Head Coach Jim Boeheim Quotes
Syracuse Men’s Basketball
Syracuse vs. Indiana (Pa.) Exhibition
November 1, 2016
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I think Indiana [Pa.] is a really good team. They won their league last year and I think they’re a really well-coached team. They do a lot of good things on offense. I think we were fortunate. We got a couple of steals with the press in the first half because they were unorganized. In the second half, we really had nothing. But, I thought we did a good job in a couple of press situations. I think that was good for us.
“Offensively, we’ve really only played against man-to-man and our zone (in practice). We haven’t really played against a matchup zone and we weren’t really effective against it. At this time of year, I’m not really concerned about the matchup because we probably won’t see a matchup all year, anyway. I think we could’ve done a better job attacking it. We finally got a couple of good looks in the second half against it. We got in the lane and got some things there, but I think for the first game, this is as good as we’d want to get. We can show a lot of mistakes with this tape. We can show a lot of mistakes we made with the zone and some things we can do better. There were too many turnovers. We got in the lane and made three or four really careless passes. We didn’t do a good job on inbounds plays. We haven’t practiced that so that’s something we have to work on a little bit more.
“Again, this was a great game because they’re a really good, well-coached team. They have good ball handlers out there. We started the game in man-to-man because we wanted just to get some practice. But, it was a bad team to play one-on-one because they got DaJuan [Coleman] outside and made three 3-pointers in the first half, so that was a bad situation for us. It doesn’t mean that we can’t play it, but we can’t play it against a team that brings our center out there. That’s completely different from 90 to 95 percent of the teams we’ll play this year. So good experience, and good work for us. I think we accomplished more tonight than we have in almost any other exhibition game that we’ve had, with the exception being the game against Carleton. It was really a good night for us.”
What did you think of Tyus Battle tonight?
“He had a really great first half. He was the only guy who got going for us. He’s a gamer, so he’s going to play that way.”
What did you think of the offense with John Gillon at the point?
“I think John did a good job in the first half. He made a couple things happen. He’s got to look for that three he’s got. He was conservative tonight, but he was good. I think Frank (Howard) was good for the most part, just a couple bad turnovers.”
What did you think of Tyus Battle’s shooting tonight?
“Well that’s what he’s worked hard on, he really didn’t get to the hoop tonight. The one time he went he missed it, but he made some shots.”
What is it about this team that’s made you ponder playing man-to-man again?
“Well, the last two years, we really didn’t have a chance to be able to do that. So, it’s something we’ve worked on every day and we could theoretically use in some situations, but we’ll see.”
What did you think of Paschal Chukwu’s first game in a year?
“He’s rusty. He fouled down there on a shot he never should’ve fouled on. But he’s got to get better at getting strong and getting the ball right back up there. He’s worked really hard to get strong, but I thought overall he was good. He’s had some really good days in practice, but he’s got a lot of work to do. I think he’ll play.
“We’ll also play Tyler Lydon at center. I think Taurean [Thompson] is more advanced than most freshman forwards. He’s probably our best mid-range post player. I think he’s got a chance to help us out down there and he rebounds the ball really well.”
What did you think Tyler Lydon’s play tonight?
“He was good. He missed his threes, but he was close to having 18 and he had 10 rebounds. That’s as bad as he will play.”
What did you learn from your team tonight?
“We did not get off to a good start for a few reasons. We battled back really well. We were down 15 the first game and we were a little scared of that, but we battled back and I thought that was a really good thing. We got some good play out of the two freshmen and from John (Gillon) at the point. I think it was a really good experience for us.”
What are your thoughts on Andrew White?
“It will take him a while. It is a new system. He had some good looks tonight that he will make most of the time. He is learning—this was a bad game for us because of the match-up (zone). Match-up (zones) are hard to play against. You do not want to play your first game of the year against a match-up zone. It is a freak defense that you do not see all year. We have been working on our man-to-man stuff. That is all we have worked on so this was not a very good game for us to show what we can do on offense.”
You had 32 points off the bench. Was it nice to see those points coming off of the bench?
“We think that we have guys who can come in play, which is always a good thing.”
How is it having a point guard like John Gillon to count on when plays are breaking down?
“John is learning too and he is in a whole new situation. He has to learn a whole new system. Even though he is a veteran, he has not ever played this (system). That is the hard thing about being a fifth-year transfer. Everyone thinks you are a veteran, but you are a veteran in some other style of play. Now he has to learn how we are playing, which is not that easy and it takes time to figure out.
"Under all the circumstances, he did have nine assists. He had two turnovers and one was at the end when he was trying to do too much. He can make shots, but he didn’t really look for it tonight. We have to do a better job of finding our centers either for the lob if it is there or for something else. For both John (Gillon) and Andrew (White), you cannot make much of them being veterans. We play differently than other schools and other teams and some of the stuff they have learned along the way is different here. It will take a while.”
What improvements do you want to see out of your team over the next six days?
“Everything. This time of year we have to get better at everything we do. It’s the start of the season and we want to get better at everything we do from now on.”
Syracuse vs. Indiana (Pa.) Exhibition
November 1, 2016
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I think Indiana [Pa.] is a really good team. They won their league last year and I think they’re a really well-coached team. They do a lot of good things on offense. I think we were fortunate. We got a couple of steals with the press in the first half because they were unorganized. In the second half, we really had nothing. But, I thought we did a good job in a couple of press situations. I think that was good for us.
“Offensively, we’ve really only played against man-to-man and our zone (in practice). We haven’t really played against a matchup zone and we weren’t really effective against it. At this time of year, I’m not really concerned about the matchup because we probably won’t see a matchup all year, anyway. I think we could’ve done a better job attacking it. We finally got a couple of good looks in the second half against it. We got in the lane and got some things there, but I think for the first game, this is as good as we’d want to get. We can show a lot of mistakes with this tape. We can show a lot of mistakes we made with the zone and some things we can do better. There were too many turnovers. We got in the lane and made three or four really careless passes. We didn’t do a good job on inbounds plays. We haven’t practiced that so that’s something we have to work on a little bit more.
“Again, this was a great game because they’re a really good, well-coached team. They have good ball handlers out there. We started the game in man-to-man because we wanted just to get some practice. But, it was a bad team to play one-on-one because they got DaJuan [Coleman] outside and made three 3-pointers in the first half, so that was a bad situation for us. It doesn’t mean that we can’t play it, but we can’t play it against a team that brings our center out there. That’s completely different from 90 to 95 percent of the teams we’ll play this year. So good experience, and good work for us. I think we accomplished more tonight than we have in almost any other exhibition game that we’ve had, with the exception being the game against Carleton. It was really a good night for us.”
What did you think of Tyus Battle tonight?
“He had a really great first half. He was the only guy who got going for us. He’s a gamer, so he’s going to play that way.”
What did you think of the offense with John Gillon at the point?
“I think John did a good job in the first half. He made a couple things happen. He’s got to look for that three he’s got. He was conservative tonight, but he was good. I think Frank (Howard) was good for the most part, just a couple bad turnovers.”
What did you think of Tyus Battle’s shooting tonight?
“Well that’s what he’s worked hard on, he really didn’t get to the hoop tonight. The one time he went he missed it, but he made some shots.”
What is it about this team that’s made you ponder playing man-to-man again?
“Well, the last two years, we really didn’t have a chance to be able to do that. So, it’s something we’ve worked on every day and we could theoretically use in some situations, but we’ll see.”
What did you think of Paschal Chukwu’s first game in a year?
“He’s rusty. He fouled down there on a shot he never should’ve fouled on. But he’s got to get better at getting strong and getting the ball right back up there. He’s worked really hard to get strong, but I thought overall he was good. He’s had some really good days in practice, but he’s got a lot of work to do. I think he’ll play.
“We’ll also play Tyler Lydon at center. I think Taurean [Thompson] is more advanced than most freshman forwards. He’s probably our best mid-range post player. I think he’s got a chance to help us out down there and he rebounds the ball really well.”
What did you think Tyler Lydon’s play tonight?
“He was good. He missed his threes, but he was close to having 18 and he had 10 rebounds. That’s as bad as he will play.”
What did you learn from your team tonight?
“We did not get off to a good start for a few reasons. We battled back really well. We were down 15 the first game and we were a little scared of that, but we battled back and I thought that was a really good thing. We got some good play out of the two freshmen and from John (Gillon) at the point. I think it was a really good experience for us.”
What are your thoughts on Andrew White?
“It will take him a while. It is a new system. He had some good looks tonight that he will make most of the time. He is learning—this was a bad game for us because of the match-up (zone). Match-up (zones) are hard to play against. You do not want to play your first game of the year against a match-up zone. It is a freak defense that you do not see all year. We have been working on our man-to-man stuff. That is all we have worked on so this was not a very good game for us to show what we can do on offense.”
You had 32 points off the bench. Was it nice to see those points coming off of the bench?
“We think that we have guys who can come in play, which is always a good thing.”
How is it having a point guard like John Gillon to count on when plays are breaking down?
“John is learning too and he is in a whole new situation. He has to learn a whole new system. Even though he is a veteran, he has not ever played this (system). That is the hard thing about being a fifth-year transfer. Everyone thinks you are a veteran, but you are a veteran in some other style of play. Now he has to learn how we are playing, which is not that easy and it takes time to figure out.
"Under all the circumstances, he did have nine assists. He had two turnovers and one was at the end when he was trying to do too much. He can make shots, but he didn’t really look for it tonight. We have to do a better job of finding our centers either for the lob if it is there or for something else. For both John (Gillon) and Andrew (White), you cannot make much of them being veterans. We play differently than other schools and other teams and some of the stuff they have learned along the way is different here. It will take a while.”
What improvements do you want to see out of your team over the next six days?
“Everything. This time of year we have to get better at everything we do. It’s the start of the season and we want to get better at everything we do from now on.”
