Transcript: Everything Jim Boeheim Said After the Loss at Virginia
OPENING STATEMENT
"The game started out and we got some really good opportunities," Boeheim said. "Some things that we wanted to get. We wanted to get it to Quincy around the basket area. I thought we got it there. We couldn't finish there. We missed two or three layups early. Buddy got three or four really good looks from the perimeter. From the three, I mean those were all good looks. Virginia's a top 10 team in my mind the way they're playing, and we have to make those shots early. They're a really good shooting team. Those two guys really can shoot it and they move the ball and get them the ball. The big kid is tough. We had to try to takeaway the lob after they got a couple of those. That leaves some perimeter shots available and they made them. They're a good team. They're a really good shooting team. Better shooting team than they had last year. We had to score and offensively I thought we got some pretty good looks. We didn't make enough of them to stay in the game. They're really good and I think we'll learn something from this game."
WERE GUYS LEAVING SHOOTERS TO GIVE VIRGINIA THOSE LOOKS?
"No, no," Boeheim said. "You saw the lob pass, we've got to help on that. Getting the ball in the middle, Huff's good in there. You've got to give something someplace, so you're going to give some shots up. They make threes against everybody. They make them against man to man, zone, doesn't matter. They're a good shooting team. We broke down a couple times. We should've gotten better position two or three times we should've been there and didn't rotate correctly. But, they're going to make some of those shots. We need to be a little bit better, but the bottom line is we had to be better on offense against them. We're not going to stop them if we played them 10 times. They're going to make threes. They're going to score points. They're not quite as good, they're still good defensively; they're not quite as good. We got shots. We got shots that I think we can make and we didn't. Simple as that."
HOW MUCH OF VIRGINIA'S OFFENSE IS KEYED OFF OF CLARK AND HUFF?
"They're very good," Boeheim said. "They're good passers. They get guys the ball. They're really good passers. They really do a good job of moving the ball. Those guys get in open spots and they make shots. They're good. They're a very good team. We're not a top ten team. They are."
IS WOODY NELSON HEALTHY?
"We're playing the guys that are playing the best in practice," Boeheim said. "We're playing the guys that are playing the best in practice."
WAS THIS A STEP BACK DEFENSIVELY OR IS VIRGINIA THAT GOOD?
"Virginia's just better than those teams by a mile," Boeheim said. "We didn't cover shooters tonight as we need to. Our offense hurt us probably almost as much as our defense. We're down nine at halftime, we had six or seven really good looks and we have to make those shots."
WERE YOU ANTICIPATING CLARK GETTING INTO THE LANE SO EASILY?
"Clark's really good in there," Boeheim said. "Huff hurt us in there as well. When Huff got the ball in there they scored just as much. He was really good in there. Both of them hurt us in the middle."
WHY ISN'T BUDDY ABLE TO MAKE SHOTS?
"He's just a little bit off," Boeheim said. "The difference between shooting 29% from three and 34% from three is one shot a game. Thirty-four percent's OK, 29% is not so good. It's one shot. He's a little off, but he's getting more defensive pressure. Tonight I thought he really got good looks. All his threes, his threes were better than his twos. His twos were under pressure somewhat, and he made them. His threes were pretty good. I really thought he got pretty good looks and they didn't go. The difference, 29% is 43 from two. If he's shooting 29% it still is 43 from two, which is better than most. We need him to make another one a game to get his percentages up to 33 or 34. That would be helpful."
