Coach Boeheim Quotes - Duke
Postgame Quotes
Head coach Jim Boeheim
Syracuse vs. Duke
Feb. 22, 2017 | Carrier Dome
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was just a great game. In the first half we were too stagnant – on offense we just weren’t really getting any movement. We weren’t attacking. The second half I thought Tyus (Battle) first really just attacked -- he had a stretch there where we were really struggling and he made some unbelievable plays, like he did the last game that he was healthy. He had 18 tonight and it was the first time since he’s been sick that he was back, healthy and able to move, and he was tremendous.
“I thought defensively this was one of our better efforts all year. Duke is a tremendous offensive basketball team. I thought defensively we were better. Where they hurt us was with second chance points. (Amile) Jefferson really got going down low and we forced him in to tough shots and we couldn’t get the ball. That hurt. That would have been what would have cost us if we hadn’t come back.
“The last play, we knew we were going to get the ball and we were just going to give it to John (Gillon) and go. We hoped there would be a little more time, so he could go all the way, but once in a while you get lucky, and we’ll take it. We’ll take one of those. At least he did what we wanted him to do -- take the ball and go down and try to get a shot. But, sometime you have to get lucky.
“I thought we did a good job with (Grayson) Allen. (Luke) Kennard has had an unbelievable year and (Jayson) Tatum is a great player. I thought we did a better job in the second half with them. We couldn’t get anything for Andrew (White III), (Matt) Jones locked him up. That opens up the other guys cause there’s no help there because he’s locked out on Andrew (White III). That’s how we get the ball in low, and Taurean (Thompson) and Tyler Lydon go inside.
“It was a great basketball game and the fans have been great all year here. We have played good at home so they haven’t seen too much disappointment since the non-league portion of our schedule anyway. But we’ve had three tough games or more and we’re down to the wire and we got one tonight.
“But it was a great win and now we’ll get ready to go play an even tougher game on Sunday. I was very proud of the players We just hung in there. They got the lead. We came right back. They took it back.
We go as John Gillon goes pretty much, he’s been there. When he’s good, we haven’t lost. He was really good tonight.”
What’s the feeling after this? A crazy shot, the crowd surges. What’s this feeling like?
“It felt good, this feels good. I was just getting ready to walk back and get ready for overtime, but it’s one of those things. Doesn’t happen often.”
Do you think the difference between the first half and the second half was a little better movement on offense?
“We set the ball screen, we reacted better. Again, Taurean (Thompson) was shooting buckets right away. This past play where he hit the rim, so did Tyler (Lydon). But we try to run more of that stuff. But really, we got Tyus (Battle) going with some movement, he was the difference really. But that one stretch, I don’t know what Tyus (Battle) did exactly, but it was either eight or 10 points, if not in a row, something close like that. He had an unbelievable stretch.
“Duke’s a great team, (Jayson) Tatum is an unbelievable player, (Luke) Kennard, he’s a great player. We tried to drive (Grayson) Allen as much as we could to see if we could get him in foul trouble and that was a big factor in the game. He never got into his rhythm really I didn’t think.”
Do you buy the theory of this giving you an emotional boost as you close the season out? does it have an emotional carryover in a positive way?
“We’ve had wins like this and they didn’t have any carryover too good. We’ve had better wins than this -- we were down by 10 to 12 points at Clemson, on the road and we made a three at the buzzer. We were down worse at NC State.
“We are playing pretty good. We had a really good chance even at Pittsburgh and against Louisville. We had the lead late in overtime, we had good chances there. So, in this league you just have to be ready to play and give it your best shot. It’s a hard league. In my opinion, Pittsburgh, Clemson and Wake Forest are all good teams but somebody is going to have to lose in the league. It doesn’t matter who you are.
“We’ll enjoy this game and start thinking about Louisville around midnight and try to get ready for them. This was a great win. As I get older I keep thinking they are the best wins but they probably really aren’t the best wins. But this kind of feels like it. If we had lost this one we would have been in a lot of trouble as far as what we could see the future for us, so this was one we had to get. I told Mike (Krzyzewski) that and he agreed, I helped you for three gold medals you can help me just a little bit.”
What is it about this year’s team that has allowed so many come backs?
“They keep fighting. We didn’t have to go to the press tonight. This team fights hard and they do what they can to come back. We’ve had two or three games where we got out early, but other than that it’s been a fight all year long. They keep battling and making plays. We’ve got guys that can shoot. We lost the last two games because we shot 8-of-30. We need to make some. Tonight we couldn’t get threes. They were playing the three-point line but we were able to drive and get inside and I thought that was a big part of it.
Were you worried that too much time was going off of the clock when Tyus (Battle) hesitated to throw the ball to John (Gillon) with eight seconds left on the clock?
“Too much did go off. If he would’ve gotten it right to John (Gillon) then he may have gotten his shot blocked, so who knows. We’ll take it.”
How rare is the mental toughness with the confidence to come back from Georgia Tech to tonight?
“They’ve been tough all year that hasn’t been a problem. I don’t think John (Gillon) and Tyus (Battle) did much the first half either so I think most of their damage came from the second half. They scored 44, so they must’ve had 36 in the second half.
“We have gotten better, because there are four first-year players in the starting lineup and a sophomore. No team has less experience in the country than us. They can put it on the floor and they make shots. Taurean (Thompson) has gotten better, Tyus (Battle) has gotten better. Everyone has gotten better, so let’s see if we can keep making improvements.”
Head coach Jim Boeheim
Syracuse vs. Duke
Feb. 22, 2017 | Carrier Dome
Opening Statement:
“I thought it was just a great game. In the first half we were too stagnant – on offense we just weren’t really getting any movement. We weren’t attacking. The second half I thought Tyus (Battle) first really just attacked -- he had a stretch there where we were really struggling and he made some unbelievable plays, like he did the last game that he was healthy. He had 18 tonight and it was the first time since he’s been sick that he was back, healthy and able to move, and he was tremendous.
“I thought defensively this was one of our better efforts all year. Duke is a tremendous offensive basketball team. I thought defensively we were better. Where they hurt us was with second chance points. (Amile) Jefferson really got going down low and we forced him in to tough shots and we couldn’t get the ball. That hurt. That would have been what would have cost us if we hadn’t come back.
“The last play, we knew we were going to get the ball and we were just going to give it to John (Gillon) and go. We hoped there would be a little more time, so he could go all the way, but once in a while you get lucky, and we’ll take it. We’ll take one of those. At least he did what we wanted him to do -- take the ball and go down and try to get a shot. But, sometime you have to get lucky.
“I thought we did a good job with (Grayson) Allen. (Luke) Kennard has had an unbelievable year and (Jayson) Tatum is a great player. I thought we did a better job in the second half with them. We couldn’t get anything for Andrew (White III), (Matt) Jones locked him up. That opens up the other guys cause there’s no help there because he’s locked out on Andrew (White III). That’s how we get the ball in low, and Taurean (Thompson) and Tyler Lydon go inside.
“It was a great basketball game and the fans have been great all year here. We have played good at home so they haven’t seen too much disappointment since the non-league portion of our schedule anyway. But we’ve had three tough games or more and we’re down to the wire and we got one tonight.
“But it was a great win and now we’ll get ready to go play an even tougher game on Sunday. I was very proud of the players We just hung in there. They got the lead. We came right back. They took it back.
We go as John Gillon goes pretty much, he’s been there. When he’s good, we haven’t lost. He was really good tonight.”
What’s the feeling after this? A crazy shot, the crowd surges. What’s this feeling like?
“It felt good, this feels good. I was just getting ready to walk back and get ready for overtime, but it’s one of those things. Doesn’t happen often.”
Do you think the difference between the first half and the second half was a little better movement on offense?
“We set the ball screen, we reacted better. Again, Taurean (Thompson) was shooting buckets right away. This past play where he hit the rim, so did Tyler (Lydon). But we try to run more of that stuff. But really, we got Tyus (Battle) going with some movement, he was the difference really. But that one stretch, I don’t know what Tyus (Battle) did exactly, but it was either eight or 10 points, if not in a row, something close like that. He had an unbelievable stretch.
“Duke’s a great team, (Jayson) Tatum is an unbelievable player, (Luke) Kennard, he’s a great player. We tried to drive (Grayson) Allen as much as we could to see if we could get him in foul trouble and that was a big factor in the game. He never got into his rhythm really I didn’t think.”
Do you buy the theory of this giving you an emotional boost as you close the season out? does it have an emotional carryover in a positive way?
“We’ve had wins like this and they didn’t have any carryover too good. We’ve had better wins than this -- we were down by 10 to 12 points at Clemson, on the road and we made a three at the buzzer. We were down worse at NC State.
“We are playing pretty good. We had a really good chance even at Pittsburgh and against Louisville. We had the lead late in overtime, we had good chances there. So, in this league you just have to be ready to play and give it your best shot. It’s a hard league. In my opinion, Pittsburgh, Clemson and Wake Forest are all good teams but somebody is going to have to lose in the league. It doesn’t matter who you are.
“We’ll enjoy this game and start thinking about Louisville around midnight and try to get ready for them. This was a great win. As I get older I keep thinking they are the best wins but they probably really aren’t the best wins. But this kind of feels like it. If we had lost this one we would have been in a lot of trouble as far as what we could see the future for us, so this was one we had to get. I told Mike (Krzyzewski) that and he agreed, I helped you for three gold medals you can help me just a little bit.”
What is it about this year’s team that has allowed so many come backs?
“They keep fighting. We didn’t have to go to the press tonight. This team fights hard and they do what they can to come back. We’ve had two or three games where we got out early, but other than that it’s been a fight all year long. They keep battling and making plays. We’ve got guys that can shoot. We lost the last two games because we shot 8-of-30. We need to make some. Tonight we couldn’t get threes. They were playing the three-point line but we were able to drive and get inside and I thought that was a big part of it.
Were you worried that too much time was going off of the clock when Tyus (Battle) hesitated to throw the ball to John (Gillon) with eight seconds left on the clock?
“Too much did go off. If he would’ve gotten it right to John (Gillon) then he may have gotten his shot blocked, so who knows. We’ll take it.”
How rare is the mental toughness with the confidence to come back from Georgia Tech to tonight?
“They’ve been tough all year that hasn’t been a problem. I don’t think John (Gillon) and Tyus (Battle) did much the first half either so I think most of their damage came from the second half. They scored 44, so they must’ve had 36 in the second half.
“We have gotten better, because there are four first-year players in the starting lineup and a sophomore. No team has less experience in the country than us. They can put it on the floor and they make shots. Taurean (Thompson) has gotten better, Tyus (Battle) has gotten better. Everyone has gotten better, so let’s see if we can keep making improvements.”
