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Coach Boeheim Quotes
Notre Dame at Syracuse
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
February 5, 2005
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
On the game:
“The last half of the last game and most of this game, our offense just isnt’ good enough. “We’re not playing well enough to win games offensively, Gerry’s not shooting the ball well. We’re left with one option. They didn’t really doubleteam Hak (Hakim Warrick) a lot so we were able to get it to him but teams that can double team him or can play him, and make him take tough shots, we just don’t have enough offense. That’s the bottom line. Our offense is not what it has to be at this level.”
“It’s interesting, we go to Notre Dame, we always play better there offensively than we do here. They seem to play better here than they do there. This was a game that we played, that we lost for 35 minutes, whatever it was, we were completely beaten inside on the boards, we were beaten offensively completely. Our defense held us in. Our defense was pretty good for most of the game. We challenged them pretty well but we got into a forced press situation. They’re a good ball-handling team but we made a basket, then a turnover that was a big turnover and kind of got us back going. Then they made a mistake on the other end and we were right back in the game. It was quick down the stretch. We want to get the ball in Gerry’s hands and we know that he’s going to make those free throws. We didn’t do much inside but we really did a good job with their three-point shooters, tremendous three-point shooters. We did a tremendous job with them on Thomas (Chris). We’ve had two games in a row where we’ve held him in check and he’s a really good player.”
“Offensively we’re just flat, not playing good enough right now and that’s going to have to change coming down the stretch in these games. Teams aren’t going to give us a comeback from 10 points down. It’s just not going to happen that many times. In fact, this may be the last time something like that happens. You’re not going to get that against good teams. Thomas misses a couple free throws for us and Francis (Torin) misses one. We made everyone. You just can’t put yourself in that position. We played tight the first half but we just couldn’t get anything going. It’s a big game and I think the hype was too much for both teams.
“I know this has been the longest week of my life. I don’t know if we’ve ever gone this long playing games and not playing anything in the middle of the season. It was painful this whole week. When it was Tuesday, I thought it was already Friday…today I must have watched twenty-two games and I’m sick of games. This nine o’clock game after a week off is not fun. I thought both teams were tight but that happens too when you get a big crowd and everybody gets excited. Gerry (McNamara) calmed down in the second half and he’s rarely going to have two bad halves. He was tremendous in the second half and Hakim (Warrick) was too. We just can’t put ourselves in this position offensively too many times. We’ve done it now two games in a row and we’re lucky we got out of this one with a win but we’re not going to get out of many more if we can’t play better offensively.”
On the final two minutes of the game:
“We had pressure there a little bit, man-to-man, and they made a couple mistakes. We just played good defense, full court, then back into man. They made a couple mistakes, fortunately for us, but that’s not going to happen too many times.”
On the offense and defense during the game:
“It’s always a combination of things but when you score 20 points and you’re a college basketball team, I don’t think any defense should be able to do that to you. I don’t remember what we scored out there in that first half but it was a few more than twenty.”
On the offensive plays of the game and Louie (McCroskey’s) hustle:
“We made a couple good plays, got that big rebound and a free throw out of it. Louis is willing to take those shots, which is good. The next step is to make them but at least he’s looking to take them. That’s something that’s positive.”
On getting more production from other players:
“I think the bottom line is the guys need to loosen up and they have to go out there and play. Demetris (Nichols) gets in the game, has a jump shot and he’s trying to dribble. That’s not what he does best. Billy (Edelin) just can’t seem to get into what he’s good at. We can’t seem to get him into position. We’re just not getting enough balance. It’s alright if your centers aren’t scoring but you have to have somebody else, someone is willing to step up. You cannot win in this league, against the good teams, with two guys. Josh Pace got off to a good start tonight and I was glad to see that. He was really good at defense all night but we’ve got to find somebody else to step up and score. They played Hak (Warrick) man-to-man and if somebody is going man-to-man and not double, he should have done what he did in the second half, in the first half, just go to the basket on these guys. Make them double team him, then that will create some offense for other people. If they’re going to continually play him with one guy then we may be able to win with two guys. We have to get an offensive rebound or two. There has to be other things that people can do for us to score, and that’s what’s going to be our challenge the rest of the way….developing some new offense, our defense has been pretty good all year really, but we have to develop some more offense.”
On the crowd tonight:
“We had great fans. They were here this morning, the students. It’s tremendous support, really shows the nation what type of fans we have. It’s tremendous, the whole year, the whole season and that’s what it takes. You need that kind of support to be successful. It’s kind of mind bongling, when you come to think about it. I think we all take it for granted way too much. This is really, really an amazing thing that happens here.”
