Coach Boeheim Press Conference Transcript
Coach Boeheim Press Conference Transcript
Syracuse vs. Cincinnati
January 15, 2011
Syracuse, N.Y. - Carrier Dome
"The game, we started hot. We’ve had a couple games where we haven’t been making three’s and we relaxed on defense. Cincinnati has got some guys that can shoot. We lost our rhythm a little bit on offense but it was mainly our defense that gave them open looks, hopefully it was a good lesson for us. Second half, we got out better on their shooters.
"Fab (Melo) turned the start of the second half around. He got in there and made a couple big blocks, Ricky (Jackson) found him for a dunk, and he made a real nice jumper. This was a real good night for him. Baye (Moussa Keita) had three big blocks, the young guys played well. I thought James (Southerland) did a tremendous job with Kris (Joseph) being out, he and C.J. (Fair) really picked it up.
"Cincinnati is a real good team and to start the second half like that, with that run, we played the best offense we played in a long time against a good defensive team. The blocks inside really were tremendous. It was a really good, good win. Kris went down hard; I don’t have any idea what’s going on. We won’t know anything for sure, it’s obviously unlikely he won’t be able to turn around, he got banged pretty good when he hit the floor. We really just have to wait and see. Hopefully it won’t be long, we’ll have to wait and see the next couple days. Really good effort from all of our guys today. Start of the second half was as well as we can play offensively."
Have you seen signs from Fab (Melo) that he was ready to play like this?
"Not really. We’ve been looking. We saw him today."
What do you think this does for his confidence though?
"This will help him, he played very well. He did a really, really good job."
What was it that made him (Fab) play differently in the second half?
"He was playing, everything, he did everything differently."
You mentioned James and C.J. and their impact on the second half, can you talk about the guards, especially Scoop, knowing he’s going to have to be more…
"I think Scoop has been good all year long. He’s been solid all year, he ran and came out and hit a couple right away. Ricky was good defensively, rebounding. He had his usual type of game, sometimes we forget that how good he’s been out there for us, he’s been tremendous all year."
Can you talk about Monday night (at Pittsburgh)?
"It’ll be a tough game. Pittsburgh is as good as any team in the country. It’ll be a great game."
What did you do inside to neutralize Gates (Yancy) and Thomas (Ibrahima)?
"They were trying to score in there, but weren’t and they were trying to pass it out. They weren’t looking to score that much inside. When they did try to shoot, they missed, that happens sometimes."
Was it difficult to break Cincinnati’s press?
"We weren’t great on it, we were OK, could’ve been a lot better. I think one thing with Kris (Joseph) in there; he usually helps us in that situation, takes some of the pressure off the guards because he can come up and handle it."
Was balance a little more important when Kris went down?
"Balance is always important, no question about it. We’ve always been balanced. James has had a big role; C.J. has had a big role. It wasn’t any surprise to them to be out there. James was very active, he had some rebounds, and he tipped a couple rebounds to other guys. I thought he was really good out there. He’s been playing great and we just have to be the best we can."
