Syracuse Defeats UNC-Asheville: Quotent Quotables

The Syracuse Orange defeated the UNC-Asheville Bulldogs 72-65 on Thursday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Here are the quotes to prove it.

Asheville head coach Ed Biendenbach on how his team performed against Syracuse:

Syracuse is better than Asheville. Tonight we were better than Syracuse. I have all the respect for Jim Boeheim, their team being 31‑2. He's a fantastic coach. They deserve all the recognitions they've got this year. This was the better team tonight.

Jim Boeheim, upon hearing that quote:

That's why they make scoreboards.

Biendenbach continuing...

I thought we played better than Syracuse tonight. You know, we're a very good basketball team. We're not better than Syracuse. I'm not trying to say that at all. You guys know. You see the rankings and all the other things.

Boeheim on whether or not the Orange were lucky:

I don't think luck has anything to do with winning games. We had to make some plays. James made a couple big shots. We took control of the game. Wasn't like it came down to the last play. We had control of the game. Had a six-point lead, seven, eight-point lead. No, I don't think luck was involved at all. I think we held a guy that's the Player of the Year in their conference to 1-13 shooting, 1-9 from the three-point line. He was the Player of the Year I believe in their conference. I think that had something to do with the outcome of the game.

No, I don't think luck had anything to do with this game today, and I think the better team won.

Boeheim on what percentage he thinks the Orange will play better on Saturday:

Exactly what percentage, I'm not sure. Somewhere between zero and 50, I hope, better.

Boeheim on whether or not it's "us against the world" for Syracuse:

I don't think it's the whole world. Three-quarters maybe. I think there's some people in China that aren't upset with us.

Kris Joseph on whether or not he was worried about losing to a 16-seed:

No, not at all. We've been in situations before like this all season. I think being part of those games early on in the season, in the Big East, prepped us for this game. We stayed poised and handled our business.

Scoop Jardine on getting another free throw after a lane violation call:

"First off, let me thank the refs for giving me an extra chance!"

Scoop on what he said to his teammates in the locker room at halftime:

Nothing. Coach said a lot to me and Kris (laughter).

Boeheim on Rakeem Christmas and Baye Moussa Keita:

Well, I think he's better at center. We know that. But he had a guy in front of him that is a little better than he is. He's much better at the center position. I thought he was good today. I think the experience he had in those games when he started at center helped him. He's been working hard. He's a hard worker. I thought Baye had a real good effort tonight, as well. We get 10 points out of those two guys, eight rebounds, a couple blocks, you know, that's pretty good. No matter how this game turned out, this game had nothing to do with that position - nothing.

Boeheim on the crowd being against SU today:

That always happens. If you're a high seed, the crowd gets going, the crowd is always going to switch to them. We lost one road game this year. We've been in some really noisy places when the crowd has not been with us. We've been in those games. We were in that game tonight. You know, it's not something that we haven't been able to handle, and we handled it tonight.

Brandon Triche on the dubious sideline call:

"I think I touched the ball. I’m not sure if it went off me, but everyone else said it went off me," Triche said. "But I got bumped. So maybe … I don’t know how he called out of bounds and the ball went back to us. Maybe he thought I was bumped and didn’t want to call a foul. I don’t know. I know I touched it. I’m not sure who touched it after."

Jaron Lane, the Asheville player defending Triche:

"I don’t think I touched the ball. The ref probably saw differently. I don’t think he had a good view on it."

Primm, who led UNC Asheville with 18 points:

"We’re not satisfied. We came in the game to win. I personally felt like the better team didn't win tonight. That's my opinion.’’