Coach Boeheim Quotes Following the Drexel Game - Dec. 18, 2004
Boeheim's opening remarks:
"This game coming off the break is always a difficult game. I think Drexel's a good basketball team, a lot better team than people might think. I thought we had a stretch in the first half when it was a close game where Hak made a couple great shots and got a couple people open. We made some really good offensive plays. We played very, very well offensively tonight. I thought we did a tremendous job there. We did the best job this year that we've done on the boards. They did a good job defensively on Gerry and I think everybody picked him up. I think that was a good sign for us that we were able to get the win and Gerry was pretty much held in check all night. I thought Mookie (Darryl Watkins) came in and was very active. We had a tremendous size advantage inside. He took advantage of that. Hak and Gerry and Josh found him when he was open. He finished plays. I thought he was very good. Terrence was good. We went with a little bigger team and I thought we did a good job. It was a good game for us. It's always tough coming off this break and having three games in five days, it's good to get this one and get a good, solid win. We're happy with it."
Boeheim on whether this is the type of game he expects out of Darryl Watkins:
"He was good tonight. He was active. He shot the ball well. He was real good in there tonight."
Boeheim on going to a bigger lineup against Drexel:
"We've used those big guys this year. That's what we've used this year. Terrence has been playing good coming off the bench. He just had the game he couldn't play, so those are the guys that are playing well. I thought Louie played well tonight. He just didn't make his shots. He had an opportunity there in the second half where he could have hit a couple wide-open three's. But, it wasn't that he wasn't playing well, I just wanted to get the bigger team out there. That was the team that was most effective in the first half."
Boeheim on his team's play in the first half:
"I wanted to make sure they knew they were in for a game and we played tremendous at the end of the first half. We had a tremendous stretch of offensive efficiency. We must have scored six or seven times in a row. I just felt we really needed to be ready to do that. We've had a couple games this year where we've struggled a little bit and never got going and ended up fighting for our lives against teams not as good as Drexel. I know Drexel's a pretty good team. They've got some tough kids and they know how to play. We had to be very aware of them hanging in there with us. We had to get some distancing when we got it with a 16-point lead, they cut it right to nine. We just had to really be aware that we had to make good plays. We made real good offensive plays. The first half was exceptional - 65 percent from the field."
Boeheim on what Drexel did to limit McNamara:
"They just kept a guy on him. They helped on him when he came off screens. That's why Mookie got open. He's coming off, Mookie's rolling back down. He's getting layups and offensive rebounds because they're helping so much. Gerry's a factor whether he scores or not. They're always helping with one and a half. There's always an extra guy that's got to come out and help on those screens and when they do that it allows Josh Pace to get in the lane. It allows Mookie and Terrence to get back inside. Hak was real good. We isolated him. If they doubled him, he hit the open guy, if they didn't double, he shot the ball well tonight. I thought Billy gave us a good few minutes in the first half. We just went with smaller numbers in the second half. Again, this was a very, solid win. I'm happy with it."
Boeheim on the play of Darryl Watkins:
"He works. He's getting better. He's still got a ways to go, but when people leave him alone and they're helping on Hak and Gerry, he's taken advantage of that. Craig didn't do that tonight. He should have had a layup to start the second half. He's just not moving as well as Mookie is right now. Craig did a couple nice things in the first half, but Mookie just played better and the guy that plays better is going to get more minutes in that situation. He's got to keep working and keep getting better."
Final thoughts from Coach Boeheim:
"It's always difficult when you've got exams and guys missing practice. Demetrius' back's bothering him. We think he's coming back. We think he might be able to play Monday, but we're not sure. It's always tough when kids are concentrating on exams all week. But, I think now that that's behind us - and again, we played very well offensively tonight, so that's a good thing - but I hope we'll start to play better and concentrate on basketball for the next few days."
