Coach Boeheim Quotes - BU
Syracuse vs. Boston University
Saturday, December 10, 2016
The Carrier Dome | Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, we want guys being able to come off the bench and score and that’s what happened today. I think we were down 20-12 and John (Gillon) came in and hit a couple threes and made a couple good penetration plays.
Taurean (Thompson)… we think he’s in practice getting better every day offensively. He struggles a little bit on the defensive end, but he is a very, very good offensive player, particularly against zones. He gets in that area just like where we get hurt. He gets in that middle area and can make that shot. He can pass out of it. It’s just a better offensive team to have him in there and then John (Gillon), even though DaJuan (Coleman) has been playing well, but against zones, we are better with that lineup and they just did a really good job. John saved the game in the first half when we were going through a struggle.
We’re still not playing defense when we need to. We couldn’t identify the one guy that was shooting and a couple times, it was a senior right there. You can’t let that happen. I thought that was disappointing. That one guy to get that many looks. Our rebounding is not as good when we go smaller. We’ve got to battle harder on the boards, but I thought the second half, Frank (Howard) became a playmaker, which we need him to be if he is not making shots.
I thought that BU is a pretty good basketball team on the road. They lost by two to Connecticut and three to NC State and we’re down eight and I think we went 68-30 after that. I thought again, it was a really good offensive performance and in the spots where we played good defense, we are going to have to get better there.
I think the two days of practice had helped us. I think the five days of practice we will get in this week will help us. We’re trying to fit everyone in together and it takes a long time. I think it’s foolish of me or anyone to think it was going to happen right away and it is still a long way away from where we need to be. We were fortunate that we had such good offensive production off the bench today and that was how we got control of the game. We have to be much better defensively and we have to rebound better as we go along.
But the good news is that everyone got an opportunity today. We are trying to give Paschal (Chukwu) some minutes when we can. He’s not quite ready yet, but he can change shots when he gets there and is in the right position. So we are going to keep trying to do that. It’s just hard sometimes to get everyone in there, especially with Tyler Lydon at the forward and we’ve got him at the four or five. We’ve got Taurean, Tyler Lydon, Tyler Roberson, DaJuan, and Paschal. So we had five guys for two spots. It’s hard to get those guys in there. It’s not that we have nine guys, it’s that we have five guys for two spots.
The other three spots, we are playing four guys for the most part. We sometimes can have Tyler Lydon go to the three, but it makes it harder to get all of those guys in the game. We’ll see how it goes from here.”
When you put (Tyler) Lydon and (Taurean) Thompson in at the same time on defense, what positions do each of them play?
“Tyler would normally play center. There could have been a time or two he was back late or something and Taurean took over there. But normally Tyler would play the center spot. Taurean is capable of playing that spot. Tyler Lydon is much better at forward, but the problem is he is much better at center too so he can’t do both.”
In previous games, you’ve used (Taurean) Thompson at center, are you looking for the best spot for him?
“Yeah we are just trying. We are trying everything. We have a long way to go and we don’t know where we are right now. That’s all I can tell you. It has been nine games and we are not where we need to be. We just aren’t there. It doesn’t matter that we have two fifth-year seniors. They have no idea how we play. They might as well, in a lot of ways, be freshmen. In some ways, they’re a little bit more experienced but in a lot of ways, particularly defensively, they are freshmen and that goes along with the other three freshmen. They are just trying to figure it out. We have got two first-year point guards and they need to figure it out too.”
What have you thought about your three-point defense so far this season?
“Other than against Wisconsin, probably statistically it’s pretty good I would guess, I haven’t studied it. Our defense... it is not good. It hasn’t been good. Our offense hasn’t been good either. I’m only looking at the losses and the close games. We really only have those three close games and it really hasn’t been good, we haven’t been good on either side of the ball, which we need to be. It almost would have been better if we had played good in those three games and then lost. At least we would have had good things to look at and work on. There’s nothing good about the three losses. The reality is, we need to get a lot better and we have some time to do that and get back to work.”
Saturday, December 10, 2016
The Carrier Dome | Syracuse, N.Y.
Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“Obviously, we want guys being able to come off the bench and score and that’s what happened today. I think we were down 20-12 and John (Gillon) came in and hit a couple threes and made a couple good penetration plays.
Taurean (Thompson)… we think he’s in practice getting better every day offensively. He struggles a little bit on the defensive end, but he is a very, very good offensive player, particularly against zones. He gets in that area just like where we get hurt. He gets in that middle area and can make that shot. He can pass out of it. It’s just a better offensive team to have him in there and then John (Gillon), even though DaJuan (Coleman) has been playing well, but against zones, we are better with that lineup and they just did a really good job. John saved the game in the first half when we were going through a struggle.
We’re still not playing defense when we need to. We couldn’t identify the one guy that was shooting and a couple times, it was a senior right there. You can’t let that happen. I thought that was disappointing. That one guy to get that many looks. Our rebounding is not as good when we go smaller. We’ve got to battle harder on the boards, but I thought the second half, Frank (Howard) became a playmaker, which we need him to be if he is not making shots.
I thought that BU is a pretty good basketball team on the road. They lost by two to Connecticut and three to NC State and we’re down eight and I think we went 68-30 after that. I thought again, it was a really good offensive performance and in the spots where we played good defense, we are going to have to get better there.
I think the two days of practice had helped us. I think the five days of practice we will get in this week will help us. We’re trying to fit everyone in together and it takes a long time. I think it’s foolish of me or anyone to think it was going to happen right away and it is still a long way away from where we need to be. We were fortunate that we had such good offensive production off the bench today and that was how we got control of the game. We have to be much better defensively and we have to rebound better as we go along.
But the good news is that everyone got an opportunity today. We are trying to give Paschal (Chukwu) some minutes when we can. He’s not quite ready yet, but he can change shots when he gets there and is in the right position. So we are going to keep trying to do that. It’s just hard sometimes to get everyone in there, especially with Tyler Lydon at the forward and we’ve got him at the four or five. We’ve got Taurean, Tyler Lydon, Tyler Roberson, DaJuan, and Paschal. So we had five guys for two spots. It’s hard to get those guys in there. It’s not that we have nine guys, it’s that we have five guys for two spots.
The other three spots, we are playing four guys for the most part. We sometimes can have Tyler Lydon go to the three, but it makes it harder to get all of those guys in the game. We’ll see how it goes from here.”
When you put (Tyler) Lydon and (Taurean) Thompson in at the same time on defense, what positions do each of them play?
“Tyler would normally play center. There could have been a time or two he was back late or something and Taurean took over there. But normally Tyler would play the center spot. Taurean is capable of playing that spot. Tyler Lydon is much better at forward, but the problem is he is much better at center too so he can’t do both.”
In previous games, you’ve used (Taurean) Thompson at center, are you looking for the best spot for him?
“Yeah we are just trying. We are trying everything. We have a long way to go and we don’t know where we are right now. That’s all I can tell you. It has been nine games and we are not where we need to be. We just aren’t there. It doesn’t matter that we have two fifth-year seniors. They have no idea how we play. They might as well, in a lot of ways, be freshmen. In some ways, they’re a little bit more experienced but in a lot of ways, particularly defensively, they are freshmen and that goes along with the other three freshmen. They are just trying to figure it out. We have got two first-year point guards and they need to figure it out too.”
What have you thought about your three-point defense so far this season?
“Other than against Wisconsin, probably statistically it’s pretty good I would guess, I haven’t studied it. Our defense... it is not good. It hasn’t been good. Our offense hasn’t been good either. I’m only looking at the losses and the close games. We really only have those three close games and it really hasn’t been good, we haven’t been good on either side of the ball, which we need to be. It almost would have been better if we had played good in those three games and then lost. At least we would have had good things to look at and work on. There’s nothing good about the three losses. The reality is, we need to get a lot better and we have some time to do that and get back to work.”
