Jim Boeheim Quotes
Coach Jim Boeheim Post-Game Quotes
Carrier Dome – November 3, 2005
Syracuse vs. Le Moyne
Opening Statement
“This was a good game for us in a lot of ways. Defensively, we committed some bad fouls. Both Terrence (Roberts) and Matt (Gorman) got in foul trouble early. I thought Arinze (Onuaku) did a nice job in the first half, and Eric (Devendorf), they did a really nice job in the first half.
We haven’t really played against zone that much in practice. We haven’t really worked on that that much, we’ve just been trying to get our man-to-man stuff down. I thought in the second half, we got better shots, we got better penetration and we passed better. I think our turnovers were a huge improvement from the first game, which is a real good sign – to keep it down. We got really good shots and we shoot a better percentage when that happens. But the fouls, little things – if they call it like that in the Big East, that will be good, I hope that happens. They called touch fouls and hand fouls and that’s OK, we can live with that.
This was a real good experience game, particularly for those two freshmen, and I thought we learned a lot of things tonight. Demetris (Nichols), when he gets his balance and gets that shot, he can make that shot. So this was good. We didn’t have to have Gerry (McNamara) get 26 or 28, and I think that’s a good night.”
On Terrence Roberts…
“His knees are a little sore but he missed two easy plays early on the offensive end that he’s got to finish. He’s active, he’s getting in good position, he’s getting opportunities. He had eight points again in limited play. He’s just got to stay out there. He’s made some bad fouls.”
On Demetris Nichols’ shooting…
“He’s a good shooter. It’s up to our guys to get him good shots in the offense. I thought Louie and Gerry did a good job tonight finding people. Gerry had nine (assists), Louie had six (assists), and Josh had four (assists). I thought they did a good job of finding people, and that’s what he (Demetris) needs. He needs people to help him.”
On three-point shooting…
“It’s important for everybody. It’s an important part of the way we’re going to play this year. We don’t have that inside scoring presence where you are going to get twenty. That’s part of the things we can do, and it’s going to be important for us.”
On rebounding…
“Well, we’re small still, especially once Terry and Matty get out of there, we’re playing with a small lineup for a large part of the game. That’s something that concerns me. Arinze did a pretty good job on the boards but, Louie is probably our best rebounder. He goes and gets it better than anybody. But that’s an area we have to improve on.”
On Le Moyne…
“I thought they did a nice job. I thought they penetrated and did a lot of nice things. They got some good shots, some open shots but they didn’t convert them. I thought these two games were good for us, and better than last year. These are the kind of games that Hakim (Warrick) dominates and we don’t have that factor this year so we have to play a little different.”
On the state of the team…
“We’ve got a lot of work to do. This is so early. It used to be we would have two or three weeks of practice without a scrimmage at this stage. There’s such a long way to go. The games are good for our younger guys to find things we can take out of these games but no more than we take out of just practice probably. It’s good to be in the building and play and get some strange calls and some different things, things you have to learn to play with and adjust to. These two have been very good games, particularly when you don’t have a veteran team where you are comfortable with what they are going to do. This team needs these games, they are very good learning experiences for these guys. Next week is a whole new week and that will be another experience and we’ll be learning quite a bit about our team for some time to come yet.”
On Arinze Onuaku…
“I thought he did a very good job in the first half. That was good for us and good for him.”
