Postgame Transcript: Jim Boeheim Discusses Win over NC State

Syracuse's head coach recaps a big road win for the Orange.

OPENING STATEMENT

"Kadary couldn't practice yesterday," Boeheim said. "He had a severely impacted tooth and he's going to have it out tomorrow morning at 7:40. But he took some medication. He was in agony yesterday. He felt he could play. He made some big plays in the first half. Got a little careless in the second, but this was the best we've moved the ball and worked together all year. Alan, this was his best game. We got people shots. We got Alan shots, we got Buddy shots. Quincy in the first half was shooting threes. In the second half he did what he can do. He just dominated inside and just kept going in there. We looked for him and he was tremendous inside. They played really well, they shot well. But we battled them. We were down six rebounds at the half and we ended up up four, so we outrebounded them by 10 rebounds in the second half. Which is a great statistic for us. We forced 20 turnovers from them. It was just a great effort. Great team effort. 

"He'll be overlooked because his stats aren't big, but Marek just battled those two big guys down low. They had all their big guys here this time and just split up the minutes a little bit between them. He just battled them inside. They made some big threes to hang in there. I thought Robert's three was a crucial, crucial shot. He did that when he was playing two years ago. When he got in he'd make a three. When he got that look, he made it. He got a couple good rebounds down there. I thought he really did a good job. Quincy, we don't want him to commit that fifth foul out there at that stage of the game. But again, these guys just dug in there. They dug out some offensive rebounds, which is our weakness. I think Quincy got one and put it back. Then Alan got and put it back. We just battled them in there. We just did a great job. It's a great win. Obviously our best road win, but one of our, if not the best win all year. I think we learned a lot tonight about ourselves and this was a really special win."

WHAT'S THE STATUS OF BOURAMA SIDIBE

"He's out. He's out. His knee is swollen. He can't practice and he cannot play."

WHAT'S THE LONG TERM OUTLOOK ON BOURAMA?

"I'll just say that once more. His knee is swollen. He could not practice and could not play. So I don't know what you want me to say. I'm not a doctor, I don't know what the long-term. I mean, I don't know. If his knee's swollen and he can't pracitce, then he's not going to play. I was going to play Jess tonight but Marek's the key to beating their pressure. We score against their press when Marek's in there. We got some open looks and that was, I thought, the difference in the game. Getting those looks against their pressure. He's just so good against full court pressure. Really good."

HOW IMPORTANT WAS KADARY'S PLAY AT THE END OF THE FIRST HALF?

"He made a couple great plays, but then we succeeded in trying to give it back. He's a very good defender. He made some freshman mistakes in the second half but that's going to happen. He made four turnovers, but that's going to happen. He's going to do that. He's making big plays and really, really good defensive plays. He's a very good defender. I think all three guards are key for us as I've said many, many times. The fans are not going to determine who's going to play. I like it when some people have a column, whatever they have, and they say who should play here. I don't know how we'll do the rest of the year, but we've got three guards. They'll all play. Kadary had a good first half so we got him in there. In the second half he struggled, but he had a really good first half. I thought we got Buddy a couple good looks. He got in the lane better than he has been. I thought he really played well. Alan was really good tonight. He was just moving, getting in the lane and making good decisions when he didn't have a shot. He stepped out of bounds that one time, but other than that he was really good. We need all three of our guards. It's going to be crucial for us as we go toward the end of this year that Joe and Buddy, Kadary all have to be in there and have to help us. 

"The real key for us is what we do inside. Defensively we were much better. We rebounded much better. We defended inside much better and that's why we won the game. It's not the guards. It's really never been the guards this year. When we outrebound people or stay close, we haven't lost a game. Every game we've lost we've got crushed on the boards and inside. That's reality. People want to make controversy when there's absolutely no controversy. None. Just what people do. We're going to struggle. We're not great. We battled tonight, but this is a tough league. I've watched Notre Dame many, many times. They're really good and the kept lose by here a couple, a couple. Then tonight they won. This league's tough. These teams are good. Every game's a challenge. I'm just glad we could come down here and get this win. We haven't played well here. We haven't won here. These guys would just not be denied. They really hit some big shots to get control of this game. You had to take control of it by making some shots and we did that. Then we got a couple rebounds and then we got a couple stops at the other end. They made some great moves. They moved the ball and got some good three looks. They shot it well. They made eight threes, 20-24 from the foul line. They did a lot of good things. The only thing, they made too many turnovers and that was a good part of what we were doing defensively. We changed a little bit. We plugged the middle a little bit more, which does give you some weakness in the corners. We did a better job in the middle this time than we did in Syracuse. Again, we have a lot of work to do. We've got one day off and then get ready for the stretch run here. It's very challenging. Just proud of the way these guys came down here and fought. We had a terrible road game, terrible first half against Clemson. We got beat up physically and that was part of that loss. They bounced back and this was a real good bounce back tonight. 

WHAT WAS THE DIFFERENCE ON THE BOARDS IN THE SECOND HALF?

"I think we all just got in and contributed. It was no one guy. We just got everybody back there. Quincy got two defensive rebounds, Marek got five, two for Allen, four for Joe, two for Buddy, one for Robert, one for Kadary. Everybody pitched in. Everybody got back in there and helped. They played three guards because they wanted to shoot and pressure. So they played the three guards which helped a little bit rebounding wise. That gives us a little bit of help there because their three guards don't rebound. Some guards in this league go in and rebound a lot. Their guards don't rebound a lot. So I think that's a factor there. Our defense was just better. We were really active. I was a little worried about getting tired. I felt we had to keep Marek in because they're pressing every time. You can't make mistakes against their press or they're getting layups. He prevents that from happening. He's a really unsung player. He's really good at handling that, defending. This was his best game defensively. He was involved in a lot of stuff out there. When we trapped, we hadn't been getting any turnovers. We trapped more aggressively and got some deflections and turnovers. We've been trapping people and letting them do whatever they want. Tonight we trapped them and they walked or threw it away. They're a really good offensive team. We did a good job defensively. A really good job."

IT LOOKED LIKE YOUR TEAM WANTED IT MORE TONIGHT. HOW FRUSTRATING IS IT YOU DON'T SEE THAT EVERY NIGHT?

"I see it every night. They want it every night. Absolutely. Clemson just beat the crap out of us. They're just too physical for us. The game was physical. Allowed to be really physical. There were eight or 10 fouls that weren't called and that's all it takes. These guys want to win every game, Mark. That's nonsense. Every time we lose a game, we didn't want to win? We want to win every game. We're trying to win every game. That's just nonsense. There's too much nonsense right now. It's crazy. I try to point out a guy's weaknesses, what he needs to get better at and then I'm accused that I didn't give him any credit. I try to be honest, straightforward. What Quincy has to work on. It's like, 'you didn't give him any credit.' That's not true. I think he's a heck of a player. I think, as he showed tonight, when he wants to just shoot threes, he's not helping himself and he's not helping our team. When he gets inside like he did in the second half, he dominated the inside and was a big key for our defense and our winning. Our offensive rebounds and put backs. They're going all out after our guards. Switching, he's getting a six foot guy on him. So he can get down inside and get every rebound, theoretically, and get it in. He did that. He was tremendous in the second half. 

"He's still got a lot of work to do on his game, as does Alan. I think they're both terrific players. But I'm trying to give an evaluation of each and every guy we have. Every guy we have has to work on things and get better. That's part of what you're trying to do as a coach. Get everybody better. Give an honest evaluation of what we think each guy can do. In no way am I not giving credit to these guys because they're busting their tail. For anybody to think we're not trying, these guys are not trying, that's the farthest thing. I don't care if we lose every game we play. These guys are trying. We're down 20 at Clemson and we outscored them in the second half. They didn't stop playing. They're a physical, tough team. They kept coming and we outscored them. A team that's not trying doesn't do that. We didn't play well enough. We missed layups, missed a lot of shots, and Clemson played great. Once in a while that happens. Clemson lost by 25 points, 30 points a couple times. That happens. That's just college basketball and you need to move on from that. There's nothing easy. Everybody's pretty good. You've got a couple great teams out there and you've got a bunch of other teams that really pretty good. That's what I see."

HOW MUCH OF A LIFT DID MAKING THREE POINTERS GIVE YOU?

"If we don't make some threes, we're not winning. That's why we're set up to try to take threes. We not only made some but Joe got fouled on one of them. We're trying to do that. We want to take threes. When you look at it, if we don't make threes, you're not going to win this game. You have to try to and we haven't shot it as well as I think we can. We're not that far off but we're a little off. No question about it. The more pressure they put on our shooters, the more gaps there are inside for Quincy and Alan and Marek to get into the basket area. That's why you get some easy shots. They're switching big guys out on three point shooters, because they don't want them to shoot threes, which that makes Quincy in there with a six foot one or two guard. That's a big advantage. Again, the threat from our three point shooters always helps us. Obviously, when they make some it really helps us. If you're shooting around even 30% from three, that helps your team. Thirty three percent is 50%, but 30 is 44%. Which is pretty good. That helps your team."

WHAT CAUSED ALL OF THE TURNOVERS FROM NC STATE?

"Our traps. We trapped a lot. They put us in a lot of trapping situations and we got steals. They're trying to get to into the post area and we know that. We changed our defense a little bit. We kept our guards back a little bit. Kadary and Joe got a couple steals back in there from the top. But most of the steals were on our pressure. Traps in the corner, short corner, deep corner. I thought that was a big key. That was a big key to the game, 20 turnovers. That's eight extra possessions right there. That's a big part of winning the game, for sure because they shot well. They got to the foul line. Turnovers are a big part of the game, really."