Coach Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. USF
January 5, 2008
Syracuse, N.Y. - Carrier Dome
Opening Statement
“I thought we did a good job when they went to the triangle. Fortunately, we had seen the triangle against Northeastern, and Scoop [Jardine] and Paul [Harris] did a tremendous job of getting in and making plays against that triangle. I just thought we were solid for the whole first 35 minutes on both ends of the court. We made some careless turnovers that hurt us early, and we’ve got to do a better job with that – making really bad turnovers. Turnovers where we really should be scoring, and we turn the ball over and they end up scoring. Even though you’re 2-0, you have to look at what happens, and we’ve made turnovers that are going to really hurt us in close basketball games. Hopefully we’ll learn from that. Overall, offensively, we played very, very well. The first half was really – we played well offensively.”
On the play of Scoop Jardine:
“I think he’s done what we need him to do. He’s gotten the ball to people. He had eight assists tonight, one turnover. He made a couple of key, big baskets for us tonight. The first one to start the second half when we struggled, and then when they were in the triangle, he had a baseline drive and made a big basket down there. It was a couple big plays that were made or this game would have gotten to a six or eight point games. This team has won 10 out of 11 games for a reason. They’ve been playing well – they’ve got a lot of good weapons. [Dominique] Jones is as good as any freshman in the league. [Kentrell] Gransberry is as good as any low-post player in the league. They’re a very solid basketball team. They got off to a slow start, they didn’t have Gransberry their first game, and naturally it’s going to take them three or four games anyway to be able to come together. They’ve come together extremely well, and I just think they’ve done a tremendous job. I think Stan’s [Heath] done a tremendous job with that team, and we played very, very well today to win.”
On Syracuse’s defense today:
“For about 30-35 minutes, we were good. We started out in our zone, they made a couple good plays, and we went man-to-man. We did a good job. Arinze [Onuaku] did a good job on Gransberry down low. I thought we played very well, we got the lead in the first half playing almost all man-to-man. In the second half, we played a little man to get going, and then when we got in foul trouble, we went back to zone, so we would make sure Arinze and Donte’ [Greene] were in the game, and we did a good job until the last five minutes on the defensive end.”
On the team’s rebounding effort:
“Well, we were good on the boards. I thought we did a good job, much better than last game. Paul was really good in there. Scoop got in there and got six rebounds, that’s important for us. I thought Kristof [Ongenaet] got in there and gave us a good effort, but he’s committed eight fouls now in his last 18 minutes. You can’t play like that. He’s going to have to understand how to play. You can’t play if you’re going to foul that many times.”
On Arinze Onuaku’s defense against Kentrell Gransberry:
“I think he did a good job. He kept him down, and made him take shots over him, and forced him into a couple misses. Gransberry’s a very good player. He was beating us last year down there by himself until he got hurt. He’s a very good player.”
On Jonny Flynn’s play so far this year:
“I think Jonny’s [Flynn] playing under unbelievable control. I think he’s capable of getting more down on the offensive end, and I think he will when we need him. He’s a point guard, he gets the ball to people, and he doesn’t force it. He’s our best defender, he’s having an unbelievable year.”
On the play of Paul Harris:
“That’s how Paul’s got to play. He’s involved down on the boards, he gets to the basket, he gets that 15-footer, and he can make that shot. That’s the way he can play, that’s the way he’s got to play. He can play every night.”
On the two quick timeouts in the second half:
“We were slow starting, that was one. We weren’t getting back, and then we gave them two or three layups in a row. I was just trying to get them thinking, focused back in on what they’re doing. I think they get themselves in great positions in games and then they start thinking about something else. That’s what young players do, I guess.”
On Kristof Ongenaet’s five fouls:
“He just needs better positioning, I think. He’s being aggressive, he is an aggressive player. He’s been a little out of position a couple times, but he challenges people, he doesn’t give them anything, and that’s a good quality.”
On the team’s first BIG EAST road game:
“We’ve been on the road, and they know what it takes, how tough it’s going to be. Cincinnati won at Louisville. West Virginia’s tough at home and every game in this league’s going to be tough. They know that, they understand that, that’s what it is."
