Head Coach Jim Boeheim Post Game Press Conference
Syracuse Men's Basketball
Syracuse vs. Duke
Saturday, February 23
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement About the Basketball Game
“I thought defensively we did very well. I thought we made some shots. Our biggest struggle this year has been making shots. The games we’ve played at home and on the road we’ve shot in the mid-40s from around the 3-point line and around 45-50 from the line tonight. We didn’t shoot well. Part of that is Duke’s defense is very good and was very good tonight.
"I thought they played a great game. (RJ) Barrett is a tremendous player. He had 30 down there against us. He had 30 here tonight. I thought the difference tonight was O’Connell offensively. He had 16 down there in the first game -- everybody said Reddish didn’t play. O’Connell, in fact he had 20, so he hurts us more in this game. He’s a tremendous shooter and we had a couple breakdowns and didn’t give it to them. The offense is really the difference. They’re going to score points. They’re a tremendous offensive team and if you can hold them in the 70s, that’s a pretty good effort offensively. We just didn’t get the movement we needed to to make the shots when we got them.
Again, coming back we played a great game against Louisville and we did a lot of good things tonight. We can build on this. We probably are going to play the hottest team in the league, North Carolina, on Tuesday. We just have to get this behind us as quickly as we can. It’ll be a really great game against a very difficult team. I’m very proud of my players and the support that we got tonight was unbelievable. We have to get ready to move on from this.”
Did they do anything different on Tyus Battle tonight?
“No. I think that they just did a better job on him. I think he got to where he wanted to most of the time. I think he missed some shots that he made down there. He made some great shots down there. He hit a couple early and then he couldn’t get anything going. We’ve struggled offensively at times this year and tonight was one of those struggles.
“I thought that we played as hard as we could through that but you have to score points to win. Down there, we had our best offensive game of the year. (RJ) Barrett and Zion (Williamson) hit 50 or 60 combined and (Alex) O’Connell had 16, but we had a great offensive game. That was the difference in the two games. Obviously, they are not the same team without Zion. He’s a tremendous player. But we’ve seen him once already.”
How different did Duke look without Zion Williamson?
“You cannot adjust during the game, which caused them to have problems against North Carolina. I think they did a great job of moving the basketball. (Alex) O’Connell was the guy we were the most worried about. We were going to let a couple of guys shoot from the outside. (Cam) Reddish had a bad night, which was a help, but we played a pretty good defensive game except for O’Connell. Barrett is going to score. We know that. But we had two or three breakdowns defensively on O’Connell. We recruited him. He’s a tremendous shooter.”
What happened to Frank Howard in the second half?
“I don’t think that he got into position. I thought that their defense was better on him.”
How did you feel about Marek Dolezaj’s play on both sides of the ball?
“Marek is playing great. Obviously, he has a little disadvantage on the defensive end, but offensively, he has an advantage against centers. He was really good in the first half tonight. He got us some separation there.”
What led to Duke retaking the advantage in rebounding after the first half?
“They got on the boards and they did a great job rebounding. Duke played great. I think they’re a great team. As they are this way, I think they’re better than most anybody. Obviously, (RJ) Barrett and (Alex) O’Connell get more opportunities, but they’re a tremendous team.
"We’re not a great rebounding team and we need to do a better job than we did on the boards and we need to do a better job defensively than we did in the second half. But at the end of the day, we have to get a little better movement and we have to make shots to win.”
Syracuse vs. Duke
Saturday, February 23
Carrier Dome, Syracuse, N.Y.
Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement About the Basketball Game
“I thought defensively we did very well. I thought we made some shots. Our biggest struggle this year has been making shots. The games we’ve played at home and on the road we’ve shot in the mid-40s from around the 3-point line and around 45-50 from the line tonight. We didn’t shoot well. Part of that is Duke’s defense is very good and was very good tonight.
"I thought they played a great game. (RJ) Barrett is a tremendous player. He had 30 down there against us. He had 30 here tonight. I thought the difference tonight was O’Connell offensively. He had 16 down there in the first game -- everybody said Reddish didn’t play. O’Connell, in fact he had 20, so he hurts us more in this game. He’s a tremendous shooter and we had a couple breakdowns and didn’t give it to them. The offense is really the difference. They’re going to score points. They’re a tremendous offensive team and if you can hold them in the 70s, that’s a pretty good effort offensively. We just didn’t get the movement we needed to to make the shots when we got them.
Again, coming back we played a great game against Louisville and we did a lot of good things tonight. We can build on this. We probably are going to play the hottest team in the league, North Carolina, on Tuesday. We just have to get this behind us as quickly as we can. It’ll be a really great game against a very difficult team. I’m very proud of my players and the support that we got tonight was unbelievable. We have to get ready to move on from this.”
Did they do anything different on Tyus Battle tonight?
“No. I think that they just did a better job on him. I think he got to where he wanted to most of the time. I think he missed some shots that he made down there. He made some great shots down there. He hit a couple early and then he couldn’t get anything going. We’ve struggled offensively at times this year and tonight was one of those struggles.
“I thought that we played as hard as we could through that but you have to score points to win. Down there, we had our best offensive game of the year. (RJ) Barrett and Zion (Williamson) hit 50 or 60 combined and (Alex) O’Connell had 16, but we had a great offensive game. That was the difference in the two games. Obviously, they are not the same team without Zion. He’s a tremendous player. But we’ve seen him once already.”
How different did Duke look without Zion Williamson?
“You cannot adjust during the game, which caused them to have problems against North Carolina. I think they did a great job of moving the basketball. (Alex) O’Connell was the guy we were the most worried about. We were going to let a couple of guys shoot from the outside. (Cam) Reddish had a bad night, which was a help, but we played a pretty good defensive game except for O’Connell. Barrett is going to score. We know that. But we had two or three breakdowns defensively on O’Connell. We recruited him. He’s a tremendous shooter.”
What happened to Frank Howard in the second half?
“I don’t think that he got into position. I thought that their defense was better on him.”
How did you feel about Marek Dolezaj’s play on both sides of the ball?
“Marek is playing great. Obviously, he has a little disadvantage on the defensive end, but offensively, he has an advantage against centers. He was really good in the first half tonight. He got us some separation there.”
What led to Duke retaking the advantage in rebounding after the first half?
“They got on the boards and they did a great job rebounding. Duke played great. I think they’re a great team. As they are this way, I think they’re better than most anybody. Obviously, (RJ) Barrett and (Alex) O’Connell get more opportunities, but they’re a tremendous team.
"We’re not a great rebounding team and we need to do a better job than we did on the boards and we need to do a better job defensively than we did in the second half. But at the end of the day, we have to get a little better movement and we have to make shots to win.”
