This was one of those nights when we weren’t going to be denied.

He made some bad choices and got in some bad situations but we need him to make plays. We don’t have other guys to make plays.

Our defense was the best it’s been all year in the first half and most of the second half. At the end the game just got crazy, I don’t know what you’d call that.

Gerry had as good a four games here as anybody I’ve ever seen. He just wanted to win.

They won’t let you shoot it. But if they do, shoot it!

Before the start of the conference, Eastern basketball was quite fragmented, … The Big East gave Eastern basketball a national identity, and the Dome was the perfect stage for those nationally televised games.

We just really couldn’t stop them defensively enough to get to where we wanted to go. They shot the ball well. They played well, … We made some uncharacteristically bad turnovers in this game that...

I didn’t like the non-calls. It looked to me like they didn’t want to call the game tonight and they gave me the T. I’ve never been thrown out of a game. I wanted the...

We have three games in one week, which means you’ll have one day of practice. Somehow, we need to get a little more proper spacing with the games.

The good thing about New York was that we had good balance. That’s something that we didn’t have last year. With Hakim and Gerry, we just didn’t have the balance that we do this year.

We didn’t have quite enough patience on offense. When we got shots and really we got some good ones, and in the second half we got a lot of good ones. We just didn’t make...

This is the best one for sure, … It even fits perfectly. It has permanently banished all of the bad sport coats.

We’ve had too many bad turnovers and we’ve got to get that corrected.

He was very hard on me, … It didn’t matter if it was ping-pong or golf or pool, he’d try to beat me. He’s definitely the person who taught me how to compete.

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.