Coach Boeheim Quotes
Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2003
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
On tonight’s game:
“The guys that have to do the things out there, especially when they went to the box-and-one on Gerry (McNamara), that’s when we’ve got to get something inside. Hakim (Warrick) was not aggressive to start the game.
We have a major problem shooting the basketball from the perimeter – people are going to know that. We’re going to see defenses back in the lane with four guys, and that’s a problem we’re going to have to work hard to overcome.
I thought the second half, we made as good an effort as we could make in terms of trying to battle from behind. Whenever you press, you’re going to leave somebody open when they get down the court. The guy’s (Brendan Plavich) a very good shooter, and he made the threes when they were there.
I thought we fought just about as hard as we could. We were more aggressive offensively in the second half. We did a better job getting Gerry open and screening for him. Hak was much more aggressive inside. But, we had just dug too big a hole.
I think they’re a very good team. I think they came in and played well.”
On Gerry McNamara:
“We got him the ball – we got some transitions – looks – because of the pressure. We changed the game – it was the only thing we could do – and tried to make it an open-court game where he’s going to get some looks. But if the team handles that pressure better, we’re getting beat by 40 instead of 10 or 15.”
On Charlotte’s defense:
“They played the box-and-one with four guys in the lane and one guy on him all the time – you’re really not going to get him open. I’m sure they figured they had enough of a lead that they wouldn’t have to play the box-and-one in the second half, and he finally got some looks. By the time they got back into the box-and-one, he then got some baskets in transition. Hakim came to life inside.”
On Hakim Warrick:
“He’s a guy that has got to play every play on offense. In the past, if he had to make a play, he made it; if he didn’t have to make it, he didn’t have to. When we give him the ball, we don’t have that many options. We had two good scoring options last year that we don’t have, so he has to score or make an effort to go to the basket every time he gets the ball in there, and he didn’t do that in the first half. He was tentative, he passed it out, didn’t finish a couple plays.”
