Coach Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Manhattan
November 12, 2001 – Carrier Dome
"Defense was the story of the game. We really played well. In the first half, I felt our zone got a couple of good traps -- a couple of turnovers. In the second half we came back and played all man-to-man (defense) and our man-to-man was very good. I thought we helped well. We got beat a little bit too much off the dribble, but I felt that Craig (Forth) and Jeremy (McNeil) did a good job helping. DeShaun (Williams) and Preston (Shumpert) were very good on the offensive end. They were very patient. James (Thues) came in and gave us an extra ball handler. It's a small, quick team. We had to go a little small so we didn't have the edge we'd like to have on the boards. We just had to handle the ball better. Defensively overall we were good. I think we gave up some rebounding to get better ball handling into the game. Manhattan has a very good team. This was a real solid win for us."
On James Thues' play:
"He was good. He handled the ball. He got it to people. He was patient. He took his opportunities when they were there and made good decisions."
On play of the freshmen:
"I thought our freshmen were a little bit nervous. Hakim (Warrick) was a little nervous -- he tried to do a little too much. Josh (Pace) is very steady. I feel very comfortable with him in the game. I think he's going to make good plays and good decisions."
On Craig Forth:
"He's not really a low post go-to guy right now. I think what he does best is catch and pass. He found people. He's getting better in terms of finding people. He's a very good offensive rebounder. Both of his baskets in the first half were off penetration and he got the tip in."
On defenses keying on Preston Shumpert and DeShaun Williams:
"There's no question about that. They started out with a triangle defense. We thought about that and talked about it a little bit. Kueth (Duany) hit a good open three and almost hit two. He's a good shooter. They didn't stick with it. I'm sure that's a defense we'll see during the course of the year."
On DeShaun Williams' improvement handling the ball:
"He's always been a pretty good ball handler. At the two guard you don't get to show that off. At the two guard you're really coming off screens and shooting the ball and penetrate a little bit. There's actually more room to penetrate from the point spot. You get more opportunities. You're more in the middle of the court with the ball. He has more opportunities to get to the basket. At the two, he's catching it on the wing and there are not as many opportunities."
On handling Manhattan's full-court pressure:
"We did alright. It didn't give us any problems really. When you play at home, it's a little easier. It's something we have to continue to work on and prepare for."
