Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes - Miami
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Miami
January 4, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening statement:
“When Miami started to play their matchup defense three games ago we really had a good look at it and were able to spend a lot of time in practice with it. Their matchup is very good. Matchup defense is probably the hardest to play against, especially when you have a lot of length through the whole lineup like they do. It’s very hard to play against. They have big guys around the basket and they have big guards defending the perimeter too. I think Trevor (Cooney) got some looks, but he’s not going to make them every night. Every great shooter has some off nights. We’ve been spoiled because he hasn’t really had an off-shooting night yet this season.
I thought when we were down six in the second half, in a game at this speed, that’s a big deficit. Rakeem (Christmas) got a big offensive rebound for us to end their run, and then offensively we made a couple big plays down the stretch. Our defense really stepped up too. Rakeem took away the lob, and then we really did a good job against their perimeter guys. I thought we really played exceptional defense on their perimeter guys during that run where we got the lead. Tyler (Ennis) made a couple big plays, as he usually does in those situations, getting to the basket. People are going to hold the ball against us. We’ve seen that all year. This is not new. This is probably the sixth or seventh time we’ve seen that this year, and we’ve been able to practice at it. We just need to maintain our patience.
This game started out a lot like Villanova where we allowed them to shoot threes early, and they made three early ones, just like Villanova made four. After that we started to get out and run, but we need to start doing that sooner. We’re going to be in games where people are going to be patient against our zone, and we need to stay disciplined and play good defense through that. We definitely need to be better on offense, but they’re playing off of our guys that don’t shoot it. That’s a weakness we struggle with on offense. As a whole we’re not a great three-point shooting team. We have to try and get to the basket, which we finally did there at the end. Rakeem made a couple plays inside, and again Tyler got to the basket. But when you get into league play, everyone has games like this. It’s definitely not easy in a lo- scoring game, but teams have a good chance to pull out a win. They (Miami) played pretty well. We tried to press, but it wasn’t effective. In fact they scored a couple times against our press. So, again, we’re going to be in these types of games and we’re going to see this kind of play a lot. We just have to be prepared and be a little bit better on offense.”
Can you tell us a little bit about Jerami’s (Grant) performance?
“Everyone is going to play him to drive, so when he made that jump shot, that’s huge. They’re giving him that 15-footer all game long, and you can’t get to the basket when there is a 7-footer sitting back and waiting for you in the paint. He has to make that jump shot to be effective. I don’t think his movement was very good - he only had one offensive rebound. That’s something he needs to do better. But, again, he’s limited in terms of shooting the basketball right now. I do love having him come off the bench because he gives us a lift there. Without him, we don’t really have that lift coming off the bench. We’ve been in games like this with St. Francis, Minnesota, at St. John’s, where at the end of the game somebody has to make plays and we’ve been able to do that thus far.”
When a team is running so much clock can it take you out of it?
“Not necessarily, no. Their defense was the problem. Their defense was very good, it wasn’t anything to do (with the shot clock). We’ve played teams who have taken the whole 35 seconds, many times this year and our offense has been good. In realty, if Trevor shoots the way he normally shoots we would be fine. If he takes 12threes, he makes six, usually. He had good looks. He didn’t have to rush it, but he’s going to have games like that, and we have to find a way to get around that.”
Trevor didn’t have a good shooting night, but went to the basket at the end of the game and got fouled. Did his free-throws at the end of the game work towards his resolve?
“I think we’ve all got resolve. We have good resolve on this team, I have no doubt about that. We’re not always the best offensive group, but we have good resolve. Nobody listens until you get into a game like this or you lose a game, and we’ve got to get better offensively. You have to look at reality. We’ve got to get better offensively. We’re going to see a lot of games where people are going to guard us like they did, and they’re going to take time off the clock and we have to be prepared for those games. They’ll be some games with teams we’ll be up and down with. That’s the beauty of being in the league -- you’re going to have different styles. In my mind we need to get better offensively. I think we are getting better defensively, but offensively we need to get better.”
How important was Rakeem late in the game?
“He made the rebound and he made the other turn in. He’s worked hard in practice. I think there’s some opportunities for us to get him there. We need to work on that and get better at that. I think he is certainly capable of scoring around the basket. He dropped one today and missed a dunk, a couple little things here and there. Baye’s (Moussa Keita) getting pushed around down there and he’s not grabbing the ball. We need something more out of the inside position, as we go forward. We have to get Mike (Gbinije) in there and get something out of him. This was a game I wanted to keep Trevor in there to have the threat. He did get a shot, but we expect that he’s going to make those shots and break the game open like this and I’m sure he will the next game. But tonight wasn’t his game, wasn’t his night.”
What did you think of Rakeem and Baye down defensively?
“They gave up the lob early. Rakeem made the key play when he went back and got the lob - that was a huge play there. Overall, I thought they were good defensively. When teams hold the ball it does hurt you, but it can also hurt them a little bit because they get out of rhythm. They did a good job of it.”
Was DaJuan (Coleman) able to go if you needed him?
“ He was feeling better, but I really didn’t want to. We’re going to give him another day or two. See how he feels. He’s better, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Are you a better team with Jeremi coming off the bench?
“That’s why we did it that way. We didn’t do it that way by accident. I think we’re better when we go with the two big guys early and we try to get something out of those guys. I think they were starting to do some things and it’s unfortunate that this happened. It has thrown that plan out of whack. Tyler Roberson has been better. I didn’t want to put him in there against that matchup because it’s not a fast-pace game. Nobody is going to get tired. So I didn’t want to put the freshman into the point where he has to make a lot of reads and decisions that are very difficult to make. But he’s been playing better and working better in practice. So we’ll see going forward.”
Thoughts on Virginia Tech?
“Well I think everybody is good, we learned that today. We knew that before and now I think everyone knows that. Nothing is going to be easy home or away. I don’t think it matters where you play. They’re a good team - they beat Miami - they’re a good basketball team. We just need to have a couple good days of work and get ready.”
Syracuse vs. Miami
January 4, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, NY
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening statement:
“When Miami started to play their matchup defense three games ago we really had a good look at it and were able to spend a lot of time in practice with it. Their matchup is very good. Matchup defense is probably the hardest to play against, especially when you have a lot of length through the whole lineup like they do. It’s very hard to play against. They have big guys around the basket and they have big guards defending the perimeter too. I think Trevor (Cooney) got some looks, but he’s not going to make them every night. Every great shooter has some off nights. We’ve been spoiled because he hasn’t really had an off-shooting night yet this season.
I thought when we were down six in the second half, in a game at this speed, that’s a big deficit. Rakeem (Christmas) got a big offensive rebound for us to end their run, and then offensively we made a couple big plays down the stretch. Our defense really stepped up too. Rakeem took away the lob, and then we really did a good job against their perimeter guys. I thought we really played exceptional defense on their perimeter guys during that run where we got the lead. Tyler (Ennis) made a couple big plays, as he usually does in those situations, getting to the basket. People are going to hold the ball against us. We’ve seen that all year. This is not new. This is probably the sixth or seventh time we’ve seen that this year, and we’ve been able to practice at it. We just need to maintain our patience.
This game started out a lot like Villanova where we allowed them to shoot threes early, and they made three early ones, just like Villanova made four. After that we started to get out and run, but we need to start doing that sooner. We’re going to be in games where people are going to be patient against our zone, and we need to stay disciplined and play good defense through that. We definitely need to be better on offense, but they’re playing off of our guys that don’t shoot it. That’s a weakness we struggle with on offense. As a whole we’re not a great three-point shooting team. We have to try and get to the basket, which we finally did there at the end. Rakeem made a couple plays inside, and again Tyler got to the basket. But when you get into league play, everyone has games like this. It’s definitely not easy in a lo- scoring game, but teams have a good chance to pull out a win. They (Miami) played pretty well. We tried to press, but it wasn’t effective. In fact they scored a couple times against our press. So, again, we’re going to be in these types of games and we’re going to see this kind of play a lot. We just have to be prepared and be a little bit better on offense.”
Can you tell us a little bit about Jerami’s (Grant) performance?
“Everyone is going to play him to drive, so when he made that jump shot, that’s huge. They’re giving him that 15-footer all game long, and you can’t get to the basket when there is a 7-footer sitting back and waiting for you in the paint. He has to make that jump shot to be effective. I don’t think his movement was very good - he only had one offensive rebound. That’s something he needs to do better. But, again, he’s limited in terms of shooting the basketball right now. I do love having him come off the bench because he gives us a lift there. Without him, we don’t really have that lift coming off the bench. We’ve been in games like this with St. Francis, Minnesota, at St. John’s, where at the end of the game somebody has to make plays and we’ve been able to do that thus far.”
When a team is running so much clock can it take you out of it?
“Not necessarily, no. Their defense was the problem. Their defense was very good, it wasn’t anything to do (with the shot clock). We’ve played teams who have taken the whole 35 seconds, many times this year and our offense has been good. In realty, if Trevor shoots the way he normally shoots we would be fine. If he takes 12threes, he makes six, usually. He had good looks. He didn’t have to rush it, but he’s going to have games like that, and we have to find a way to get around that.”
Trevor didn’t have a good shooting night, but went to the basket at the end of the game and got fouled. Did his free-throws at the end of the game work towards his resolve?
“I think we’ve all got resolve. We have good resolve on this team, I have no doubt about that. We’re not always the best offensive group, but we have good resolve. Nobody listens until you get into a game like this or you lose a game, and we’ve got to get better offensively. You have to look at reality. We’ve got to get better offensively. We’re going to see a lot of games where people are going to guard us like they did, and they’re going to take time off the clock and we have to be prepared for those games. They’ll be some games with teams we’ll be up and down with. That’s the beauty of being in the league -- you’re going to have different styles. In my mind we need to get better offensively. I think we are getting better defensively, but offensively we need to get better.”
How important was Rakeem late in the game?
“He made the rebound and he made the other turn in. He’s worked hard in practice. I think there’s some opportunities for us to get him there. We need to work on that and get better at that. I think he is certainly capable of scoring around the basket. He dropped one today and missed a dunk, a couple little things here and there. Baye’s (Moussa Keita) getting pushed around down there and he’s not grabbing the ball. We need something more out of the inside position, as we go forward. We have to get Mike (Gbinije) in there and get something out of him. This was a game I wanted to keep Trevor in there to have the threat. He did get a shot, but we expect that he’s going to make those shots and break the game open like this and I’m sure he will the next game. But tonight wasn’t his game, wasn’t his night.”
What did you think of Rakeem and Baye down defensively?
“They gave up the lob early. Rakeem made the key play when he went back and got the lob - that was a huge play there. Overall, I thought they were good defensively. When teams hold the ball it does hurt you, but it can also hurt them a little bit because they get out of rhythm. They did a good job of it.”
Was DaJuan (Coleman) able to go if you needed him?
“ He was feeling better, but I really didn’t want to. We’re going to give him another day or two. See how he feels. He’s better, but we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Are you a better team with Jeremi coming off the bench?
“That’s why we did it that way. We didn’t do it that way by accident. I think we’re better when we go with the two big guys early and we try to get something out of those guys. I think they were starting to do some things and it’s unfortunate that this happened. It has thrown that plan out of whack. Tyler Roberson has been better. I didn’t want to put him in there against that matchup because it’s not a fast-pace game. Nobody is going to get tired. So I didn’t want to put the freshman into the point where he has to make a lot of reads and decisions that are very difficult to make. But he’s been playing better and working better in practice. So we’ll see going forward.”
Thoughts on Virginia Tech?
“Well I think everybody is good, we learned that today. We knew that before and now I think everyone knows that. Nothing is going to be easy home or away. I don’t think it matters where you play. They’re a good team - they beat Miami - they’re a good basketball team. We just need to have a couple good days of work and get ready.”
