Coach Jim Boeheim Wisconsin Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Wisconsin
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I thought we battled in that second half. I thought we did a tremendous job to get back in and get the lead. We cannot miss free throws coming down the stretch. We had great opportunities to keep the lead, and when you don’t, when you miss those, you give that other team a chance – they’re going to make it eventually. We’re going to miss shots, we’re going to have bad shooting nights. We didn’t shoot well from the three, we didn’t shoot well from the field, but we can’t really shoot 55 percent from the foul line. That’s not going to get it done.
“I thought we battled hard. We got crushed on the boards. This is the first game where we’ve really been absolutely crushed on the boards. Tyler (Roberson) – he gets 14 rebounds (in an earlier game) and he comes back with two. We need him to be consistent. We need him to rebound. I thought Kaleb (Joseph) gave us a really good first half and that’s good. We may have to play a couple more guys as we go forward, particularly when we get later in the league – and I thought he showed some real positives tonight.
“I thought Wisconsin is a really good team against zones. We knew that from playing them before. I thought our defense was good enough. On defense we did enough with it. We had some really good opportunities to get to the basket late and we didn’t finish. When we did get to the line, we have to make those free throws. When we’re not shooting well, we have to have a tremendous effort and I thought we had that. But, we certainly have to shoot a little bit better.”
In the second half did you think the team was waiting for Trevor (Cooney) and Michael (Gbinije) to shoot?
“No. Malachi (Richardson) just had his first bad game shooting the ball. He’s been so consistent for a freshman and tonight he’s 1-for-7 from the three and he’s been pretty consistent. I think we want Michael (Gbinije) and Trevor (Cooney) to make plays. I think Tyler Lydon’s missed the couple threes he’s been making. That happens sometimes. The difference really in this game, we played just as hard and probably just as well as we did in the tournament (Battle 4 Atlantis) but we shot .500 from the three and we didn’t miss free throws (in the Bahamas). Simple as that.”
Why did you go with Kaleb Joseph at the end?
“Kaleb had a really good first half with six points and I thought he’d make something happen.”
Do you know what you’re going to get going against Wisconsin in terms of toughness even though they’re young?
“First of all, I think they’ve got a very good team. (Nigel) Hayes and (Bronson) Koenig played in the national championship last year – two starters on a national championship final team. I thought (Vitto) Brown was terrific tonight. I thought he really, really played well and (Ethan) Happ had a tremendous game. I think they have a good team. I think that if you can pressure them man-to-man it’s a little different but we can’t do that. But overall, our defense was more than good enough. Offensively we weren’t good enough tonight.”
Why didn’t DaJuan (Coleman) play the second half?
“They hit the two short-corner jump shots and that’s his spot. Tyler (Lydon) has been playing unbelievable in the middle and we won the tournament because we played him in the center spot so I thought it would be a good thing to try to do what we’ve been doing, seeing as we just won a big tournament.”
Syracuse vs. Wisconsin
Wednesday, Dec. 2, 2015
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I thought we battled in that second half. I thought we did a tremendous job to get back in and get the lead. We cannot miss free throws coming down the stretch. We had great opportunities to keep the lead, and when you don’t, when you miss those, you give that other team a chance – they’re going to make it eventually. We’re going to miss shots, we’re going to have bad shooting nights. We didn’t shoot well from the three, we didn’t shoot well from the field, but we can’t really shoot 55 percent from the foul line. That’s not going to get it done.
“I thought we battled hard. We got crushed on the boards. This is the first game where we’ve really been absolutely crushed on the boards. Tyler (Roberson) – he gets 14 rebounds (in an earlier game) and he comes back with two. We need him to be consistent. We need him to rebound. I thought Kaleb (Joseph) gave us a really good first half and that’s good. We may have to play a couple more guys as we go forward, particularly when we get later in the league – and I thought he showed some real positives tonight.
“I thought Wisconsin is a really good team against zones. We knew that from playing them before. I thought our defense was good enough. On defense we did enough with it. We had some really good opportunities to get to the basket late and we didn’t finish. When we did get to the line, we have to make those free throws. When we’re not shooting well, we have to have a tremendous effort and I thought we had that. But, we certainly have to shoot a little bit better.”
In the second half did you think the team was waiting for Trevor (Cooney) and Michael (Gbinije) to shoot?
“No. Malachi (Richardson) just had his first bad game shooting the ball. He’s been so consistent for a freshman and tonight he’s 1-for-7 from the three and he’s been pretty consistent. I think we want Michael (Gbinije) and Trevor (Cooney) to make plays. I think Tyler Lydon’s missed the couple threes he’s been making. That happens sometimes. The difference really in this game, we played just as hard and probably just as well as we did in the tournament (Battle 4 Atlantis) but we shot .500 from the three and we didn’t miss free throws (in the Bahamas). Simple as that.”
Why did you go with Kaleb Joseph at the end?
“Kaleb had a really good first half with six points and I thought he’d make something happen.”
Do you know what you’re going to get going against Wisconsin in terms of toughness even though they’re young?
“First of all, I think they’ve got a very good team. (Nigel) Hayes and (Bronson) Koenig played in the national championship last year – two starters on a national championship final team. I thought (Vitto) Brown was terrific tonight. I thought he really, really played well and (Ethan) Happ had a tremendous game. I think they have a good team. I think that if you can pressure them man-to-man it’s a little different but we can’t do that. But overall, our defense was more than good enough. Offensively we weren’t good enough tonight.”
Why didn’t DaJuan (Coleman) play the second half?
“They hit the two short-corner jump shots and that’s his spot. Tyler (Lydon) has been playing unbelievable in the middle and we won the tournament because we played him in the center spot so I thought it would be a good thing to try to do what we’ve been doing, seeing as we just won a big tournament.”
