Transcript: Jim Boeheim Discusses Loss at Clemson

OPENING STATEMENT

"The first half, their defense just overwhelmed us," Jim Boehiem said. "They got in front of us and we weren't aggressive and we missed five layups. We made a couple steals when it was a six or eight point game, got down and we didn't convert. Marek missed a layup, Alan missed a layup, and then we missed another layup. So we missed four or five. They really played well. If we make some layups and just hang in there it's a 10, 12 point deficit you've got a chance to overcome it. But 20 is hard. They're really good. Once they got over their covid pause, they played really good the other night. I thought they were really good today. They shot it really well. The one good thing that came out of this game is I've been trying to get Joe to be aggressive. He's just been playing side to side. The second half he went at people and got his offensive going. We need him to score. Quincy struggled against their big kid. He was really good defensively. Alan really struggled. We all struggled. Everybody struggled offensively.

"I thought Kadary made a couple good defensive plays. He's still got to learn where he can score, find his way to where he can get to the basket and score. Rebounding, 17 down, we started the game, got a couple defensive stops, they got both rebounds and put them in. So it's 4-3 we're down, we get a defensive rebound there, we're ahead. Rebounding is a problem, has been a problem and will probably be a problem. I thought Bourama, it was good to get him back out there. Obviously he hasn't played in 11 weeks and he's not really ready to play yet. He's had barely two practices where he went part of the time. Hopefully his knee will react well to playing and he'll be able to continue. This was just a really bad offensive first half that got us in too big of a whole. I thought these guys really battled back in the second half. Really did everything they could to try to get back in the game. Again, I thought Joe, he needs to play like that for us to win games. We need him to be a good offensive player and he is. I think that will help us moving forward. Alan and Quincy, they're really good offensive players and they didn't have it tonight and that hurt us."

WAS IT DIFFICULT TO GET SHOTS IN GENERAL TODAY?

"Absolutely," Boeheim said. "The first half, we were going east and west too much. When Alan got by, he waited for the guy to catch up to him. He's got to learn where to go there. I thought the missed layups, there were five of them in the first half, you can't do that on the road. Two on one fast breaks and you don't get a shot, don't get a good shot up, you can't do that. You cannot do that. They're a good defensive team. The difference in the halves, in the first half he went off and slid to the side. In the second half he went downhill and got to the basket. Finished and got fouled. That's really what you have to do. When Alan went downhill he missed it or he stopped and gave the guy an opportunity to come back and get him. We wanted to go to Quincy and he just wasn't able to finish around the basket. Just didn't have a good game. Alan got some pretty good shots, he just had a bad game. But their defense is part of that too."

DOES IT COME TO NOT BEING PHYSICAL ENOUGH OR CAN YOU DO SOMETHING TO COMBAT THAT?

"The second half we did," Boeheim said. "Joe was aggressive and we scored 42 points. But that was the way we had to play in the first half. So the answer is yes, we can, but we did not do it in the first half."

DID HAVING A WEEK OFF WITH THE LOUISVILLE GAME POSTPONED HAVE AN IMPACT ON TODAY'S PERFORMANCE?

"No idea," Boeheim said. "No idea. There's no way to know these things."

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE PROBLEMS DEFENSIVELY IN GUARDING CLEMSON?

"They had a good plan," Boeheim said. "They've got good shooters. They made enough outside shots to get us spread a little bit. They did a really good job in the post. They made every shot for a while. Turnaround jumpers, short corner jumpers. A guy came in off the bench and hit a shot. They made shots and, again, our defense just wasn't good enough."

SIDIBE WAS THE ONLY PLAYER WITH A POSITIVE PLUS/MINUS. IS THERE ANYTHING TO THAT OR JUST A SMALL SAMPLE SIZE?

"Yeah (small sample)," Boeheim said. "Joe got going when he was in there and made some shots. So, again, that was the difference."

WHY HAVE YOU GUYS STRUGGLED ON THE ROAD BUT PLAYED WELL AT HOME?

"No idea," Boeheim said. "Last year we won six road games with the same guys except for one. Generally the home teams win, generally. I don't think the numbers are that far out of whack. I think it's similar. Kids are much more comfortable playing at home as a rule. It definitely seems that way."

HOW WOULD YOU COMPARE CLEMSON'S DEFENSE TO VIRGINIA?

"Clemson's a little more physical," Boeheim said. "They get out with a little more pressure. Virginia's a little more back in tighter. They're both very good defensive teams. Clemson's a very good defensive team. They got a lot of veteran guys. They've got a veteran big guy. They're a really good defensive team, as is Virginia. They're a little more physical. They come out a little bit more. It gives us a little trouble, but again, they played the same defense in the second half. They didn't back off. Joe was just aggressive and got to the basket and was the difference in the second half. He can do that. I think he's been a little reluctant this year to go in those situations. He's been limiting himself a little bit to being a jump shooter. He's more affective when he does get by him. He's going to miss some of those. He made them today, but he's going to miss some, but at least it gives us a chance to get an offensive rebound situation. We did a very, very poor job of trying to get on the offensive boards. We're usually better. The difference is Joe being aggressive and getting by people. Alan tried to, but he wasn't successful. He did try and he just could not finish anything."

WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT BOURAMA BEING BACK?

"It's just hard," Boeheim said. "He's tried everything he could and his knee's sore. It's hard to play this game when you can't run and jump. That's his game. His game is his athletic ability. Movement, running, jumping. He's not a shooter, he gives us that. He's doing everything he can to do that but he hasn't done anything in 12 weeks or whatever. Close to it I think. He's moving, he's trying. He's trying to be in the right positions, he just couldn't jump to get the ball. I'm not sure he's going to be able to do much. It's been a long time. We've got, what, two three weeks to go? It's going to be hard for him to get back there. We're just getting beat inside. Marek's trying with everything he can, but he's just not big and strong enough to be in there on defense. Usually we try to make up for it on offense, but we just were no good on offense tonight. We have to play well on offense to have a chance to win games. We're not going to win games with our defense. This was the worst offensive first half that I can remember us ever having. That's just something we can't have. We have to be better on the offensive end."