He’s been working hard this week on his shooting. When he has a bad game, he takes it to heart. He really went to work the last few days shooting the basketball. And it paid off big-time tonight."

Scoop Jardine on his alley-oop pass to Fair:

"I knew if I threw it, he would be able to go get it. He had his adrenaline. And he saw me. We made eye contact. And when I saw that he saw me, I threw it with confidence that he would go up and get it."

Scoop on the guard play Saturday:

"Kris Joseph helped us on Wednesday and we got a win but myself, Dion and (Brandon) Triche knew we had to pick up the slack because he definitely helped us out Wednesday night.’’

Scoop on the bad advice that Jim Boeheim gave the team:

"Coach told us ‘You got out there and knock them out first and they’ll lay down.' But they didn’t. They didn’t lay down and we had to beat them.’’

Fab Melo on how the team improved on rebounds:

"We worked on the last practice. We were focused on getting rebounds, and that’s what we did."

Fab on his sudden desire to shoot jumpers from 15-feet out:

"It is fun. (Defenders), they give away space thinking you’re not going to make it. And when you make it, it’s great. It’s fun. It’s a thing I’ve been working on a lot, me and Mike Hopkins Today, I hit my first one so I said, ‘Why not shoot a second one?’ And I kept going."

And how does Kris Joseph feel about it?

"I’m not encouraging it."