Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse Basketball
Syracuse vs. Holy Cross
November 28, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I thought the first half we played as well as we like to play. We played great along the defensive end and offensively we got the ball to Rakeem (Christmas) and he was real good inside. We handled their pressure well with four turnovers. In the second half, we got complacent. We had some bad turnovers and that’s what’s rewarded when you play a team who puts pressure on like that. We just made some really bad turnovers and got them going. But we came back and made some good stops and good plays. Chris (McCullough)and Rakeem (Christmas) were good inside. We did what we needed to do.”
Can you talk about your level of concern about the offense?
“It is what it is. We are just going to play and it doesn’t matter whether I’m concerned or not. My concern doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything. We just have to keep playing and if we are not shooting well we have to get to the basket.”
Did you see progress with Kaleb Joseph tonight?
“He did some good things. He just has to keep working.”
With the team’s struggle on offense, does it make it more important to play well on defense?
“Holy Cross is a pretty good team and we scored 39 points (in the first half) in a slowed down game so our offense was fine. We scored more than enough on offense. We shot 48 percent from the field, got to the foul line, so we scored more than enough. They were taking their time and we got 39 points, which is a pretty good number against a team that is taking that much time. That’s fine.
“The defense was good. They scored points in the second half because some of it was off turnovers that we made, which we didn’t make in the first half and some of it was that we had a couple of breakdowns on the defensive end. We let their guards inside and we gave them a couple of three’s that we didn’t give them in the first half. And they got more aggressive, which is understandable. We just made too many turnovers in the second half. You can score 80 or 90 points without making a three. You just have to be better on offense. We just have to make the shots that we can make – bottom line. We’ll make some three’s. We just have to keep playing, keep getting better.
“Again, we’re making mistakes that we haven’t made in a long time so it’s something that we’re going to have to get used to probably or work to try to eliminate them as much we can. But we had a number of really, really smart players who understood the game and knew how to play the game for a long time. We’re young. We have guys who are trying to figure out how to play the game.
Mike (Gbinije) is a fourth-year player. He went into traffic and threw the ball away twice. We can’t have him doing those things. He can’t play like that. We need him to play better. Kaleb (Joseph) -- he’s going to make some mistakes. We need Mike and Trevor (Cooney) to play better. Rakeem (Christmas) is playing great. He’s doing a great job inside. We didn’t even do a really good job of getting him the ball tonight and he had a very strong game. Chris (McCullough) is doing a good job. We just have to get a little bit more out of somebody else for sure as we go along.
These two months, November and December, are going to be a real learning experience and we have to go to work. We have to go to work and try to get better. We have a very, very difficult schedule. And that’s okay. We learned a lot in New York. We got our butts kicked and we learned something. We have a great game coming up next week. These games will help us get better. If we’re able to get better, these games will help us. We have to keep playing good defense and try to get a little better on offense as we go along.”
Can you talk about your fast-break opportunities tonight?
“When you don’t shoot well it’s good to get down there and get easy shots. We like to run. We try to run. We haven’t been very effective at it. We’re not really doing a good job of it. We got some today but a lot of times we run off turnovers and the first half we got some. In the second half they didn’t turn the ball over. They did a much better job on offense and we didn’t get those turnovers. We have to try to push it and get into an early offense. When you’re not shooting well, we’re not going to run a lot plays for jump shots right now so we’re going to try and get it down there and get some shots. That’s what we have to do.”
Syracuse vs. Holy Cross
November 28, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I thought the first half we played as well as we like to play. We played great along the defensive end and offensively we got the ball to Rakeem (Christmas) and he was real good inside. We handled their pressure well with four turnovers. In the second half, we got complacent. We had some bad turnovers and that’s what’s rewarded when you play a team who puts pressure on like that. We just made some really bad turnovers and got them going. But we came back and made some good stops and good plays. Chris (McCullough)and Rakeem (Christmas) were good inside. We did what we needed to do.”
Can you talk about your level of concern about the offense?
“It is what it is. We are just going to play and it doesn’t matter whether I’m concerned or not. My concern doesn’t matter. It’s not going to change anything. We just have to keep playing and if we are not shooting well we have to get to the basket.”
Did you see progress with Kaleb Joseph tonight?
“He did some good things. He just has to keep working.”
With the team’s struggle on offense, does it make it more important to play well on defense?
“Holy Cross is a pretty good team and we scored 39 points (in the first half) in a slowed down game so our offense was fine. We scored more than enough on offense. We shot 48 percent from the field, got to the foul line, so we scored more than enough. They were taking their time and we got 39 points, which is a pretty good number against a team that is taking that much time. That’s fine.
“The defense was good. They scored points in the second half because some of it was off turnovers that we made, which we didn’t make in the first half and some of it was that we had a couple of breakdowns on the defensive end. We let their guards inside and we gave them a couple of three’s that we didn’t give them in the first half. And they got more aggressive, which is understandable. We just made too many turnovers in the second half. You can score 80 or 90 points without making a three. You just have to be better on offense. We just have to make the shots that we can make – bottom line. We’ll make some three’s. We just have to keep playing, keep getting better.
“Again, we’re making mistakes that we haven’t made in a long time so it’s something that we’re going to have to get used to probably or work to try to eliminate them as much we can. But we had a number of really, really smart players who understood the game and knew how to play the game for a long time. We’re young. We have guys who are trying to figure out how to play the game.
Mike (Gbinije) is a fourth-year player. He went into traffic and threw the ball away twice. We can’t have him doing those things. He can’t play like that. We need him to play better. Kaleb (Joseph) -- he’s going to make some mistakes. We need Mike and Trevor (Cooney) to play better. Rakeem (Christmas) is playing great. He’s doing a great job inside. We didn’t even do a really good job of getting him the ball tonight and he had a very strong game. Chris (McCullough) is doing a good job. We just have to get a little bit more out of somebody else for sure as we go along.
These two months, November and December, are going to be a real learning experience and we have to go to work. We have to go to work and try to get better. We have a very, very difficult schedule. And that’s okay. We learned a lot in New York. We got our butts kicked and we learned something. We have a great game coming up next week. These games will help us get better. If we’re able to get better, these games will help us. We have to keep playing good defense and try to get a little better on offense as we go along.”
Can you talk about your fast-break opportunities tonight?
“When you don’t shoot well it’s good to get down there and get easy shots. We like to run. We try to run. We haven’t been very effective at it. We’re not really doing a good job of it. We got some today but a lot of times we run off turnovers and the first half we got some. In the second half they didn’t turn the ball over. They did a much better job on offense and we didn’t get those turnovers. We have to try to push it and get into an early offense. When you’re not shooting well, we’re not going to run a lot plays for jump shots right now so we’re going to try and get it down there and get some shots. That’s what we have to do.”
