Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Siena
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
November 25, 2005
Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Jim Boeheim’s opening statement…
“We came out flat, we just weren’t doing things aggressively that we needed to. I think the press helped us get going. Our big guys have to get going early. We wanted to get the ball inside and never did and when we finally did it was 32 minutes into the game. We’ve got to get going earlier in that situation. We moved the ball better, Gerry didn’t try to do as much with the ball, and we had him away from the ball more. He got better looks and when he gets good looks he’s going to make them. I think defensively we are struggling the most right now with the young guys. We are allowing dribble penetration and are making some bad decisions defensively. We did a good job with Fisher finding him, we really wanted to do that. We just let too much dribble penetration in there and that’s something we are usually better at. Sometimes I still forget that it’s still November and maybe we are expecting a little too much but we’ve got a lot to work on the rest of this month and December to get where we need to get to. As I’ve said a few times, these teams we are playing are good teams, they’ve got good players. Illinois-Chicago beat Georgia Tech tonight so there aren’t any easy games. If we wouldn’t have made our three-point shots tonight this would’ve been a close game. Fortunately we made some. I think we moved a little better and got some better looks. I’m disappointed with the way our big guys are playing, they’ve got to do better. We have a few games to get there.”
On how Siena played inside…
“Well they penetrated our zone, we didn’t do a good job with the zone. We actually beat them with a line-up about their size. We took our centers out and played Terrence (Roberts) at center, Demetris (Nichols) and the three little guys. So we actually were about their size. Our big guys could’ve dominated early and they finally did late, but there’s no excuse for that. That should’ve all happened early. We got ahead because our press worked against a small team and we did a good job with our press. But we shouldn’t have to win a game against a small team with pressure we should be able to beat them inside and I’m just disappointed with the way our big guys performed from the beginning.”
On how Eric Devendorf did in his first start…
“He seems to be in slow motion to me. He’s not getting down ahead of the ball and doesn’t seem to be coming out quick for it. He needs some time.”
On Gerry McNamara’s play…
I think Gerry did the things he’s got to do tonight. He got some good looks and made some plays and didn’t force anything. I don’t think he took a bad shot tonight. This was by far his best game. He didn’t have to do as much, he had some more rest. I thought Josh was good but he gets into the same bugaboo, where he plays pretty good and then makes two horrific turnovers out of nowhere. We’ve got to get away from that.”
