Boeheim Quotes Kutztown
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Tuesday, November 2, 2010
SU vs. Kutztown
Carrier Dome
Coach Boeheim’s press conference
“For the first time I thought that we were active, we were active on defense, and I thought we really looked for each other. The first time in the Dome, we didn’t shot the ball as well as we would have liked to, but that’s just getting back in here. We need to get back in here Monday and Tuesday next week and get some more days in here. I think after three or four more days in here that will be something that will work itself out. We were good, we were active, and we gave everyone an opportunity. I thought we went after the ball in the second half pretty well and the boards better than we have been. Overall our defense was active and we forced a lot of turnovers. I thought everyone got an opportunity to kind of get their feet wet. I think this was a good first outing for us.”
Was playing the starters in the second half meant to give them more playing time together?
“I wanted everybody to get playing time and that was just a good way to do it. I wanted to get them when they were warmed up and get them in there. They didn’t play as many minutes in the first half, I tried to get everybody a fairly equal amount of time tonight.”
Overall, did those five guys play as well as you wanted as a group?
“We are not going to play groups so it doesn’t really matter, but I thought they were really active. James [Southerland] did a good job on the boards. I thought they were an active group. I think all those guys can contribute and help us, but we won’t play in groups.
C.J. came up big for the team tonight. Is that because he gets in the right place at the right time?
“Yes, C.J. is a smart player and he does get in the right places. He’s a good finisher, a good rebounder, I thought he played well.”
Can you comment on putting James Southerland at point guard?
“We want to try that; we will use that on occasion. I thought they actually did a pretty good job tonight. We haven’t practiced it that much yet, we’ve been using it a little bit but I thought they were pretty good in it. I hope that that will we something that we can utilize this year.”
What did you think of Baye Moussa Keita tonight?
“He is an active player. He has really worked hard and I like what he’s been doing. I think he is making good progress.”
“For both our big guys, this is an important time to get used to playing college basketball. I think they are both talented kids that need a lot of time; they need to work hard out there. This experience is great for them.”
What do you try to get out of these exhibition games?
“These are huge games for us. Kutztown is a very well coached team. They have always had success; they have guys that can really shoot it. They move the ball very well and are very smart at what they do. They do a lot of things that we will see during the year and I think that really helped us out. Obviously we are bigger and stronger and we are going to get more rebounds, but if we shot the ball well we really would have had a good night. I thought we played well, we played against a team that knows what they are doing, they win, and they’re smart. Obviously we have a size advantage, but we forced a lot of turnovers which is a good sign when we are playing against a smaller team. I thought it was a good night out. We have two days of practice and we are all going to go to the football game Saturday and I hope everybody will be there. Sell a lot of tickets and win four more games so we won’t have to talk about basketball for awhile."
What did you think about Fab Melo’s fast break in the first half of the game?
“I just didn’t want him to get hurt. Try not to fall down out there.”
The way you approached Kutztown tonight, is that how you plan on attacking LeMoyne?
“We are going to work hard for a few days, try to improve. We have got a lot of work to do. This year we open up with an NCAA quality team for the first game of the year so these exhibitions games are important. Northern Iowa is going to be very good this year, they lost a couple of guys but they have a lot of good players. We open up with that kind of game and in the early season games we know we have to be ready early. Detroit is very good and I think most of the games that we play early we will be tested. Rick [Jackson] got us off to a great start he has had a couple great weeks of practice. I think Rick and Fab [Melo] have worked well together for it just being a couple weeks so far and I think that’s a promising thing. Just to score that many points and shoot the ball that poorly I think that it was a good night.”
