Coach Boeheim Postgame Quotes
Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Villanova
Sunday, February 22, 2008
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, NY
Opening Statement:
“I thought we battled about as hard as we could battle at the end. To come back and give ourselves a chance, we forced three turnovers against a tremendous ball-handling team and were almost able to take advantage of it. We got a couple of three-point shots before the end that were good looks. Sometimes, you’re not going to make those shots. I thought offensively we did not make some three-point shots that we had to make to come from behind and win. We battled about as hard as we can. Villanova is a tremendous team. I think the one thing that I was worried about coming into this game was Jonny [Flynn] was sick for two days. He practiced a little bit yesterday, but I do not think he was close to full strength today. That is just part of the game and something you have to overcome.”
On Villanova’s play:
“They are doing such a good job getting inside. We tried to throw it inside three or four times and then we turned it over throwing it inside in the first half. They front the post well. I do not think our big guys are moving as well as they need to. I think we could do a better job of getting the ball there, but they help so much inside that you are going to get good looks on the perimeter. I like our chances with the shots we got. We got good looks the whole game.”
On trying to make a three-point shot to send the game into overtime:
“There was not enough time to make a couple passes. Eric [Devendorf] tried the pump fake to get the foul and that did not work. We did a good job of getting the ball and getting it back out twice. I do not think we are being aggressive enough on the boards on either end. A good example is at the end of the game, I think we went after the ball harder on the boards. Paul [Harris] got an offensive rebound put back, we got those two rebounds and threw them out. I do not think we are doing a good job on the boards. We try to play a big line up. We had to take the big guys out. Again, that is something that with those two big guys in we have to score. We have to get inside and take advantage of their size and rebound the ball. We are not doing that. It is very hard to throw the ball inside to them. Villanova fronts the post. If you throw a lot they help on the weak side. That is why the three-point shot opens over there. That is why we got so many good looks, because they are helping inside. I still do not think our big guys are taking advantage of getting offensive rebounds in those situations. I think we need to do a better job on the boards in those situations and we are not doing that.”
On Arinze Onuaku’s performance:
“He has missed so much time in terms of his knee. He was sore two days this week, so he did not run for two days. When you do not do that you are just not going to be in game condition. It is impossible to go out there and maintain the fast paced game, as this game was, when you are not able to practice. Any time you miss practice, it doesn’t matter who you are, it is going to affect how you play.”
On playing from behind:
“We have battled back all year. Early in the year we were behind in a lot of games and we battled back. Even when we have been behind this year at UConn and Villanova, we were way down and we battled back to try to get back in those games. We are going to keep trying. We are going to keep trying to get back into it.”
On the team’s defensive play against Villanova:
“We have trouble playing Villanova on zone defense and man-to-man defense. We felt we were just marginally better in man-to-man. We cannot play two big guys on man-to-man against Villanova because they only have one big guy out there and he is a forward. I thought for the most part, we did a good job on our man-to-man. We gave them about ten points on turnovers and you cannot do that.”
On Kristof Ongenaet’s rebounding:
“He rebounds and goes after the ball and that is something we need. I think if we could get our two big guys to go after the ball like that we would be a better rebounding team. We need that from him. He has been very good.”
On Villanova’s ten point run to start the second half:
“It was bad offense. That is the thing, you cannot give away points. The same thing we did in the first half down there. Jonny [Flynn] just did not have it today. He had some turnovers that he normally would not make, but that is just part of the game.”
