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Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Coach Boeheim Quotes
SU vs. WVA
Saturday, January 22, 2005
Opening Statement:
“I thought this was the kind of game where you just had to hang in there by making plays. In this league every team is going to come at you for the whole game. Everyone we play is in a position where if they beat us they’re going to get right back on track, so we’re going to get the best of everyone we play.
West Virginia was smart. They played Gerry and Hakim, and they left some openings for other guys. We have to take advantage of those openings. I thought Billy came in and made some good plays in the lane. Everyone’s doubling Hakim which leaves openings for other people. We’ve got to make sure we have the other people ready to finish and produce in those situations.
I thought we did a tremendous job playing man-to-man, and that established the lead in the first half. We play them man-to-man every year, and have been able to get away with it. They’re a very good shooting and passing team. I thought playing man-to-man got us enough of an edge that we were able to get a little lead at the half. We made a couple of bad passes that we’d like to take back, but other than that we played pretty well. To be up 10 or 12 at halftime with Gerry going 0-6 from the three is a testimony to the way everybody else played. Hakim was tremendous in the first half. Every game you play in this league is going to be a battle. Our league is very tough. This was a very good win.”
On the play of junior guard Billy Edelin:
“They were worried about Gerry and Hakim. Billy is smart. He knows where to take advantage of that and get in open spaces. He can make shots. If people don’t guard him he’s going to make them pay. He’s a good player.”
On playing man-to-man defense:
“We play them man-to-man every year. They have a tricky offense that’s good against zones because of their shooters. We wanted to be able to play some man-to-man and we had a lot of success with it. They missed some shots and we did a good job defensively. We were in a pretty close game and our man-to-man allowed us to get a 12-point lead. That’s a good sign. We’ll probably be in situations this year where we’ll want to play some man-to-man.”
On the status of sophomore forward Darryl Watkins:
“He’s been kind of working out, but I didn’t want to put him into a game like this not knowing whether or not he could catch the ball well. We have to see how he practices with the new wrap.”
On how the team makes big plays:
“We’ve got a lot of guys who can make plays. We don’t have just one or two. We can go to different guys. Sometimes it’s hard to go to Hakim because people are doubling him, so we’ve got guards that can make plays.”
