Jim Boeheim Discusses Loss to Virginia

Syracuse fell at home to Virginia 74-69 on Saturday. Here is what head coach Jim Boeheim said after the game.

Opening Statement

Boeheim: "Defensively, we got off to a slow start. Jesse, he was not... I don't know what he was thinking but he was just not into it. He gave up seven points to start the game. I thought we battled back the whole game. I thought everybody went after the ball. Rebounding, we went after the ball to get it, get it back. We did a really good job there. Defensively, we just didn't do a couple of the rotations that we need to make and they got easy layups in the first half that should've never happened. We have to be better on the defensive end in these games. Joe's had two games now where he just hasn't been in the game. We need him to be in the game. I thought Sy did a good job the time he was in there, that's a good sign. Cole, he missed some shots he can make. What bothered me the most is he passed up a couple. When he's in the game he's got to take those shots. What bothers me the most is he didn't get a defensive rebound. When they missed the layup he let Beekman come in, get the ball and put it back in over him. Didn't jump. Then he got that rebound at the end and they just took it from him. He can't do that, he's got to be tougher than that. The attention that Buddy is getting, these other guys are basically playing four on three and we couldn't score in four on three situations. They doubled him every time. Finally I told him just to not do the ball screen. The double should help us if we get wide open looks. We couldn't score that way. So I just told Buddy to take the ball, we opened it up and he took it. Went on the guy and scored. It's a lot of work for him to do that. He holds up. I don't know how he does it, but he does. For us to be successful offensively, Joe and Cole have got to be there for us. We got as much as we can expect from Jimmy and as much as we can expect from Buddy. We're certainly not going to win with two guys. We've got to get Joe back in it. He played great the first 11 games. Two games where he hasn't been there. We need him to be more effective. We need Jesse and Frank to be better defensively. Again, they battled the whole game. Virginia's good. Smart, good team. They'll be difficult the rest of the way for everybody."

Q: Virginia has won seven of eight against you guys. What makes them so successful?

Boeheim: "I don't talk anything about teams winning so many games or not. I don't talk about that. I just answered your question. They've been better than us. Tonight they were better than us. They're very good and they've been very good."

Q: In the second half, Virginia was able to get the ball inside a lot. How were they able to do that?

Boeheim: "No, they did it the whole game. They did it the whole game. It wasn't the second half. Actually, we did a little better job in the second half. The first half, they got it in every time. For us to change our coverages to keep it out of there, Jesse has to get to the corner for the jump shot. He's unable to do that. They got it inside the whole game."

Q: In the second half, it seemed like they were more successful when they did get it in there shooting 63%.

Boeheim: "No. They were more successful in the first half. They got three or four layups. Got it into the high post then down low for layups. They shot better in the second half, yes. But they got it inside the whole game."

Q: With Buddy seeing all these double teams, what do you want to have happen once they double him?

Boeheim: "I'd like to think the other four guys can score. The ball went to Jesse because they weren't guarding him. They helped out, he hit Cole, he's got a wide open shot. If that doesn't work, we go down to the post to Jimmy and he has a good move to the basket there. Jimmy, they pushed him out too far. His hook shot, he doesn't make it unless he gets into the lane. Ten feet, it's too hard from there. That's why we got some rebounds there, because we get a shot and now we have a four on three advantage. Those guys, they're college basketball players, they've got to be able to score in those situations.

Q: What do you think, in particular, is going on with Joe?

Boeheim: "Well, the last game (Cornell) the full court pressure probably bothered him more than it should have. They know he's a good shooter. They're going to guard him. He's got to get by and either make a play or get by him and get a better shot. One of the two things. He didn't get many opportunities tonight. We got the ball to Jimmy, got the ball to Buddy and got the ball to Cole. Those guys got good looks. Jimmy's 7-18, Cole's 3-12, Buddy's 7-17. We've got to make just a couple more. It's not that Joe really had shots and missed them. He's a point guard, some games you don't get a lot of shots. Jimmy got good shots. He made his first two threes and then he missed four. He missed six free throws. We're not winning games that way. Virginia's a really good team and all the teams we play in this league are good. Whether they're great or not, that doesn't matter. They're good. We're not going to win games if Cole goes 3-12 and Jimmy goes 7-18 and 2-8 from the foul line. You don't need to look any further than that. We're not winning if those guys don't make some more shots than that. They're three leading scorers were 7-13, 5-8 and 6-9. That's all you need to know right there. We moved the ball, we got the ball in good position, we got good shots, we didn't make enough of them. And our defense has to be a little better too. But we got shots. We got shots where we would like to get them. Buddy made an impossible shot. He's playing one against two most of the time."

Q: Other than missing a few rotations, what does this team need to change defensively?

Boeheim: "You can't miss rotations, number one. That's the biggest problem. I'm not going to go through the whole thing, but they're first two threes we didn't rotate to the corner. Two, three layups at the end of the first half, the forward didn't get across the lane. Not in position so they get the ball where they want to and get in the lane. There's five times. Five rotations. Doesn't take any more than that. Cole not chasing down that rebound and Beekman getting over him, that's a terrible play. Horrible basketball play. Can't have that happen. We're not talking about great, we're talking about a little better. We can be a little better defensively, I think that's the key. Virginia's not a great shooting team and they shot 52% so obviously our defense is not good enough. In terms of what we're doing, that's just not good enough. If our defense isn't good enough then we've got to make more of those shots that we missed. Pretty simple. But we can't win shooting those percentages against somebody who is shooting good percentages. Pretty simple. I really wouldn't put this on Joe because he didn't get that many opportunities. It was really Jimmy and Cole. Got really good opportunities. You can't win these games if you go 2-8 from the foul line. I wouldn't normally put that on a player, but he's my son and he needs to make those. I might not say that about another player, but he knows. He knows he's got to make those shots. Simple. We can't miss all those shots and beat a team. Can't. When we're allowing them to shoot 60%? No. Can't do that."