Coach Boeheim Postgame Quotes
Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse vs. Georgetown
January 25, 2010
Carrier Dome – Syracuse, N.Y.
Opening statement:
"We recovered from the worst start that I can remember. Kris [Joseph] and Scoop [Jardine] came in and the defense really picked up. Andy [Rautins] was unbelievable on defense tonight. He had six steals, but he made so many plays. I think he's still leading the league in steals, and that's unusual for a team that's not pressing or pressuring a lot. His defense has been tremendous all year. He can not score and still help our team but Kris and Scoop were great.
They (Georgetown) had a rhythm to start out and we weren't as aggressive as we needed to be. Then our defense picked up and we finally got our offense going a little bit with those two guys, and Andy was able to hit a couple. To go in at halftime ahead was really unbelievable for the way we started that game. It looked like one of those games where it would take the whole game to come back and to dominate a top-10 team in the country after giving them 14 points is quite an effort. I'm proud of these guys. Ricky [Jackson] really took over in the second half and in the first half of the second half, he took over the boards and he wouldn't be denied.
Defensively, when they did get inside, Wes [Johnson] made some of the best blocks I've seen around here in a long time, and [Jackson] too. So it was really a defensive effort to enter that first couple minutes of the game as good we can play and I think offensively, after the first couple of possessions, as good as we can play."
What was the key in remaining patient during Georgetown's early run?
"We just worked defending, they hit some open shots. You can't give Georgetown open shots because they have very good shooters. When our defense is not aggressive, we don't need to change defenses, we need to be more aggressive. When you get more aggressive, you trap a couple passes. We got a couple steals, which helped, and we made a couple defensive efforts when they got the ball inside. [Greg] Monroe is a tremendous player. He got in a little foul trouble which helped us, obviously. But when he did turn in there, we doubled him, we got some hands on the ball and forced him into some turnovers. So we got more aggressive on defense. Our defense is better this year overall than it was last year."
Can you comment about how they were playing Wes Johnson tight?
"Well everybody is going to play him tight, he's not going to have it easy, that's for sure. He hit a couple of really big shots and he's still working on his ball handling. He's making some turnovers when he gets into traffic that he has to work on. I thought his defense was phenomenal tonight, he made some really great plays on the defensive end."
Can you comment on tonight's crowd?
"The fans were unbelievable. I've never seen so many students here. They told me they sold 2,700 student tickets the last game, which is a huge number, plus the season ticket holders. The whole crowd was great. They get up for these big games, we just have to get them excited for some of the other ones. They were good today, no question about it."
Can you comment on the team's toughness?
"I think we're getting there, but we have to get better. We can execute better, that's the good news. But this team can get better."
Can you comment on Kris Joseph and Scoop coming into the game and providing energy when the team needed it?
"The big difference is that when we go smaller, we're quicker. I think we cover better. We're not quite as good on the boards, but we're not bad. Kris can get in, get up the court and get to the basket. We got to the basket and got some points when we were struggling. Scoop played the best he ever has, he was tremendous in the first half. He made that three when his ankle was hurting. We got him out and he was OK after that. Then he made a couple of really good drives. They were right there to block it and he got it right up on the backboard and made it. He played really well. I've said it all year long, we have seven guys that can start. Some teams don't have five."
Can you talk about the defensive play against Greg Monroe?
"They tried to get him in the middle of the zone and he's good there, but we were able to get people back in on them and our big guys tried to make him take a difficult shot. He's a tremendous player. I thought we did make it hard on him as much as we could. On the offensive side, we wanted to go to him, with Arinze or Ricky, whoever he was defending. He had a couple in-and-outs and he go into foul trouble, which happens sometimes. [Austin] Freeman was tremendous early tonight, I thought he was going to get a hundred. Georgetown, I watched them a lot this year, they're a really good team. They are better than last year, as I think we are. They lost guys, and we lost guys. I guess there's a moral in there someplace."
Did you pay special attention to Austin Freeman after he scored 13 points in the first eight minutes?
"I hope we did, we wanted to. We wanted somebody else to shoot, anybody. We know [Jason] Clark is a good shooter, we know [Chris] Wright is a good shooter. Wright missed a couple tonight. Last year, he had 25 in here. Tonight he missed a couple and got off track a little bit. So we paid more attention to Clark and to Freeman. I thought the key was when we scored right away in the second half and Ricky posted up and scored a couple down low. Then we got two blocks in a row down at the other end. Great defensive plays. They got the ball right where they wanted to and Wes made some unbelieveable blocks. Again, when you're 14 down on a good team and you can come back and win by 17, that's like a 31 point turn around. That's pretty good."
