Coach Boeheim Quotes
Saturday, Jan. 3, 2004
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
On the game:
“It really was a game – as last year’s was – where our offense was good. Our defense was a little better, but they probably attack zones as well as anybody. They’ve got two or three guys that can shoot the ball well from the outside. They can put it on the floor, and (Paul) Davis is good inside.”
“This was a good, solid, overall game for us – our best so far. I think we’ve kind of built up to this game. This was a good solid game – especially on the offensive end I thought.”
On SU’s defense:
“I thought, even though they scored a lot of points, our defense was better than it’s been all year. In our zone, I thought we were more active. I thought we rebounded better in it, and made some real good plays.”
On Josh Pace and Billy Edelin:
“I think the first half was Josh (Pace) and Billy (Edelin). People are playing Gerry (McNamara) and Hakim (Warrick) real tight, doubling and looking for him, and it creates opportunities for those two guys. They both stepped up big today. They were huge.”
On Terrence Roberts:
“I thought Terrence (Roberts) gave us a few good minutes, but it was a veteran game. These guys have been to the last game, and we were going to go with those guys today, no matter what happened. I was encouraged, though, by what Terrence did coming in, and I was encouraged with Louie (McCroskey), with some of the things he did. So that’s a good sign.”
On Michigan State:
“Overall, I think Michigan State’s a real good basketball team. They’ll be in the NCAA Tournament as I said they would be last year. I think they’ll contend in the Big Ten the whole way, and I wouldn’t be that shocked if they won it or if they finished in the top two or three. Again, they’re a real good team, and they’ll prove that, as they did last year, by the end of this year.”
On SU’s basket at the end of the first half:
“Well, we figured they’d foul Gerry off the double and we’d just try to get Josh going the other way. Those things work once in a blue moon.”
On Craig Forth:
“Our centers weren’t ready. That was my biggest question in the last game. Our centers in the last game or two have not been ready. Tonight, Craig (Forth) was tremendous. He moved around and got a couple big plays early. Hak’s doing a tremendous job of finding him.”
On Hakim Warrick:
“It was an emotional game for Hak, obviously. When you get cut from a team (over the summer; Team USA, coached by MSU’s Tom Izzo), it’s always tough to go through that, particularly with the year he had last year. Those things happen in those games. Coaches look for certain things and want certain things. A lot of people tell you, you need physical players when you go international. The international game’s changed now. It used to be that way – that used to be true. But I’ve found out from coaching the last few years, the few times I went over there, they’re getting more like us, and they have more guys that are finesse players than they used to. It’s not that physical anymore. But, this was an emotional game for Hak. He got into foul trouble, he was trying to do too much a little bit, but in the second half, he won the game for us. We went to him almost every time, and he was big down there.”
On Michigan State’s schedule:
“It’s tough to play – when you play every game that are those games – you don’t have much time in between games. You just slip a little bit and you lose a little confidence. But they were in all those games. We watched them. I watched the tapes of all those games. They could have beaten virtually every one of those teams – UCLA they should have, Kentucky they had a real good chance. They’re very young. If you look at their team, they got a lot of young guys. They’re going to get better, and I really believe they’ll have a tremendous year this year when they get back in the Big Ten.”
On SU building up to this game with it’s previous nine games:
“I don’t think you need to do that – I’m sure Tom knows he doesn’t need to do that – it just happens. You play a couple tough games – we’ve had more tough games than I’d like to have to be honest with you. If you win the national championship, you don’t have to play two or three tough games to get ready for this game. These guys’ memories – they’re not like mine. They’re young. They can remember things. They remember last year. I have trouble remembering last week. Our guys were ready for this game. I told them, every game they play from now on in is going to be like this. You gotta go out and play, and play well. We’re playing well together, they’re looking for each other. They’ve got a nice feel for each other. We’ve got our limitations, but most everybody does.”
On Josh Pace’s performance this year after struggling early last season:
“That’s the way it goes in this game. The year before that, Hak was struggling. Everybody goes through that when they’re young players, for the most part, except for the exceptional players. We’ve got some real good freshmen right now that aren’t playing that are pretty good players, and will be. Some need a year. That’s all. Josh was tremendous today. He was really big today.”
On SU’s progress:
“We’ve got a long way to go. We’ve got to get a lot better.”
On SU’s centers:
“They’ve heard it from me for their whole careers here. I’m sure they’ll be hearing it tomorrow, too. They did some good things. They fell asleep a little bit in the second half, but they did some good things. I think that’s something very positive for us.”
On Billy Edelin:
“He’s hard to stop. He can get down in the lane area, and he’s tough down there. Michigan State’s a pretty good defensive team. We put 96 points up on the board against them – that’s pretty good.”
On putting walk-on Ronneil Herron on the foul line after Josh Pace was fouled and injured:
“I had a hunch. He’s one of our good foul shooters in practice – him and Andrew Kouwe are our two best, really, and it was between them, really. Ronneil’s a pretty tough kid. He was a good athlete in high school. He plays against Billy every day and kind of holds his own pretty good. I thought he’d go in and have a good chance to make at least one, and he made them both. Good coaching.”
On SU’s confidence going into BIG EAST play:
“This gives me the confidence that we’re going to have practice tomorrow at 2 o’clock. It’s been a good, pretty productive non-conference schedule. We’ve still got a lot of work to do. Now the tough games really start.”
