Coach Boeheim Quotes vs. St. John's
Coach Jim Boeheim Press Conference Quotes
Syracuse vs. St. John’s
February 11, 2007
Carrier Dome-Syracuse, N.Y.
“Demetris was going like he did against Colgate. Our guys were screening for him and getting him open, they did a tremendous job. We found him and he had as good of a shooting game as I have ever seen or I think anybody had seen in here and he did it under great defensive pressure. St. John’s is a good defensive team and Demetris made shots that were incredibly hard to make. I thought that St. John’s played as well as I have seen then play. I told the players that they haven’t played this well since Chris Mullin and they looked at me like, ‘Who is he?’ I thought for a while that Chris Mullin was playing for St. John’s today. We went to man defense and we were a little bit better but not much. We just couldn’t stop them and they couldn’t stop Demetris. I thought Darryl made two good defensive plays and got the rebound on the missed foul shot and made his two free throws. Obviously that was the difference right there at the end. For the game our turnovers were good, we passed the ball better. Eric had a bad night, Terrence had a bad game, but we were still able to overcome that with Demetris and Andy shooting the ball the way they shot the ball. It was tremendous shooting night, but St. John’s did just as well if not better. We just hung in there and made a couple of plays and gritted it out, but you have to give St. Johns a tremendous amount of credit. In the first game neither team played very well, but this game I thought both teams played well and it just came down to the fact that we made a couple of more plays than they did.”
On Darryl’s big rebound at the end of the game:
“Rebounding is just going after the ball. There is nothing to it. No technique, you just have to go and get it. Tonight, Darryl went and got it.”
On Andy Rautins’ play tonight:
“He shot the ball extremely well as he did in our last home game and that really takes a lot of the pressure off if Eric is not shooting well. Andy gives us another threat. Andy is going to get some good looks when other teams are trying to cheat on defense to our other players. I think what was overlooked is that our big guys screened well. If you are a good shooter you have to have somebody screening for you and getting you open and I thought that we did that today.”
On the impact of Demetris:
“We went to him every time at the end of the game. I was afraid that he would get tired. He missed one or two but then he got right back on track after that. When a guy is shooting it like that you just have to keep trying to get him the ball; at least that is the way we play. Our guys did a tremendous job of getting him open and he did a good job of putting the ball on the floor and making plays when he didn’t go on up and take the shot. We changed the out of bounds play to get him a couple of shots off of that. They had (Eugene) Lawrence defending him, so Demetris got a couple of post-ups over him. Demetris just had a tremendous night.”
On Terrence’s technical foul:
You can’t do that. You have to keep your composure. We had to take him out of the game for a long period of time because of that. He was frustrated because he was calling a timeout, which is probably good that we didn’t get that since we were running low of timeouts. You have to keep your composure. You can’t get frustrated. If you are a senior you can’t get frustrated in those situations.”
On how well did the team kept their composure tonight:
“I thought the whole game we did the best job we have all year of keeping our composure. We were down early, we got back ahead, then they came back ahead, we came back. Same thing happened in the second half when they made that bucket to take the lead. We kept sticking to what we were doing. We played a tremendous offensive game tonight. I don’t think we can play any better than that offensively. Defensively I am very disappointed. I can’t believe that we can’t be a better defensive team than we have been the last couple of games. In the Louisville, Notre Dame, and DePaul games, and this game, we just haven’t done the things defensively that we have to do if we want to win. Demetris is not going to get 37 points every night. I hope he can but I don’t think he can. We have to play better defense if we are going to finish the season the way we would like to. We have South Florida next who have been playing great at home this year. We just have to go down there and get after it.”
On if this game will increase the team’s confidence:
“The game against DePaul was close and we won. We made plays at the end of that game. Bottom line is we have to play better.”
On speaking to the team about the NCAA Tournament:
“I never talk to our team about that, ever. We just try to play and get ourselves ready for the next game.”
On the play of St. Johns:
“(Aaron) Spears and (Lamont) Hamilton are very good. They made some of the nicest post moves I have ever seen them make, and I have seen them play for a long time. All year, every time Spears has made that move he has missed the shot, but today he was making it from all over. Hamilton is a good shooter and he went two for two from the three-point line. They played extremely well. We had to make a couple of extra plays than they did. It was a great basketball game. It was one of the best offensive games I have seen played all year long. Both teams just kept making good plays. There were few turnovers and guys were just making plays. Andy and Demetris for us and Hamilton, Lawrence and Mason for St. Johns all played great. I thought St. John’s outplayed us, but Demetris just made some shots today, bottom line. Mason and Hamilton had a tremendous game for them. As I said, this was the best I have seen them play in a long time. I think Norm Roberts really turned them around. Sometimes you get better when you loose people, and they have gotten a lot better.”
On the team’s composure at the end of the game:
“We kept our composure all year. We were behind by 17 to Wichita State and we scored 17 straight points. We have kept our composure, composure is not a problem. We might make mistakes at the end of the game, but that’s different from keeping your composure. Eric and Josh were trying to make good plays tonight. What I was upset with Josh about at the end of the game was that after he fell down he didn’t get back on defense and his man shot a wide-open three-pointer. You can’t do that. We have struggled at the ends of games. Sometimes they aren’t making good decisions but their composure is good. That is just part of the game. The biggest concern I have over these past few games is that we have to get back and do a better job defensively. That is really the key for us in the rest of this year.”
