Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes - NC State
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. North Carolina State
February 15, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Opening Statement
“I think that North State did a tremendous job defensively against us. I thought we had some shots early and they didn’t go down and I just thought they did a really good job. They’re big inside. We couldn’t get to the basket like we have been able to and when we don’t shoot the ball from the outside, we need to get there and I just didn’t think we had our offense the way it needs to be the last couple of games. I think when you play three games in seven days, obviously, your legs are going to be a little bit short.
“It looked like this was going to be the first game that we made bad plays down the stretch in games. We missed a couple of free throws which we haven’t. Jerami (Grant), Tyler (Ennis), and C.J. (Fair) missed free throws that we’ve been making down the stretch and Tyler had made nothing but good plays. He made a couple of bad ones tonight, which is really what you expect a freshman to do and he hasn’t done that. But we trapped on the sideline the first time and got the turnover and couldn’t convert it and then we had the trap on the baseline at the end and Rakeem (Christmas) made a good play, stepped in, and you’re going to get a fast break in that situation which is about the only way we could have scored probably with the way we were playing. So the two traps worked, we got out of it by making a good play at the end. Down the stretch we weren’t good and you go down the stretch with too many games like we have had, you’re going to have some of those games where you don’t make good plays. Tonight was that game and we were able to make a couple of good plays finally toward end there and one big play at the end.
“(It was a ) difficult game. Tough three games in seven days. Hopefully we get a good day off tomorrow and get a couple of good days of practice in. We had all kinds of trouble at Boston College, down eight with about eight minutes to go. And that’s the way it’s going to be. These games are tough and really it’s not just home or away. Every game is pretty tough in this league and I think we had one game that wasn’t a real tough game this year and that’s pretty much what you expect and I’m sure that will happen the rest of the way.”
On the second trap, how long did you tell the team to wait before trying to foul?
“You trap one time and if you don’t get it you have to foul. We got the trap and they (N.C. State) threw us the ball and we didn’t have to foul.”
Can you comment on Rakeem Christmas’ impact on the game today?
“I thought he was good the whole game. He’s learning to stay out of foul trouble and made a couple of blocks. He covered the middle pretty well. (Kyle) Washington hurt us in the first half. In the second half I thought Rakeem did a pretty good job down there with him. I thought he was really the difference in the game – seven blocks, 14 points, 12 rebounds. He made his free throws. All of those free throws he took and made were crucial. When it was 50-45 we were in real trouble and we made some really good plays right there one after another but Rakeem was really good. Baye (Moussa Keita) ran today. I’d say he might be able to go on Wednesday but we’ll see. He’s been going a little bit better.”
Can you comment on the difference in rebounding between the first and second halves?
“We were much better in the second half on the boards. It looked like they were hammering us but I don’t know what it was at halftime. I didn’t think it was that big of a gap. I’m not sure what it was, four comes to mind but I’m not sure. It seemed maybe a little worse than that but the second half we did better. They spread out more too so they didn’t have as many rebounders. They went small so they spread us out a little bit more. In the first half they were playing the two big guys down there so it was a bit different. You get things from the small lineup, you get things from the big lineup but it just depends.”
Can you speak about Rakeem (Christmas) staying out of foul trouble and what that means to the team?
“He only had one bad one that I remember tonight, that rebounding foul, the second one in the first half. That was the only one that was bad. After that we were real good, we played good defense and really didn’t foul. They did a lot of perimeter stuff; they really weren’t going inside in the second half. The first half they were getting inside more. The second half was more perimeter stuff so we weren’t in foul trouble and we were able to drive enough to get them in foul trouble.”
C.J. was 5-of-16, have you ever seen him play this poorly this season?
“He’s had a couple bad games, he’s going to have a couple. I didn’t think he had his legs. He couldn’t get his legs under him on his jump shots. He made five layups, he couldn’t make even his 15, 10, 12-footer - I don’t think he made a jump shot to tell you the truth. I know he made three layups in the first half, I know he made that last layup and he had another bucket rolling through the lane. If he makes his jump shot he’s fine. It was a good game. Trevor (Cooney) got some really good looks tonight, early, and didn’t make them. But you have to find a way. Our defense held up, our defense was good the whole game. But our offense just wasn’t good enough.”
What did you think of T.J. Warren?
“He’s a good player, really good player. I thought he did a good job defensively on C.J. and I thought he’s really good getting into the basket. I thought he played really well. Washington (Kyle Washington) and him really hurt us. Washington, we got a little bit under control in the second half, he hurt us in the first half.”
Closing Statement:
“We have to get our offense going better. They played a little slow in the end. They played fast enough and our offense just wasn’t good enough. I think moving forward for us to be a good team, we’ve got to play better offense. I don’t look at our record. I feel like we played about really, overall well enough to be 20-5. I think that’s really what we are. We haven’t played better than that. I think sometimes you can be 25-0 and we’re not playing well enough right now offensively for a while now. I think really since the Duke game where we had a tremendous offensive game, we’ve had some really bad offensive games. We need to get better on that end.”
“Part of it is - I think tonight Tyler played like a freshman. He made some mistakes, he also made some good plays. He hade some wide open shots that he can make. When we played our best offense in Hawaii, Tyler and Trevor had 40 points in two different games over there where they had 28, 20, 21, 20 and we’re a really good offensive team when those two guys are scoring. They struggled a little bit tonight and we need those two guys to be effective on offense. We need to be better offensively if we want to have a great ending. We’ve played the easiest games of our schedule. The next six games will be much harder, particularly the four out of five road games we have at the end of the year.”
“Although we had a really good win at Pittsburgh, I don’t know how many times you’re going to win games like that. We have to play better. I think this game indicates that. I think NC State has played very well at home. They’ve won five games out of six, but they’ve won four of them at home. On the road, they’ve gotten beat pretty good. I think we have to look at the facts, which is we have the toughest part of our schedule ahead, which is fine. You don’t get any trophies that matter in the regular season. The only thing that matters is what you do at the end of the year, the real end of the year. If we can use these next six games to get better, play better basketball, I think that will be helpful.”
“When we play three games like this - when we’re going to play Wednesday, Saturday, and Monday this week - those are tough for us. Without Baye (Moussa Keita) we’re playing six guys. If I thought we could get another guy in there I would, but I don’t think we can. We’re going to be a little tired, I’d rather have C.J. in there for 40 than someone else in there for five that can’t do what we needed to do.”
“We need to get better. That was a tough week we just got through. This is a tougher next three games coming up. That’s how you get better. This team’s reacted well in every tough situation they’ve been in or put themselves in, and that’s something they should be given a lot of credit for. When you win games like this and Pittsburgh - I think they calculate percentages to win the game - we didn’t have a good percentage to win this game or Pittsburgh. I think these guys deserve a lot of credit. It would have been easy to just follow the ball inbounds, they made a trap, they got the trap and they got the steal. I was glad that neither one of us had a timeout because it’s better for us in that situation. It was a great win considering all of the things that we just talked about and we get a day off tomorrow and hopefully get a couple good days in this week of practice.”
Syracuse vs. North Carolina State
February 15, 2014
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Opening Statement
“I think that North State did a tremendous job defensively against us. I thought we had some shots early and they didn’t go down and I just thought they did a really good job. They’re big inside. We couldn’t get to the basket like we have been able to and when we don’t shoot the ball from the outside, we need to get there and I just didn’t think we had our offense the way it needs to be the last couple of games. I think when you play three games in seven days, obviously, your legs are going to be a little bit short.
“It looked like this was going to be the first game that we made bad plays down the stretch in games. We missed a couple of free throws which we haven’t. Jerami (Grant), Tyler (Ennis), and C.J. (Fair) missed free throws that we’ve been making down the stretch and Tyler had made nothing but good plays. He made a couple of bad ones tonight, which is really what you expect a freshman to do and he hasn’t done that. But we trapped on the sideline the first time and got the turnover and couldn’t convert it and then we had the trap on the baseline at the end and Rakeem (Christmas) made a good play, stepped in, and you’re going to get a fast break in that situation which is about the only way we could have scored probably with the way we were playing. So the two traps worked, we got out of it by making a good play at the end. Down the stretch we weren’t good and you go down the stretch with too many games like we have had, you’re going to have some of those games where you don’t make good plays. Tonight was that game and we were able to make a couple of good plays finally toward end there and one big play at the end.
“(It was a ) difficult game. Tough three games in seven days. Hopefully we get a good day off tomorrow and get a couple of good days of practice in. We had all kinds of trouble at Boston College, down eight with about eight minutes to go. And that’s the way it’s going to be. These games are tough and really it’s not just home or away. Every game is pretty tough in this league and I think we had one game that wasn’t a real tough game this year and that’s pretty much what you expect and I’m sure that will happen the rest of the way.”
On the second trap, how long did you tell the team to wait before trying to foul?
“You trap one time and if you don’t get it you have to foul. We got the trap and they (N.C. State) threw us the ball and we didn’t have to foul.”
Can you comment on Rakeem Christmas’ impact on the game today?
“I thought he was good the whole game. He’s learning to stay out of foul trouble and made a couple of blocks. He covered the middle pretty well. (Kyle) Washington hurt us in the first half. In the second half I thought Rakeem did a pretty good job down there with him. I thought he was really the difference in the game – seven blocks, 14 points, 12 rebounds. He made his free throws. All of those free throws he took and made were crucial. When it was 50-45 we were in real trouble and we made some really good plays right there one after another but Rakeem was really good. Baye (Moussa Keita) ran today. I’d say he might be able to go on Wednesday but we’ll see. He’s been going a little bit better.”
Can you comment on the difference in rebounding between the first and second halves?
“We were much better in the second half on the boards. It looked like they were hammering us but I don’t know what it was at halftime. I didn’t think it was that big of a gap. I’m not sure what it was, four comes to mind but I’m not sure. It seemed maybe a little worse than that but the second half we did better. They spread out more too so they didn’t have as many rebounders. They went small so they spread us out a little bit more. In the first half they were playing the two big guys down there so it was a bit different. You get things from the small lineup, you get things from the big lineup but it just depends.”
Can you speak about Rakeem (Christmas) staying out of foul trouble and what that means to the team?
“He only had one bad one that I remember tonight, that rebounding foul, the second one in the first half. That was the only one that was bad. After that we were real good, we played good defense and really didn’t foul. They did a lot of perimeter stuff; they really weren’t going inside in the second half. The first half they were getting inside more. The second half was more perimeter stuff so we weren’t in foul trouble and we were able to drive enough to get them in foul trouble.”
C.J. was 5-of-16, have you ever seen him play this poorly this season?
“He’s had a couple bad games, he’s going to have a couple. I didn’t think he had his legs. He couldn’t get his legs under him on his jump shots. He made five layups, he couldn’t make even his 15, 10, 12-footer - I don’t think he made a jump shot to tell you the truth. I know he made three layups in the first half, I know he made that last layup and he had another bucket rolling through the lane. If he makes his jump shot he’s fine. It was a good game. Trevor (Cooney) got some really good looks tonight, early, and didn’t make them. But you have to find a way. Our defense held up, our defense was good the whole game. But our offense just wasn’t good enough.”
What did you think of T.J. Warren?
“He’s a good player, really good player. I thought he did a good job defensively on C.J. and I thought he’s really good getting into the basket. I thought he played really well. Washington (Kyle Washington) and him really hurt us. Washington, we got a little bit under control in the second half, he hurt us in the first half.”
Closing Statement:
“We have to get our offense going better. They played a little slow in the end. They played fast enough and our offense just wasn’t good enough. I think moving forward for us to be a good team, we’ve got to play better offense. I don’t look at our record. I feel like we played about really, overall well enough to be 20-5. I think that’s really what we are. We haven’t played better than that. I think sometimes you can be 25-0 and we’re not playing well enough right now offensively for a while now. I think really since the Duke game where we had a tremendous offensive game, we’ve had some really bad offensive games. We need to get better on that end.”
“Part of it is - I think tonight Tyler played like a freshman. He made some mistakes, he also made some good plays. He hade some wide open shots that he can make. When we played our best offense in Hawaii, Tyler and Trevor had 40 points in two different games over there where they had 28, 20, 21, 20 and we’re a really good offensive team when those two guys are scoring. They struggled a little bit tonight and we need those two guys to be effective on offense. We need to be better offensively if we want to have a great ending. We’ve played the easiest games of our schedule. The next six games will be much harder, particularly the four out of five road games we have at the end of the year.”
“Although we had a really good win at Pittsburgh, I don’t know how many times you’re going to win games like that. We have to play better. I think this game indicates that. I think NC State has played very well at home. They’ve won five games out of six, but they’ve won four of them at home. On the road, they’ve gotten beat pretty good. I think we have to look at the facts, which is we have the toughest part of our schedule ahead, which is fine. You don’t get any trophies that matter in the regular season. The only thing that matters is what you do at the end of the year, the real end of the year. If we can use these next six games to get better, play better basketball, I think that will be helpful.”
“When we play three games like this - when we’re going to play Wednesday, Saturday, and Monday this week - those are tough for us. Without Baye (Moussa Keita) we’re playing six guys. If I thought we could get another guy in there I would, but I don’t think we can. We’re going to be a little tired, I’d rather have C.J. in there for 40 than someone else in there for five that can’t do what we needed to do.”
“We need to get better. That was a tough week we just got through. This is a tougher next three games coming up. That’s how you get better. This team’s reacted well in every tough situation they’ve been in or put themselves in, and that’s something they should be given a lot of credit for. When you win games like this and Pittsburgh - I think they calculate percentages to win the game - we didn’t have a good percentage to win this game or Pittsburgh. I think these guys deserve a lot of credit. It would have been easy to just follow the ball inbounds, they made a trap, they got the trap and they got the steal. I was glad that neither one of us had a timeout because it’s better for us in that situation. It was a great win considering all of the things that we just talked about and we get a day off tomorrow and hopefully get a couple good days in this week of practice.”
