Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes - Eastern Michigan
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan
December 31, 2013
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening statement:
“I was worried coming into this game. We haven’t played against a lot of zone -- extended zone. They have a very good zone defense. I thought that we started the game tremendously. Jerami (Grant) got into the lane and made some really good (plays). We had really good ball movement -- we played good defense. It was 26-10 and they made two very difficult threes, to get (within) 10. So, I thought that part of the game we played at a very high level. The last 30 minutes we played at a very low level for the rest of the game. It’s something we have to think about. You come off a big game like Saturday, you’re going to have something. But some part of the let down shouldn’t come after 10-12 minutes. I think we felt we had the game under control, and we didn’t, offensively settling a little bit. They made a couple good offensive plays, but we had a really bad stretch at the end of the first half. We made some turnovers that we don’t usually make. We had the ball in the middle of the lane and let people come hold the ball and dribble the ball, stuff you can’t do. We don’t see a lot of zone -- we probably won’t see a lot of zone the rest of the way and theirs is a very good zone.
I think that this stage, what we’re concerned about is being ready for the league. Starting Saturday. We have some good practices ahead that I think will help us. Christmas break throws you off a little bit. We need to get back and work on some things. I think that we really have come through the first 13 games of the non-conference as well as you could ever hope for. We had a lot of battles, a lot of tough games. We played some really good teams. It’s ironic that the one game that we could have lost was St. Francis. With a schedule like ours, that’s something you wouldn’t think would happen, the only game that at the end we could have lost. I think we put ourselves in the best position we could possibly put ourselves in.
Now we just start something all over again where we’re 0-0 and we need to focus on that. Miami has really improved. They started slow, and they’ve got a lot of young guys. They’ve really improved their last few games. It’ll be a great game Saturday and we’re looking forward to it.”
Can you talk about what you’re most pleased with so far and what you’re most concerned with?
“I think we’ve still got to get better. I think we can still improve in all areas of the game. I don’t think there’s any one area. Today was our worst day in terms of making some bad turnovers. As a group our free-throw shooting was bad today -- it’s been good. When it’s bad it hurts you. When you start missing free throws, you start missing them front end, those things hurt you. Overall, the one thing I know is that we have to get better.”
How is DaJuan Coleman’s leg?
“Right now we are treating it. He is going through a series of treatments that we hope will help him be able to play. I think it is really a day-to-day thing -- not week-to-week -- but day-to-day. He had a treatment yesterday so he couldn’t play today, but we’re going to look at it in the next two days and see how he responds to treatment and make decisions based on how he responds.”
Given the non-conference schedule you’ve played, is this the best one you have played?
“I don’t know if it really is or not -- you know it’s a good one. We try to play a similar schedule. Usually you go to a tournament like Maui, you get two good games and we got three. Minnesota is still a good team, California is good so we got three good games there. You know, Indiana, St. John’s, Villanova are all good teams, but St. Francis turned out to be the best team we played so far. That is just the way it works sometimes. I thought this game would have been much harder, and it would have been if we had not gotten off to such a great start. They are a real good team, they lost be three or four to Purdue, they had UMass down the whole game at different times, against Kentucky, it was a four-point game, Duke was a close game at halftime. They are going to give people a lot of trouble. But you know, we have played a good schedule.”
Syracuse vs. Eastern Michigan
December 31, 2013
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening statement:
“I was worried coming into this game. We haven’t played against a lot of zone -- extended zone. They have a very good zone defense. I thought that we started the game tremendously. Jerami (Grant) got into the lane and made some really good (plays). We had really good ball movement -- we played good defense. It was 26-10 and they made two very difficult threes, to get (within) 10. So, I thought that part of the game we played at a very high level. The last 30 minutes we played at a very low level for the rest of the game. It’s something we have to think about. You come off a big game like Saturday, you’re going to have something. But some part of the let down shouldn’t come after 10-12 minutes. I think we felt we had the game under control, and we didn’t, offensively settling a little bit. They made a couple good offensive plays, but we had a really bad stretch at the end of the first half. We made some turnovers that we don’t usually make. We had the ball in the middle of the lane and let people come hold the ball and dribble the ball, stuff you can’t do. We don’t see a lot of zone -- we probably won’t see a lot of zone the rest of the way and theirs is a very good zone.
I think that this stage, what we’re concerned about is being ready for the league. Starting Saturday. We have some good practices ahead that I think will help us. Christmas break throws you off a little bit. We need to get back and work on some things. I think that we really have come through the first 13 games of the non-conference as well as you could ever hope for. We had a lot of battles, a lot of tough games. We played some really good teams. It’s ironic that the one game that we could have lost was St. Francis. With a schedule like ours, that’s something you wouldn’t think would happen, the only game that at the end we could have lost. I think we put ourselves in the best position we could possibly put ourselves in.
Now we just start something all over again where we’re 0-0 and we need to focus on that. Miami has really improved. They started slow, and they’ve got a lot of young guys. They’ve really improved their last few games. It’ll be a great game Saturday and we’re looking forward to it.”
Can you talk about what you’re most pleased with so far and what you’re most concerned with?
“I think we’ve still got to get better. I think we can still improve in all areas of the game. I don’t think there’s any one area. Today was our worst day in terms of making some bad turnovers. As a group our free-throw shooting was bad today -- it’s been good. When it’s bad it hurts you. When you start missing free throws, you start missing them front end, those things hurt you. Overall, the one thing I know is that we have to get better.”
How is DaJuan Coleman’s leg?
“Right now we are treating it. He is going through a series of treatments that we hope will help him be able to play. I think it is really a day-to-day thing -- not week-to-week -- but day-to-day. He had a treatment yesterday so he couldn’t play today, but we’re going to look at it in the next two days and see how he responds to treatment and make decisions based on how he responds.”
Given the non-conference schedule you’ve played, is this the best one you have played?
“I don’t know if it really is or not -- you know it’s a good one. We try to play a similar schedule. Usually you go to a tournament like Maui, you get two good games and we got three. Minnesota is still a good team, California is good so we got three good games there. You know, Indiana, St. John’s, Villanova are all good teams, but St. Francis turned out to be the best team we played so far. That is just the way it works sometimes. I thought this game would have been much harder, and it would have been if we had not gotten off to such a great start. They are a real good team, they lost be three or four to Purdue, they had UMass down the whole game at different times, against Kentucky, it was a four-point game, Duke was a close game at halftime. They are going to give people a lot of trouble. But you know, we have played a good schedule.”
