NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: SYRACUSE VS HOUSTON

March 27, 2021

Marek Dolezaj

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Syracuse Orange

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Houston - 62, Syracuse - 46

Q. Obviously a disappointment in that locker room despite such a great run you guys made. Can you just talk about what the emotions are in there?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: You know, you can't be happy after a lost game. We knew we could win the game. But we just didn't make our shots and it's just really disappointing. Really there's a lot of emotions going around us right now.

Q. I wanted to ask about Jarreau's defense. What did you think of how he played Buddy? Were you hoping to maybe get a little more out of those actions with you and Quincy?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: Yeah, for sure. We knew before the game they're a really good defensive team. But I think we got our shots. We have some open shots. They just didn't fall in. And if we don't make the shots, we're not going to win the game.

Q. I know it's sucky after a loss but can you talk about the heart this team has shown to make it to the Sweet 16 and defy a whole lot of so-called experts' opinions on that?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: For sure. This season was a whole roller coaster. It started from game one, Bryant, Bourama got hurt. Almost lost that game. I think first five non-conference, every single game was tied.

And everybody counted us out. They told us you don't deserve to be in March Madness. But I think we showed them and proved everybody that we deserve to be here and made this run after the season. It just shows how much heart this team has.

Q. Houston did a really good job defending everybody but especially Buddy. What did you see them do defensively to slow him down?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: They're a physical team, a very physical team. I would say top five in defense in the whole tournament. So it was really tough for us to find open shots, and how I say we had some open shots. We just missed those.

Q. What can you say about this team this season everything you guys have been through, the starts and the stops and just the pride you have in this team in your brothers on this squad?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: I would say this team has a lot of heart and a lot of pride. It's a really roller coaster season. And losing to Pitt twice, Clemson by 25 -- there's many games. But we always came back. And we tried not to focus on that. We always just tried to focus all the time on the next game.

And I think we gave everything we could. We hoped we could win today but we didn't. They played really good basketball. We just need to move on.

Q. What do you think the biggest improvement of this team was over the course of the year?

MAREK DOLEZAJ: I think we all know in all aspects we improved. I think everybody improved from me to Woody who didn't play. I think this is our thing and we just stick together the whole season and that helped us a lot.