McNamara struggled tonight, it doesn’t happen very often. He couldn’t get anything going and we’re not used to him having a bad game.

This is one of the best, if not the best, wins we’ve ever had at Syracuse.

Let the assistant coach come up to me and say, ‘Gerry McNamara is overrated.’ I’d like to see one of those guys come up to me and say that. He’s been double-teamed all year, and...

I think they’re a very good defensive team. If you watched the game, you know why he wasn’t in the game. Gerry could not make plays.

None of these games are really upsets, like Wichita State or George Mason winning, because if you watch them they are really good teams. There’s so much equity it’s scary. Remember back in November when...

He’s been trying that 3 all year. I told him, ‘Someday, you’re going to make one of those things.’ It just came up at the right time.

When Connecticut caught us, and they caught us a lot, we kept going. Gerry wouldn’t let it get away. He was playing on half a leg today. He’s got more guts than anybody I’ve ever...

You can’t let him get open. When he got open he made two (three-pointers). I thought we did a good job of finding him and not letting him get set.

Tonight was his first bad game of the year. You’re going to have a bad game once in awhile. We’re not used to him having a bad night. Usually if he’s not shooting well, he’s...

It’s a tremendous honor but it’s like anything you get in life. It really doesn’t change the future. You still have to go out and recruit and try to do the best coaching job you...

He’s had some tremendous spurts for us, but he’s been in a lot of foul trouble, which happens with big guys. When he’s in the game and not in foul trouble, he’s been effective. But,...

This was a heart-and-soul type of game. I’ve questioned the toughness of our players a couple times. When you lose four in a row and you do what we had to do to win, that’s...

who knew we’d get another chance so soon?

I think the thing fans admire and I admire is the way Gerry plays hard all the time. He knows no other speed than full speed. When he makes a mistake, it’s an effort-mistake. Most...

I don’t think we can go into everything that was said in the locker room. We just wanted to come back and be a little more physical on defense and get to their shooters a...

He amazes me every time I see him play.

You’re always hoping [big guys] get there sooner, but in my opinion they always take longer. In the last half of this season, we’re going to need more. That’s the bottom line.

I think some kids will get to college and realize it might be good to be here for two years or three. It’s a good rule. I think it will prove to be beneficial to...

There is no greater honor a basketball coach can have than to coach for your country. I believe the whole country will unite behind this effort to win back the gold medal.

We had better balance in New York. That was the key to winning.

We were pushing up on him, zoning him, double-teaming him, trying to do anything we could to get him to just miss a little bit. He was terrific.

[The two were in agreement, though that the new Big East is something to be proud of.] This will be a tremendous year, … It’ll be tremendous for the fans.

We missed Terrence, … He’s a big key for us on the boards.

I’m going to be very nervous, … You give hundreds, probably thousands of speeches in this business, but you only get one chance to make an acceptance speech at the Hall of Fame. That’s pressure.

We missed Terrence. He’s a big key for us on the boards.

The top teams are always going to have a rivalry. Connecticut is more of a big rivalry for us now because they’ve been so good. Now Georgetown’s coming back, they’ll be good again and that’ll...

When Gerry gets going like that, it’s disheartening. He can pull up and make it from anywhere inside the half court.

We struggled at times, but most of it was because of our schedule. It was more the product of our schedule than how we were playing. We really didn’t play at the level we could...

We’re not leaving out teams that can only win one game or no games. Now the reality is that we’re leaving out teams that can win two and three and four games.

We could have lost all four games, all four.

He’s got a big heart. If he’s on your side, you’ll never have to worry about having a friend.

He goes out and plays on it, it could get worse.

We just played three teams I consider to be Top Ten teams and, right now, we’re not a Top Ten team.

Derrick gave everybody a pep talk at halftime. I should have let him come in the locker room.

His side of the room was always neat,

He shoots that shot every day. I tell him every day not to take it in a game, but I told him after this one, he can take one more.

We feel that we can play with them, we feel we can play with anybody. They’re as good as anybody.

He’s won more games with last-second shots, free throws and play-making than any player we’ve ever had. It’s not even close.

We’ve learned some things about our team this week.

Just stupid. We should look at the right way to do things. I just wish there were fines for this. Maybe I’ll get fined.

If Gerry played at Notre Dame he’d probably average 25 a game for four years because that’s what he gets when he comes here.

This was a heck of a comeback from that kind of deficit against a team that controls the game. You just can’t give anybody that kind of lead and expect to come back, but we...

John Chaney and John Thompson made it possible for the black coach to get in the college game. Administrators need to win to keep their jobs. So when Chaney and Thompson won games, that’s how...

Our zone, we just weren’t active enough. Our defense was terrible. Any of the games we’ve lost, our defense has struggled. They got open shots, and that’s something we’ve got to do a better job...

Everybody wants the opportunity, no matter what you do in the regular season, to get to your league tournament, but we knew the rules.

[As for establishing rivalries,] The top teams are always going to have a rivalry, … Connecticut is more of a big rivalry for us now because they’ve been so good. Now Georgetown’s coming back, they’ll...

You start thinking about it a little bit more. I’m going out recruiting Sunday so that takes a little bit of the edge off.

Scheduling is too much in this league for television and not enough for the players. It’s very disheartening to look at scheduling and see that. Granted, TV’s important, but it shouldn’t run the league.

We got to play probably the two best teams in the conference besides Connecticut back-to-back in the road for television. That’s just crazy.

He couldn’t get playing tonight. It’s as simple as that.