Transcript: Everything Jim Boeheim Said After Win Over #16 Virginia Tech

After Syracuse beat 16th ranked Virginia Tech on Saturday, head coach Jim Boeheim spoke to the media about the big win.

OPENING STATEMENT

"Obviously, the defense we started slow," Boeheim said. "We gave them four threes right in the beginning. Then the rest of the game I think they were only four for 25. We just did a better job of getting them off their spots. The defense was the difference. We made some really good steals. Marek was really good down low. Offensively, we wanted Marek to go against their bigger guy and he got him in foul trouble. That guy's a really good player and he got him in foul trouble. Kind of got him out of his rhythm. When they went small, Quincy just dominated inside. Then Kadary came in and gave us a big lift at both ends. Got in a little foul trouble, but we negotiated that. Alan was really good. This was his best overall defensive game, rebounding. He was just really solid.

"Buddy and Joe didn't shoot well. We didn't shoot well, but that's alright. Our defense was good. That was the difference in the game, I thought. Just a really good team effort. Virginia Tech's a really good team. They got off to a really good start and we were able to just hang in there and keep it close. Really played really good defense over the last part of the first and the second half."

HOW WOULD YOU ASSESS QUINCY GUERRIER'S DEFENSE?

"He's getting better all the time," Boeheim said. "I think his whole game is getting better. I thought today, Buddy got him for that three and that was a big three for him to hit. Because we needed it, the game was right there and that was a big three. That was a big difference maker three. We only made four of them, but that was a pretty big one. Again, we didn't shoot it well from the guard spot, but still able to score a good number of points. We were able to get it from Marek and Quincy. The one thing that's important to understand is when Buddy, Allen, Joe are in the game, people are sticking tight. They're going to play them tight. They're not coming off.

"Most teams help down low on Quincy or a guy like Marek driving. Marek gets all that space to drive because they're going to stay with Buddy and Joe wherever they are. First play of the game, he drives all the way in, turns, spin back and get a layup. Because there's nobody there to help. They're going to play those shooters. I thought Quincy and Marek really took advantage of that tonight. Big difference makers in the game. That was really the offensive part of the game tonight. We didn't make shots. In the last game we made a bunch of shots from the perimeter and won. In this game we got it inside and made a bunch of shots in there and got to the foul line."

IS THIS GAME THE GAME YOU'VE BEEN LOOKING FOR FROM THIS TEAM?

"Well we've had two good games," Boeheim said. "Miami's a good team. They've come really close, beaten people or come really close a lot. So that's two good games, obviously, in a row. That helps. We're going to play a great team, I think the best team in the league probably by the end of the year and right now, really, Virginia. They're playing great. It'll be a really tough test. Their team is just so good offensively and defensively. I think we're playing better. It's been a difficult season. There's no other way to say it. Just the ups and downs and all the things you have to go through. We're doing the right thing. We have to play basketball, but I don't think anybody's in love with what's going on. It's just difficult. Hopefully everybody can work together in this country now and we can move forward with getting the vaccine out. Getting money out to people who need it. Getting money to the health care sector workers and equipment. Get things somewhat in order.

"It's going to take a while. It's going to take a few months. At least it looks like we have a work in progress with people trying to work together and I hope we can. Everybody in college basketball, obviously it's a difficult year, everybody is doing the best they can to get through this. No part of it's easy but there's no other alternative. We've just got to keep moving forward and do the best we can. The players, it's difficult for them but they want to play. They don't want to go home or sit home. I think this is being managed as well as it can. We're going to try to keep moving forward. As a team, we're going to try to keep getting better and see what happens."

ARE YOU SEEING MORE OFFENSIVELY FROM MAREK OVER THE LAST TWO GAMES?

"I think he wants to be," Boeheim said. "Again, every game is different. Some teams are more capable of defending him. They (Virginia Tech) had a difficult time with him at the center position. Their big guy is a really good offensive player, he had trouble playing him away from the basket. There's some games he has a matchup problem and he may not score. He's making plays. The last two games he just hasn't rebounded and been a factor on defense. I thought today he was a factor on defense. He rebounded better. He's got to play defense and rebound, then if we can get him into offensive positions that's what we're going to try to do.

"I thought Alan was really good today. I thought he really rebounded. He just really did a lot of good things. His last game it was not good. He really bounced back tonight with a really good game."

HOW MANY GUYS DEALT WITH COVID AND DID THEY GET IT FROM BUFFALO?

"No idea," Boeheim said. "I wanted people to understand that Joe and Buddy, that affects your game and I wanted people to know they had it. But that's it. I don't know whatever happened from wherever. We're just trying to get through that now and move to the next stage. I think they're both back at good strength, close to full strength. We'll just move forward from here."

WHAT WAS THE KEY TO POINTS IN THE PAINT?

"Every game is different," Boeheim said. "Their strategy, they shot 37 threes against us last year and 34 threes against us last year. We know they were going to do that. They actually only took 29 but that's what their strategy is and they're going to try to score. What happened when they did get inside we made some really good blocks early, couple really good blocks and they missed a dunk. Aluma had some good looks in there, he was just in and out. We're trying to have them make tough twos in there rather than open threes. That's the thing we don't want.

"We gave them open threes in the beginning and they can make them. We took the open threes away and did a good job of covering up in there on their big guys, and we did a good job rebounding the ball. Those were the two key things, I thought."

WERE YOU TRYING TO DRIVE THE BALL EARLY IN THE GAME?

"Well we wanted to drive on their center, make him play defensive on Marek," Boeheim said. "We don't really drive it that much, he's the guy who would drive it. When we got a mismatch, they put smaller guys in there to attack our zone better, we got Quincy down in low. That was what we wanted to try do there. One time we had Alan and Quincy both trying to get down low and they both had little guys on them. I thought we were smart in the way that we handled that. We got the ball into those guys in good positions and Quincy did a really good job finishing down there.

"I just thought we did really good things on offense. Obviously, we weren't making a lot of threes but this was a game to attack the basket, get to the foul line and try to get around the basket area. That's what we did."

DO YOU NEED AN AGGRESSIVE MINDSET IF YOU DON'T HAVE A TRADITIONAL CENTER?

"You hit it right on the head there," Boeheim said. "Alan was blocking shots all night. He's only a 6-6 guy, he's blocking shots. Coming over, Marek's trying to stand the guy up, hold him, and then Alan's coming over and blocking shots. He did a great job. He really was phenomenal today on that defensive end. Steals, blocking shots and getting up on guys. We did a really good job guarding their three point shooters. They missed some that were open, but after you've been contested a lot then all of a sudden you get an open one it's a little bit harder.

"They missed some and sometimes that happens. Sometimes teams make some against you and sometimes they miss some, and they missed some. We did a good job changing their inside shots. And they missed some for us in there. Aluma's a really good player. He's 1-10, he missed nine shots around the basket. They had opportunities, and I'm sure if we played them again they'd be able to convert those, some of those opportunities and it would be a different game. Maybe we can make some more shots. We missed some shots that we usually make too from the guard spot. Just a really good overall defensive effort, rebounding effort from everybody."