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Jim Boeheim Postgame Transcript: Georgetown

Syracuse basketball's head coach discusses loss to the Hoyas.

OPENING STATEMENT

Jim Boeheim: "I thought in the first half, we did a better job defensively and on the boards. Second half we didn't get to some balls. I thought they just went after it harder and we didn't find Rice at the end. When you're in a close game, you're going to get that opportunity, you've got to make somebody else shoot it there. Overall, our defense wasn't good enough. I think the game swung a little bit at the start of the second half. We had a good, wide open play to Jesse who bobbled it out of bounds. Then we missed a couple shots and now it's anybody's game. When we're struggling a little bit on the defensive end, we've got to be more efficient on offense. First half we were, second half we weren't. Again, this has been an incredibly tough stretch for these guys. We've had five practices in 15 days. We need some more time in the gym. They fought as hard as I could ask them to fight. They're worn out and they need some time. They need this week to get back and get some practices in. But this game, it's a game that goes down to a play or two at the end and they made a really good play in the post and it goes to Rice who hit the three and that was the game. That's how these games are decided. We lost our defensive rebounding in the second half. I thought that was really the big difference in the half." 

Q: ELECTRIC ATMOSPHERE, HOW MANY OF THOSE GAMES DID YOU HAVE IN THE BIG EAST?

Boeheim: "Great game. Great atmosphere. It was really good. Really good."

Q: DID YOU COME INTO THE GAME EXPECTING THAT MUCH SMALL BALL?

Boeheim:: "They had played that a lot so we felt that was going to happen. We worked on getting Jimmy down in the post and he did a good job down there. And then Buddy got to the basket during that time because they don't have the shot blocker in there. He (Mohammed) got in the middle zone. We made a couple adjustments to keep it out of the middle. Jesse started the game and just forgot what he was doing on defense. I don't know why he would do that. There's no reason he would do that, but he did. Rice got two wide open shots and they got a dunk down there. He just didn't want to play his position I guess. That killed us at the start of the game. Frank came in and did a good job. We just have to be better in our defense."

Q: THOUGHTS ON PREGAME HONORING THE COURT IN JOHN THOMPSON'S NAME?

Boeheim: "Surprised it took them so long to do that. John was the Georgetown program. He built an incredible program out of nothing. His leadership in college basketball and his coaching ability is at the very, very highest level. We had a great, great rivalry and he was a big part of it. The greatest games that I've been a part of were Syracuse Georgetown games. And not just one of them, but 10 or 15 of them. You always think back and remember those games. His presence." 

Q: WHAT ABOUT THEIR SMALL LINEUP MADE THEM SO EFFECTIVE ON THE OFFENSIVE END?

Boeheim: "They've got more shooters in the game. They've got more guys that can get into the lane. More drivers. But we should be able to take advantage of that on the other end and we didn't do as well as we should down there. Our offense really hurt us in the second half. We have to score. We're not stopping people, really, that are good offenses. We've got to be able to stop people. We adjusted, went into Jimmy, he scores. Went into Jesse, he missed a dunk then whatever happened on Jimmy's drive. We missed a couple in there. They didn't. They made key shots in the second half. They didn't miss many, they shot it well. They attacked us inside. Our defense was not good. We've struggled all year inside defensively. We've made some changes. At the end of the day it doesn't matter what defense you're playing, you've got to play it. We're not playing it good enough. We're not physical enough. We've got to be better defensively. Bottom line." 

Q: WHAT DO YOU NEED TO DO TO IMPROVE THE REBOUNDING MARGIN?

Boeheim: "I think one of our issues is we do not get to the ball quickly. We're not a physical rebounding type team. We are probably going to get on the boards a little bit, get beat a little bit. Again, today is fine. Six seven rebounds is something we can live with. But we've got to be better offensively and we've got to get defensive stops. It wasn't the rebounding as much as the stops. We have to play better defense in the half-court situations." 

Q: WHY HAS THIS TEAM STRUGGLED TO PUT TOGETHER 40 MINUTES OF BASKETBALL?

Boeheim: "I just don't think we're capable right now of playing the way we have to. We snuck a win out at Florida State, where we really gritted down the stretch. We had a chance to squeak this one out. Even if we had won it wouldn't have mattered. We're not playing good enough basketball right now. New team. Everybody's kind of new in the front line. We're not there right yet. We need some practices. Right now, we're not playing good enough. I think we can get there, but I think this week of practice will help us. Then we've got two more games before we get back into the league. We need to improve over this two week period." 

Q: JOE PLAYED WELL IN THE FIRST HALF, DID THEY DO SOMETHING DIFFERENT IN THE SECOND?

Boeheim: "They switched on him a lot. When they went small they switched so the pick and roll wasn't there with him. So we went with Buddy and Cole and Jimmy inside. So he didn't get a lot of looks in the second half. He gets a lot off the screens from the five. When they went small, they over there and switched it. He wasn't as effective."