Coach Boeheim Quotes
West Virginia at Syracuse
Wednesday, February 26, 2003
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
“Defensively, I thought that this was the best man-to-man we’ve played in a long time. Offensively, we weren’t patient enough in the first half. The second half, we were much more patient. We got better ball movement. We got better shots and we scored more points. I thought defensively, Kueth Duany played his best game of the year. He and Hakim Warrick did a great job helping each other on Drew Schifino and Kevin Pittsnogle. That was really the key to the ballgame. West Virginia has played very well this year and they get you with their movement. You have to guard their offense and we did one of the best jobs we’ve done in a long time. This was a good effort after an emotional game Sunday and our defense carried us."
On Kueth Duany’s performance:
“He got good shots. Carmelo found him. Gerry found him. He was the guy early in the game for us when we were struggling on the offensive end.”
On Billy Edelin’s play:
“He was very good tonight. He helped us on the boards. His defense was good and he made good decisions. He got the ball to people in the right spots and got to the basket.”
On Matt Gorman’s progress:
“He’s worked hard and he’s been lifting. He’s been playing well in practice. He goes against Carmelo and Hakim every day in practice and those are the best players to play against. He’s gotten better and he’s a very good shooter. Obviously, its disappointing when you don’t play a lot, but it’s something he has to work through.”
On playing man-to-man defense against West Virginia:
“They’re a good shooting team, and as long as we don’t give up the back door you can pressure them and get a few turnovers. When you play zone you don’t get any of that. I didn’t know we would play that much man, but it was effective. Everyone did a great job and this was a tremendous defensive effort for this team.”
