Coach Boeheim Quotes vs. Wichita State
Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Wichita State
December 2, 2006
Carrier Dome-Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening Statement
“I think two or three games ago I said we’re just not playing well, we’re not coming out defensively and offensively the way we need to. This is what I was talking about three games ago. We’re not coming out ready to play, we haven’t all year and I hate to be right. We haven’t been ready from the beginning. Tonight is the perfect example, as Canisius was, and you cannot put yourself in holes like that against good teams. We’ve got to get off to a better start, we have to be sharper with the ball, we have to execute better early and when you play good teams, and Wichita State is a very good team. We haven’t learned that yet this year and we did it in the Canisius game, the Northeastern game, the Charlotte game and the Penn game. When you’re doing it most of the time it’s going to be a problem, I think it’s important that our players understand this and it’s important that we start the game. We made as good a comeback as you could possibly make against a good basketball team, but you can’t wait that long to make a comeback. It’s almost shocking that we were able to do that because they’re a veteran team and a good team and we had an unbelievable four minutes. I thought Demetris (Nichols) got hit going to the basket, but you put yourself in that position that that can happen. It was an unbelievable effort and he made a great steal on that play but you can’t put yourself in that position and it’s unfortunate that we haven’t learned yet what we need to know to be successful. Some of it is new roles and new guys and its going to take time to figure that out. Josh (Wright) is taking the ball in some places that he’s got to learn, and it’s going to take some time, where he can’t go. Eric (Devendorf) did that tonight too. He’s been sick today but he felt like he could play. We just made too many mistakes and Wichita State is a very good team that is going to capitalize on that. Hopefully we will learn from this and when we come out next time we’ll be better early and not dig ourselves that kind of hole. We have a lot to work on, we still have a long way to go, hopefully this was a good wake up call for us, and we’ve got a lot to learn.”
On the problems on offense:
“We just didn’t have good movement, we weren’t in sync, we weren’t screening well. Our big guys were taking jump shots and we can’t win with that.”
On what the team has to do to improve:
“I don’t think our execution has been good all year on offense. We’re making some bad turnovers, we’re not getting good movement, we’re not getting good execution, we’re not screening well. It’s mostly offensively, some defensively but generally if your offense isn’t good your defense struggles sometimes too, it shouldn’t but it generally does.”
On what sparked the comeback:
“We pressed, they were beating the press all half, we finally converted a couple fast breaks, we got two offensive rebounds, which we hadn’t been getting and we made them. We missed four or five point-blank shots when we got rebounds not finishing them and we finally made a couple. You have to make a couple sooner or later and that got us into our press and we really only got one steal out of the press and it was a big basket. We got them moving a little bit differently and we got them out of their step a little bit. Our half court defense picked up and we had a couple blocks and we made a couple steals and got back in it. We’ve got to play better early, that’s all.”
On Paul Harris’ play in the second half:
“When we get some movement and get some opportunities for him to get in there that’s when he’s at his best. Early in the game he was trying to go from half court and the defense is set and that just takes time, it takes time to learn.”
On the final play of the game:
“We put all our shooters in, they were going to switch and they did switch. It’s going to be virtually impossible to get a good look at the end. The one Demetris (Nichols) got early we had a set play when he got fouled he came off a double and got a good look and I thought it went straight up in the air and the guy jumped into him but that happens in those situations. It’s tough to get a good look at the end, they made a good defensive play.”
On Wichita States 27-1 run:
“We’ve had that happen before, maybe not that bad, but we’re not executing on offense and we made some poor defensive plays and we just kept making mistakes on both ends. We never should have been in the game, it should’ve been a twenty point game, it was a good effort to come back and we had a good chance to win the game. I don’t think justice would have been served, I would’ve liked to have had it but we played horrible for 35 minutes, that’s all I can say. Wichita State is a good team, I wish I could say they played great, they played good but we’re just playing horrible. We’ve been playing horrible all year so I guess there is nothing to be surprised about there. We’re a long way from being a good basketball team. We need a couple good days of practice. I watched Okalahoma State, I think they’re terrific, they’re a terrific basketball team from the tapes I’ve seen of them. We’ve got to show that we’re a lot better, we’ve struggled every game all year we’ve just been better than the teams we’re playing against.”
On the defensive strategy:
“They beat our man-to-man, they beat our zone, and it really wasn’t one or the other. They’re good, they’ve got good passers; we just weren’t active enough. We didn’t move well, we didn’t get to their shooters, but they beat whatever defense we were in for 35 minutes and most of that is effort. We’ve got to have more effort, which we had the last four or five minutes but that’s too late.”
On this team compared to past teams:
“We’re as far away as we could reasonably be I would say, right now. The good news is we have another 20 to 30 days before we play in the BIG EAST Conference. My expectations are that we can get better but we’re certainly a long way from there.”
