Coach Boeheim Quotes Following the Cornell Game - Dec. 20, 2004
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim's opening remarks following the Cornell game on Dec. 20th, 2004:
"When a team shoots 15-for-24 from the three, it's a combination of they're good shooters and not playing good defense. The only threat they had in the second half was the three-point shot. We effectively cut off their inside game completely. The only threat they had was from the three-point line and we still couldn't do a good job of guarding the three's, particularly after we substituted in the second half. We held them to about seven points the first eight or 10 minutes and then they scored 27 in the last 10 minutes and that was strictly guys going in not ready to play. When you come in off the bench, you have to be ready to defend people and we didn't defend them. I thought we did a great job in the first 10 minutes, a little bit in the first half and then the first 8-10 minutes of the second half, in our full-court pressure. That's the best we've played in the full-court all year. I thought they were a good passing team, a smart team. We really did a good job. We forced a lot of turnovers for easy baskets and that was the difference in the game. But, I just thought from the beginning we weren't ready defensively. We gave them open shots and when you give shooters open shots, they're going to make them. We played teams who can shoot the ball like this all year and we're holding people to about 26 percent from the three, and we allowed them to shoot 15-for-24. Some guys have to understand they have to play defense when they get in to stay in the game. That's what this time period is to learn. We can still win a game like this. When we don't defend the three, we're going to come to a point in time when we can't do this anymore. We're going to have to learn. I thought another thing - when Terrence went in the first half - he wasn't ready and the second half, he was a completely different player. He was so much more active, so much more involved in the game. That's something that we have to have. I think Hakim has been very steady, but he's got to be more dominant. I think he kind of settles for getting his 19, 20 points. He's got to be more offensive-minded and he's got to go to the basket more. He's not getting to the foul line. He's got to get to the foul line. I thought the other thing in the game was our offensive patience wasn't there like it needs to be. When we were patient, we got good shots. But, overall, we weren't ready to play defense at the beginning of the game and when you allow teams to shoot open shots, they're going to make them. Cornell's got very good shooters. They've got some veteran guys who are good players. The other thing that's disappointing is that we've always been able to play some man-to-man defense in the early part of the year and we can't do that this year. So, I think that's another thing that's disappointing at this stage, along with a few others."
Boeheim responding to a question about using full-court pressure:
"I think we had to go full court to get some steals, to get some offense going and to get some easy baskets. You're not going to be able to do that against some teams."
Boeheim on the minutes of freshman guard Josh Wright:
"We were trying to get these guys some time to get them to understand what they're doing. I thought the first half he went in and tried to play like a 2-guard. He's got to play like a point guard. He's got to get the ball to people rather than be the guy who scores. A good example was when Louie made a three and then Josh came down, had a shot, but he could have penetrated and kicked to Louie. Louie just knocked down a three and that's the play. He's got to learn. But, mainly his defense and Billy's was horrendous in our zone. They just didn't guard anybody and that was my main concern there. But, Josh has good speed. He can push the ball. He's made a couple bad reads in terms of getting the ball down where we could have had a good, easy basket. Those are things we're trying to teach him now, try to get him to understand before we get into the conference."
Boeheim when asked a second time about the full-court press SU used against Cornell:
"I didn't think we'd be able to press them like that, but when you have to, you have to. We did a good job. We really did. Surprisingly, good."
Boeheim on the difference in Terrence Robert's play from the first half to the second:
"I don't know. You have to ask him. I didn't say anything to him. I told everybody we've got to be ready to play. There's no excuse for not playing. I don't care who you play, when you play. When you're 18 and 19 years old, you should be ready to play everyday. You practice hard everyday, you should be ready to play in a game. Some of it is defensively, man-to-man, we're just not very good. I don't think it's necessarily effort, I think we're just not very good."
Boeheim on Demetrius Nichols' back:
"He's 50/50, but I don't want to play somebody that's 50/50. I told him when he's ready to play, physically fit, then he can play. But, he doesn't think he's totally ready and he didn't practice and when you don't practice, you don't play."
Boeheim on Billy Edelin:
"It's difficult when you're away from this game for a long time. People know what his game is. They're going to play him for the drive. He needed, over time, to develop his jump shot so people couldn't do that to him, but that hasn't happened. People are just playing his drive and I don't care how good you are, if you don't have some kind of other game, they're just going to play his drive the whole time. He's getting up in the air with no place to go. People know what he's going to do."
Boeheim on Cornell's shooters:
"You can't let people shoot the ball. It's as simple as that. If you let people shoot the ball, they're going to make shots in college."
Boeheim on the next game against Rice on Dec. 22:
"Rice is a great team. If we don't play on Wednesday, we won't even be in the game. I don't think this team has come to an understanding of what they have to do yet. Other than our defense, and our zone defense this year, I don't see anything - some flashes of offense - I don't see any sense of consistency in the way we play. Mookie was great last game, tonight he's jumping up in the air, leaving his feet. He's just jumping up, landing on people. He's going to get himself hurt, more than he's going to get somebody else hurt. We're not by that yet. So, we have not really done anything except I think our zone has been good. It's probably why we've won two or three games that we should have lost. So, we're no where near - anywhere close to - what I think is a good basketball team yet. If we don't change, it will be very evident to everybody very soon. We're just not there."
