Boeheim Quotes Villanova
Syracuse vs. Villanova
January 22, 2011
Syracuse, N.Y. – Carrier Dome
Head Coach Jim Boeheim Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement:
“In the first half, we were not good defensively. We let them into the lane and let them get open threes. In the second half, we did a much better job defensively. Offensively, we never got going the whole game. The guard play was not good tonight. We didn’t make many shots from the guard spot and I thought that was a big key in the game.
Like Monday night, I thought we battled back. We did a good job getting back in the game against a very good team. I think they’re one of the top five or six teams in the country and right now we are not. We played two teams this week who I think are legitimate top five or six teams in the country. We are not good enough. We’re just not good enough right now. It was good to have Kris (Joseph) back. He had a really good game. We’re still looking for some answers.
I thought our point guard play was not good today. We can’t win with that kind of play. We have to get better leadership at that position and we didn’t get it today. The point guards were trying to score more than they were trying to get the team into sets. It’s disappointing. Some of the turnovers were bad. I told the players we’re not good enough to beat a top five team. We can get there, but right now we’re not good enough to beat a top five team. I think we can get better, but we still have a lot of work ahead of us.”
It was good to have Kris Joseph back. How did he play today?
“Offensively, he had a good game. In the second half, he got open shots, knocked them down and got to the basket. I thought he had a really good offensive game.”
How is the rebounding from players other than Rick Jackson?
“Rick (Jackson) is doing a good job. We had a few good defensive possessions where our four-man just didn’t get a rebound. Rick (Jackson) did a good job. James (Southerland) missed one rebound. C.J. (Fair) missed one rebound and James missed one again. Those guys probably are not quite ready for this level of game. James (Southerland) had 16 minutes and no rebounds. C.J. had one rebound in 10 minutes. In 26 minutes, we had one rebound from the forward position. That’s just not going to get it done for us. James has played 43 minutes (in the last two games combined) with one rebound. That’s just not getting it done.
Just because you can jump, doesn’t mean you can rebound. There were two or three bad (Villanova) possessions where if we got the rebound we would have had a legitimate chance to get back in the game.
Villanova is a really good team. They played well. (Maalik) Wayns is a 28 percent three-point shooter and made his first three. Sometimes that happens. It’s just the way it goes sometimes. After we started guarding them a little bit better, those other guys went 0-8 in the second half, except for (Corey) Stokes. It’s a disappointing game from Scoop (Jardine) and Dion’s (Waiters) perspective. They’ve played well and had a good week of practice, but we’re not going to win if those guys go 3-20. I think we can get better and we’ll find out Tuesday night.”
How talented are Villanova’s veteran guards?
“Their guards are good. (Corey) Stokes is a senior. (Corey) Fischer is a senior. They’re really good players. They played well today.”
