Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Wake Forest
January 13, 2015
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I think we got such a good start that when the big kid came in, we allowed him to shoot. You can't allow kids like that to shoot. He is a great shooter, and we never could adjust to it. That just got them right back in the game. Now you're going to be in a dog fight, and I thought when we were down nine we made some unbelievable plays. There was Rak (Rakeem Christmas) inside, Mike (Gbinije) and Trevor (Cooney), who made a corner jump shot when we were down three. It was a really, really hard shot to make.
“I thought Mike had won it at the end of regulation with the screen up at the top. He got right to the basket, but you know we fought every step of the way. When they got the lead or they had the lead late, we had to make a play. We made it. At the end of the day, when we had to make foul shots, we made foul shots. They missed. At Georgia Tech we missed a number of them, but we were able to still win. Here, when we had to make them, we made them. Mike made two, so that the three just tied it, and then Rak made them down the stretch. I thought that last one was going to go in after Trevor missed his. I was hoping he would make both of them, and we would have a four-point lead. They made two half-court shots already, so I'm thinking that looks like it's going to go in from three-quarters court. It was a great effort.
“We were tired. Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. (vs. Florida State), then coming back Tuesday is difficult. I think it's very difficult to ask players to do that. I thought we did get tired, but even when we were tired we made plays. We made really good plays.
I thought Wake Forest made a lot of shots. I thought they did a lot of good things against us. I watched them play against Duke and Louisville, and they had the lead in both games late. I thought they played extremely well. They made a couple long three’s.
We had to overcome a lot of things today. I thought we were patient. I thought we got the ball to Rak (Rakeem Christmas) really, really well. Tyler (Roberson) passed up a number of shots, Ronnie (Patterson) finally passed up a number of shots, which was good. We finally got the ball to Rak (Rakeem Christmas). We worked really hard to get him the ball, and he was really great around the basket.
“I thought we overcame a lot today in this game. I thought it was a tremendous, tremendous win. I'm disappointed we're not making some rotations on defense. Guys coming off the bench, I don't care if they score, but they have to play defense, and we made a couple crucial defensive mistakes coming off the bench. Kaleb (Joseph) has got to be a little more aggressive. He's going in circles out there, and he's got to go to the basket, and try to get something. He's going sideways all the time now, and he's a better player than that. We need him to get back to where he was against Villanova. He's that good of a player where he can make that midrange jumper, and give us some offense.
We challenged Mike at halftime. He had, I think, one point at half, and we can't win when Mike disappears like that. He was much more aggressive in the second half, and some of it came because he had the ball at the point. So that was good that he could dial up points in that position. I thought that was huge for us, but those three guys – Mike, Trevor, and Rak – were outstanding, outstanding today. It was a great, really was a great game.”
Can you talk about the loss of Chris McCullough?
“That’s just one of those things that happens in sports. Ohio State won the national championship (in football) and they lost two guys (quarterbacks, to injury), so you just have to play. It’s unfortunate. It hurts us more this year than most of the years that I’ve been here because we’ve always had another guy that we can get in there, but we are really struggling right now.
We have to get a couple days of practice with B.J. (Johnson). He’s better than he’s been, just twice defensively he didn’t get his position and we gave up two quick baskets. He has to play defense and if he doesn’t score, I don’t care. But he went out and took a jump shot in five seconds. We can’t have him do that. But we need him to be more productive, obviously. We will see what happens. We will see how it goes.”
Why hasn’t Rakeem Christmas received more recognition for his play this season?
“Well we aren’t ranked. If we were in the top 10, he’d be getting a lot of attention. It’s simple, that’s the same every year. Do you know who is the best player at Wyoming? No, you don’t know. He’s averaging 18 (points) and 12 (rebounds). You only know the guys that are on the teams in the top 10 or 15. Those are the guys that get the credit. That’s the way it’s always been and always will be.
We keep winning, he’ll get more recognition. But if he plays like this that’s a little different too. I think he’s capable of this. I really do. I think he’s capable of a big man. They’re going to play man-to-man, teams are playing us man-to-man, and I think he’s capable. We’re looking for him, they’re really doing a great job. He got 21 shots and he got 12 free throws and he got the ball 25, 27 times. I thought guys were really patient, they were looking for him. I thought Trevor (Cooney) played better than his numbers, he had a couple of monstrous ones for us. This was a great win. This really was a great win. We were a little tired, three games in the last seven days, two like this. Wake Forest played extremely well. They shot it really well, they’re not a great three-point shooting team. McIntyre made two half-court threes. Crazy game, crazy game.”
What was the play called for the last possession in regulation?
“We were running a high pick and roll, I let him go. It couldn’t have been better. Bad play. Wrong play. Missed the lay-up. Should’ve been something else.”
How did you challenge Michael Gbinje at halftime?
“We just talked to him. (Assistant coach) Adrian (Autry) really talked to him more than I did. We can’t win with you out there playing like this. We need him to be aggressive.”
Can you talk about Tyler Roberson’s play?
“He’s trying to figure out where he is. He’s a sophomore. He’s getting great opportunities because nobody is guarding him but he can’t figure out where he can do whatever it is he can do. We need him to figure that out. When somebody doesn’t guard you, you need to find a way to make them pay. That might just be setting a good screen because there’s nobody there to help because they’re not guarding you. But, he’s got to play better, lift the level of his game.
I think Ron Patterson can do that. He made a couple of really good ones. He made a really bad one at the end there but he made a couple of really good plays. I still think he can get going. He missed a couple of lay-ups. He’s capable of doing more and we’ll need him to do more for sure.”
Why did you want Ron Patterson in the lineup late in the game?
“We wanted to get somebody that would get something going to the basket. He made some plays. It doesn’t show, his numbers don’t look good, but he made some plays that led to something else.”
Did the team’s performance late in other close games this year help tonight?
“At the end of games, you’re going to learn from that. We got it in, we got the ball to the right people. Trevor (Cooney) has to keep the ball when he gets that, maybe he will figure that out. This was a great win. We were down nine or 10, this was a tremendous win. It really was. It’s hard to get wins in this league. We’ve had two or three that could have easily gone the other way and we got them. We have to keep plugging away and getting a little better. We’ll see what happens.”
Syracuse vs. Wake Forest
January 13, 2015
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I think we got such a good start that when the big kid came in, we allowed him to shoot. You can't allow kids like that to shoot. He is a great shooter, and we never could adjust to it. That just got them right back in the game. Now you're going to be in a dog fight, and I thought when we were down nine we made some unbelievable plays. There was Rak (Rakeem Christmas) inside, Mike (Gbinije) and Trevor (Cooney), who made a corner jump shot when we were down three. It was a really, really hard shot to make.
“I thought Mike had won it at the end of regulation with the screen up at the top. He got right to the basket, but you know we fought every step of the way. When they got the lead or they had the lead late, we had to make a play. We made it. At the end of the day, when we had to make foul shots, we made foul shots. They missed. At Georgia Tech we missed a number of them, but we were able to still win. Here, when we had to make them, we made them. Mike made two, so that the three just tied it, and then Rak made them down the stretch. I thought that last one was going to go in after Trevor missed his. I was hoping he would make both of them, and we would have a four-point lead. They made two half-court shots already, so I'm thinking that looks like it's going to go in from three-quarters court. It was a great effort.
“We were tired. Sunday night at 8:00 p.m. (vs. Florida State), then coming back Tuesday is difficult. I think it's very difficult to ask players to do that. I thought we did get tired, but even when we were tired we made plays. We made really good plays.
I thought Wake Forest made a lot of shots. I thought they did a lot of good things against us. I watched them play against Duke and Louisville, and they had the lead in both games late. I thought they played extremely well. They made a couple long three’s.
We had to overcome a lot of things today. I thought we were patient. I thought we got the ball to Rak (Rakeem Christmas) really, really well. Tyler (Roberson) passed up a number of shots, Ronnie (Patterson) finally passed up a number of shots, which was good. We finally got the ball to Rak (Rakeem Christmas). We worked really hard to get him the ball, and he was really great around the basket.
“I thought we overcame a lot today in this game. I thought it was a tremendous, tremendous win. I'm disappointed we're not making some rotations on defense. Guys coming off the bench, I don't care if they score, but they have to play defense, and we made a couple crucial defensive mistakes coming off the bench. Kaleb (Joseph) has got to be a little more aggressive. He's going in circles out there, and he's got to go to the basket, and try to get something. He's going sideways all the time now, and he's a better player than that. We need him to get back to where he was against Villanova. He's that good of a player where he can make that midrange jumper, and give us some offense.
We challenged Mike at halftime. He had, I think, one point at half, and we can't win when Mike disappears like that. He was much more aggressive in the second half, and some of it came because he had the ball at the point. So that was good that he could dial up points in that position. I thought that was huge for us, but those three guys – Mike, Trevor, and Rak – were outstanding, outstanding today. It was a great, really was a great game.”
Can you talk about the loss of Chris McCullough?
“That’s just one of those things that happens in sports. Ohio State won the national championship (in football) and they lost two guys (quarterbacks, to injury), so you just have to play. It’s unfortunate. It hurts us more this year than most of the years that I’ve been here because we’ve always had another guy that we can get in there, but we are really struggling right now.
We have to get a couple days of practice with B.J. (Johnson). He’s better than he’s been, just twice defensively he didn’t get his position and we gave up two quick baskets. He has to play defense and if he doesn’t score, I don’t care. But he went out and took a jump shot in five seconds. We can’t have him do that. But we need him to be more productive, obviously. We will see what happens. We will see how it goes.”
Why hasn’t Rakeem Christmas received more recognition for his play this season?
“Well we aren’t ranked. If we were in the top 10, he’d be getting a lot of attention. It’s simple, that’s the same every year. Do you know who is the best player at Wyoming? No, you don’t know. He’s averaging 18 (points) and 12 (rebounds). You only know the guys that are on the teams in the top 10 or 15. Those are the guys that get the credit. That’s the way it’s always been and always will be.
We keep winning, he’ll get more recognition. But if he plays like this that’s a little different too. I think he’s capable of this. I really do. I think he’s capable of a big man. They’re going to play man-to-man, teams are playing us man-to-man, and I think he’s capable. We’re looking for him, they’re really doing a great job. He got 21 shots and he got 12 free throws and he got the ball 25, 27 times. I thought guys were really patient, they were looking for him. I thought Trevor (Cooney) played better than his numbers, he had a couple of monstrous ones for us. This was a great win. This really was a great win. We were a little tired, three games in the last seven days, two like this. Wake Forest played extremely well. They shot it really well, they’re not a great three-point shooting team. McIntyre made two half-court threes. Crazy game, crazy game.”
What was the play called for the last possession in regulation?
“We were running a high pick and roll, I let him go. It couldn’t have been better. Bad play. Wrong play. Missed the lay-up. Should’ve been something else.”
How did you challenge Michael Gbinje at halftime?
“We just talked to him. (Assistant coach) Adrian (Autry) really talked to him more than I did. We can’t win with you out there playing like this. We need him to be aggressive.”
Can you talk about Tyler Roberson’s play?
“He’s trying to figure out where he is. He’s a sophomore. He’s getting great opportunities because nobody is guarding him but he can’t figure out where he can do whatever it is he can do. We need him to figure that out. When somebody doesn’t guard you, you need to find a way to make them pay. That might just be setting a good screen because there’s nobody there to help because they’re not guarding you. But, he’s got to play better, lift the level of his game.
I think Ron Patterson can do that. He made a couple of really good ones. He made a really bad one at the end there but he made a couple of really good plays. I still think he can get going. He missed a couple of lay-ups. He’s capable of doing more and we’ll need him to do more for sure.”
Why did you want Ron Patterson in the lineup late in the game?
“We wanted to get somebody that would get something going to the basket. He made some plays. It doesn’t show, his numbers don’t look good, but he made some plays that led to something else.”
Did the team’s performance late in other close games this year help tonight?
“At the end of games, you’re going to learn from that. We got it in, we got the ball to the right people. Trevor (Cooney) has to keep the ball when he gets that, maybe he will figure that out. This was a great win. We were down nine or 10, this was a tremendous win. It really was. It’s hard to get wins in this league. We’ve had two or three that could have easily gone the other way and we got them. We have to keep plugging away and getting a little better. We’ll see what happens.”
