Coach Boeheim Postgame Quotes
Coach Jim Boeheim Press Conference Quotes
Syracuse vs. West Virginia
February 4, 2009
Carrier Dome/Syracuse, NY
Opening Statement:
“West Virginia does such a great job pressuring that you have to be able to drive and use the dribble. They extend out so far on the wing and gave Jonny [Flynn] and Eric [Devendorf] a chance to get in the lanes. Just having Arinze [Onuaku] out there, just taking space and keeping his guy occupied, got us those lanes to the basket.
“ I thought Paul [Harris] got us going early, and then Jonny and Eric had so many good opportunities. The difference in the game is our defense - we found their shooters. We were just much better than we’ve been all year defensively, finding shooters and still rebounding the basketball. We did a tremendous job on them. They’re a very good rebounding team. Basically, we found Butler and Ruoff and we did not let those two guys get going, and that was really the difference, I thought, in the ball game.
“I thought Kristof [Ongenaet] gave us a big lift defensively when Paul was in foul trouble. I thought Kristof came in rebounded and his defense was tremendous. He gave us a huge lift. I think with Andy [Rautins] and Arinze - when you don’t practice a lot and you miss a lot of days, you’re going to struggle a little bit. I thought Andy really struggled a little bit tonight compared to what he was playing like, and Arinze. They do so much fronting and taking away at the low post that it’s hard down there to get the ball inside. So really, the game revolves around Jonny and Eric being able to get to the basket, and there is no help there because they’re pressuring so much in the wing areas. Again, it was a good effort. West Virginia is a very, very tough minded, physical basketball team, and this was a good win for us.”
On there being a special emphasis on the defense:
“No, we work on everything. We work on everything all year.”
On Paul Harris’ double-double:
“Well obviously, Paul is very important for us. I think in the first half he played as well as he’s played all year long. I think the foul trouble set him back just a little bit, but he was as good in the first half as he was all year long. That’s crucial for our team.”
On this game being considered a must-win:
“There’s no such thing. There’s the next game, the next big game. They’re all big, every game is big. You just have to keep playing. It’s nonsense.”
On Kristof Ongenaet’s game tonight:
“Early in the year, for a long time this year, we went with him and he wasn’t finishing anything around the basket. Tonight he finished. Paul gave him a great pass when he was right there and he went up and dunked it. Ricky [Jackson]kept one alive - he got it and put it back in. He wasn’t doing that, he was coming down on his shell and wasn’t finishing. He was rebounding, he’s always rebounded, played defense, but he wasn’t finishing anything around the basket and he wasn’t making his free throws, so he was too big of a liability. If he can play like he did tonight then obviously he’ll see more time. Arinze will get better, he feels better. I was concerned about him and I didn’t want to push it with him. Hopefully he’ll come out of this. He’s nowhere near back to where he was.”
On the BIG EAST Tournament:
“I don’t want to talk about the tournament. I’m not talking about the tournament. I’m not talking about the best conference. From now until the day I’m not coaching.”
On Arinze Onuaku’s game tonight:
“Even when he’s not scoring he’s keeping a guy occupied. We wouldn’t be getting those layups if he wasn’t there. They were worried about him. He gets opportunities for guys to get there, even with Andy being in the game. Even if he’s not shooting they’re out on him. That creates driving areas for Paul, Jonny and Eric, and today we took advantage of that.”
On Arinze’s efforts translating into a better defense:
“We need everybody. I think Ricky [Jackson] was really good, Kristof was good. Our whole team was good defensively tonight. That’s what we have to keep working on. It’s a long season and we just have to keep playing, keep plugging away. There’s going to be a lot of difficult games and difficult moments every game. Every game will be, and you just have to keep playing through it.”
