Boeheim Quotes Rutgers
Syracuse vs. Rutgers
February 19, 2011
Syracuse, N.Y. – Carrier Dome
Head Coach Jim Boeheim Postgame Quotes
Opening Statement:
“The most disappointing thing about this was that the first half we played well on offense and we went back to playing defense like we had been - letting the shooter shoot the ball and letting the guard penetration get into the lane. If we didn’t play very well on offense in the first half, we would’ve been really down. We shot well in the first half from the field and from the three-point line but we allowed them to shoot over 50 percent from the field and 55 percent from behind the three-point line. In the second half, it was 38 and 22. It all comes down to our defense. We missed a lot of easy shots. We missed a lot of free throws. This game reminded me of the beginning of the year when we didn’t really play well and the other team had a good chance to win, which happened earlier in the year. Ricky (Jackson) made that free throw to get into overtime. We got a stop to get into overtime and then we made some good plays and some good defensive stops in the overtime. It was just a game just like earlier in the year where we didn’t play our best, but we dug down and made plays.
I watched DePaul earlier today, they had a three-point lead over Villanova and they could’ve won the game. It’s just the way it is. Every game is like that. Every time you go out there, you know you’re going to have your hands full. The great thing about this team, I think, is that when it’s gotten close - which has happened a lot this year - it seems like during the league season, we’re ahead of good teams and we’ve had some unbelievable wins . You see the way St. John’s is playing at Madison Square Garden. Nobody’s beating them there and we had them down by 20. This team has had some great games and when the games are right to the wire, we’ve stepped up and made plays to win these games. That’s not always easy to do. It’s very easy to let a game like this get away from you.
The big concern I had in this game tonight was our defense – we just weren’t playing defense in the first half at all. Baye (Moussa Keita) struggled, Dion (Waiters) struggled coming off the bench and we’ve got five guys right now that are playing at the level we need them to play. We’re going to have to play at least two more guys starting Monday because they’re going to be a little tired. The one good thing looking ahead is, after Monday, we get four days of practice, which we need. And after the Saturday game, we get four or five more days of practice and I think we really need that with some of these guys.
I talked to James (Southerland) a lot and he passed up two shots. He’s got to be thinking ‘shot’ when he’s in the game. We need him to help us. I made a mistake, I shouldn’t have put Fab (Melo) in that situation that he hasn’t played. It was just a game that we couldn’t afford to wait for him to get comfortable and he just wasn’t comfortable and it was my mistake getting him in that situation. Ricky (Jackson) has been tremendous defensively but we have to get Baye (Moussa Keita) or Fab (Melo) playing better in there. Ricky is going to get into foul trouble. He almost got in that situation today. If he’s playing the whole time at center, and they keep going in there, he’s going to get into foul trouble and we can’t afford to lose him. Again, this game, you just have to somehow find a way (to win). They had every opportunity. They were playing well and had a great opportunity. We have to stop that and we were able to stop that today.”
Can you talk about the rebounding effort after halftime?
“Everybody got on the boards. The biggest problem was we got it and then we couldn’t finish. We got some real good efforts on the boards, then we didn’t finish. There was a lot of not finishing out there. When we got fouled, we made the ones we had to make but we missed a lot of free throws. “
What changed defensively after halftime?
“It comes down to two things: keeping the ball in front of you, which we did in the second half. The first half they were just driving right by us and then getting out on the shooters. We let (Austin) Carroll hit two wide-open threes in the first half and we know he’s a good shooter and he made them both. Kris (Joseph) is a veteran guy and he was right there and he let him get two threes. Ricky (Jackson) made a good effort in the end to get after (Jonathan) Mitchell, he was just a little bit late. The second half, there was little more effort, keeping guys in front of us, getting back and rebounding the ball.
How important was it to get the win today?
“Every game is important in this league. Every game. We have to get every one we can get. We played pretty well against West Virginia and they lost three-out-of-four games and they beat Notre Dame easily today. Pittsburgh has been playing great. (Ashton) Gibbs came back and played probably the best I’ve seen Gibbs play. I think he had 26 and St. John’s still beat them. It’s a tough league and there is no easy game. People thought DePaul was but they’re not, they’re a very difficult game. They easily could have won today. That’s the league. It’s very difficult anytime you go out there to play. That’s how it is in college basketball, but especially in our league.”
What did you do defensively to guard (Jonathan) Mitchell?
“We did a better job on him than we did on anybody. Ricky (Jackson) tried, even on that one he made, he tried to get out there but he’s been shooting the ball lights out. So he was the guy we were thinking about coming in and we did a pretty good job on him. He missed a couple easy shots in the lane and sometimes you need that to happen for you. “
Has C.J. Fair started to separate himself from the pack of freshmen and emerged as a main contributor?
“I don’t think there’s any question about that.”
Brandon Triche struggled shooting the ball today but how do you feel he played?
“This is the first game where he hasn’t shot the ball well in a long time. He got a lot of great looks today and he had a couple of great offensive rebounds. We’re trying to get him to go to the boards, he had six today. Scoop (Jardine), we’re trying to get him to the boards. Triche is really struggling turning the ball over. He’s tried to do so much off the teams that are getting set in their defenses and he’s got to beat one guy, then he has to beat another guy and he gets into tough situations. We have to try and be a little more patient. When he got that open three, he just moved the ball up to the top guy and got a wide-open look. I think he’s trying to do a little too much with the dribble. He’s good with the dribble, we want him to use the dribble, but he probably uses it a bit too much.”
The team missed a lot of free throws today, but what does today’s game say about the team’s ability to get to the line?
“We wanted to get to the line. We wanted to get to the basket and I thought we did a good job with that.”
