Canisius Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Sunday, November 14, 2010
SU vs. Canisius
Carrier Dome
Coach Boeheim’s press conference
Opening Statement
“First of all I think you have to give credit to Canisius. I think their seniors played well and their point guard, Belardo, was a real smart, heady player. I thought they were very patient. They really hold the ball and got good positions. I thought they really did a good job of playing against us and if they had made a couple more shots it would have been a different story.
"We forced them to do a couple shots that they missed, but I thought that the difference was that Brandon (Triche) came out aggressive in the second half. He’s got to look for his shot and when he gets it, he’s got to take it. He was passing up shots in the first half and he has to be more aggressive there. I thought that he got off to a slow start, but he got great opportunities down low and didn’t finish anything. He and Kris (Joseph) are now stepping into the role where they’ve got to make plays.
"We need to clarify some things here too. We have no depth and we have no proven depth. We don’t have anybody that’s proven himself coming off of our bench. We don’t have one guy who’s made a significant play in a college basketball game this year. All I hear about is how much what depth we have. Give me a player that has done something on our team. One thing.We don’t have one player that’s done one thing off our bench.
"The only guys that have done anything are Brandon (Triche), Scoop (Jardine), Rick (Jackson), and Kris Joseph. They’ve done something. And when they weren’t strong in the first half tonight we struggled. And those guys on the bench, they were in the game; going from ahead to behind. These guys have got to get to where they can help us and I hope they do get there. And tonight, for example, Baye (Moussa Keita) made a huge step up because he was so active out there. He turned our whole rebounding game around. From not doing much on the boards, to where we dominated the boards. Fab (Melo) is obviously struggling. He’s getting in foul trouble and until he stays out of foul trouble he’s going to have a hard time contributing a whole lot. Other teams going at him. There were some questionable calls but he’s going to have to learn to get away from those calls. We need to get some guys back to working and getting to where they can help us. Right now I know we have four guys that can help us and that’s it. Anybody who wants to talk about that should go watch the tape of the first half tonight.
"Tell me how many games you think we’ll win with that depth that was out there. This Canisius team that we played lost 17games last year. We need to get realistic. Right now we’re the most overrated team I’ve ever had. And I’m a little shocked that everybody’s bought into this whole thing. We’ve got a long ways to go. We are not a good basketball team. We played at home against Northern Iowa, a team that lost three major players on their team -- Their leading scorer, best shooter and best inside player, and you’re up three at halftime? Canisius is a good solid team, but they lost 17games last year. They don’t have anybody over 6-6. We’ve got a long ways to go. We got a lot of work to do. I’m telling you because I just told those guys (the players) the same thing. Everybody needs to get realistic here and understand where we’re going.
"We scheduled these games and they aren’t easy teams. They are teams we should beat and play better against. We don’t have any games that are really easy. Our veterans can probably win these games like they did today. If those guys off the bench had stayed in, we wouldn’t be talking about winning the game right now. I’m only interested in putting guys into the game that can win games. I’m not interested in putting guys in to get them playing time.“
How important was Baye Moussa Keita’s play when Fab Melo was in foul trouble?
“We wouldn’t have won tonight without him. That’s how important he is. He made a couple good plays in the first half when we really needed baskets. When we were struggling to get a basket, he made two. He was just really good. I said in the preseason he’s been the biggest surprise on our team. He still has a long way to go but he’s an active player. He’s playing against 6-6 guys. He’s going to be playing against 6-10, 250 pound guys pretty soon. But he was good out there tonight.”
How do you think Rick Jackson played tonight?
“He made two big plays, two post jumpers that he hasn’t had until this year. I’m sure people are saying that he can’t make that shot. He hasn’t been able to but he made two tonight. He’s passing the ball well out of the post area. He started right off the second half with a great pass down to Fab (Melo) for an easy one. He played at a high level in the second half.
"Brandon (Triche) was very aggressive in the second half. That was the difference of the second half. He just came out and got us going. Scoop (Jardine) was good in the first half when we were really struggling. He played when we needed it.”
Can you comment on C.J. Fair’s performance tonight?
“He had a good second half.”
Who is best contributor of the inexperienced bench players?
“We haven’t got an answer to that yet. Tonight, Baye (Moussa Keita) was. C.J. [Fair] has been pretty good but we still have a lot of work to do there. These guys can help us, but they aren’t there yet. We have to keep working with them; they’ve got to keep working. Hopefully, we’ll get there.”
How do you like the Detroit team?
“They were way behind against New Mexico last night and brought it back to seven. They’re a very good team with great size. It will be a real good test.”
Are you concerned about the players buying into the hype surrounding the team?
“I’m not concerned about it. They are either going to play better or get beat.”
How tough is it for freshman to have these quick turnaround games early in the season?
“Well, that’s why today the veteran guys were key. When you’re playing against a team out there today with five seniors, it’s your veteran guys that have to step it up. We’re not going to play freshmen against seniors and be that successful. I thought Baye (Moussa Keita) helped us and that’s great. C.J. (Fair) had a really good second half. Mookie (Jones) played well. But Kris (Joseph) has got to be better, Rick Jackson has to be better, but we’ll keep going. We have to get going, that’s the key. We’re going to go where our veterans take us.”
Was Canisius better than you expected?
“No, I thought they would be good. They beat St. Bonaventure. Usually they would have lost to St. Bonaventure, but they beat them the other night. I like their team and I think they’ve got a good team. I think they have veteran guys. They have a really good point guard in Belardo. I think they’re going to beat a lot of people. It shouldn’t have been a three point game in here though at halftime. It should be a three point game after about two minutes and that should be the end of it. We have to play better, it’s simple as that.”
