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Coach Boeheim Quotes
February 7, 2004
Syracuse vs. Connecticut
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Coach Boeheim Quotes
I thought we played as hard as we’ve played all year. The pressure got us back in the first half and the second half. I thought we did a tremendous job. We tried to get the ball into Hak at the end of the game, you know, that’s what we want to do. I think he got bumped, but that’s the way it is. We made two turnovers in the post and that was the ballgame. I thought that we played very hard and we missed some shots that we normally make. There was a stretch where we had the lead at three or four and we got a couple of steals and we missed two lay-ups and two foul shots, fouls off missed lay-ups. Those could have gotten us in good position, but when you miss those shots I think that gives the opportunity to the other team and they took advantage of it. There were some lost opportunities there that we had to finish and we just didn’t around the basket.
Every game in this league is going to be difficult. It’s going to be very tough and when you get in a close game down at the end, this year we’ve played very well. In fact, when Hak went out we got the best movement we got the whole game. We penetrated and scored. When they came back and tied he went back in and I think we tried a little too hard to get him the ball. He’s the guy we want to go to, but we’ve got to play better. We’ve been very good down the stretch, but you’re not always going to play every single game down the stretch, you’re not always going to make the right plays. You’re going to miss a shot or two and tonight that’s what happened.
It’s always tough when you’re in that situation, there’s no question about that. I thought the effort was great. I thought both teams offense were good and we got a good edge out of our press. We got some good steals in the second half, turnovers, and converted them. We didn’t convert three or four times off good defensive plays, good steals. We got them but didn’t convert them.
On Billy Edelin and Josh Pace:
Billy was active. I thought this was his kind of game, a game where he could get in the lane. They’re a pressure-defensive team and that’s a good game for him. I thought Josh was tremendous. He plays well in games where people are going to come up and pressure him. That’s his kind of game.
On sophomore center Darryl (Mookie) Watkins:
He’s very good. He had a very good game inside. We didn’t play the passing game very well. It’s inexperience and that’s one thing that’s hurt Mookie, is inexperience. After not playing these four weeks he came up instead of playing the passing lane. He can really help us but he’s still got to learn the inside of the defense. Mookie gives us better rebounding, better presence, but Craig Forth plays that passing lane better.
On senior center Craig Forth:
Craig has just not been active. He’s playing too many minutes and nothing’s happening. He does a good job defensively. Those passes wouldn’t have gotten through if Craig was in the game, but we’ve got to get some production out of that position before the end of the season is here.
On sophomore forward Terrence Roberts:
Terrence was great in the first half. He was tremendous, he had a tremendous first half. He was active the whole game. This was a real solid performance from him, I thought.
On how the game got away:
Too many missed opportunities tonight when we had the lead and we easily could have taken it up, we just had too many easy plays and you can’t let that happen in a game in this league. It doesn’t matter which one of the top teams you’re playing. If you don’t play well and convert it’s going to be a tough game to win. This was disappointing because we really had better control than we did Saturday and we did against Rutgers. Both of those games, we had no control over either one. We just made a great comeback to win them. This game we played much better, but just missed so many opportunities when we had the lead. Terrence missed a lay-up, Gerry missed a lay-up. We missed three or four lay-ups and you can’t do that in this league against anybody at the top. Connecticut is very good, as is everybody else.
On where to go from here:
These games, hopefully, will help us. Our young guys will learn. Again, Terrence stepped up tonight and did some positive things and those are all things that are going to help us by the end of the year. Hopefully we’ll start to get where we can become a good team. I said after the last game and the game before that, we’re not there yet. We have a long way to go in my opinion. I don’t care how many games we’ve played, we’re still struggling to get all of the pieces to fit well. These games will be the kind of games that get us to become a better team, and that’s what the goal is in the future.
