Jim Boeheim Notre Dame Postgame Transcript

Everything the Syracuse basketball head coach said after the loss to the Irish.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim discusses the Orange's loss at Notre Dame following the game. 

Opening Statement

Boeheim: "We let them get out 12 and then I thought we really played well defensively. We got some good offensive possessions. Two keys, Bourama blocks the shot and then it goes to Laszewski with two seconds left on the shot clock and he makes a three. Then when we get it to two, Hubb takes his only three that he made and it's a bad shot but it goes in. That was the game. Other than that, we did pretty much what we wanted to try to do. We got beat early inside. Our centers are struggling right now defending the paint area. We just have to do a better job there."

Q: With the centers struggling down there, I'm not sure what the answer is, but you've still got a few more games left. 

Boeheim: "Really, you don't? If I knew I'd be doing it. If I knew the answer I'd be doing it. And by the way, Boston College can't be really good and then bad. Like when we beat them, they were bad. When they beat Notre Dame, they're good. That doesn't make sense. Think about it." 

Q: What happened with Atkinson in the first half compared to the second half where you guys contained him a little better?

Boeheim: "I think Frank was a little better. The last first half, the last game, he was non-existent. Had a really good second half. Same thing tonight. Non-existent, much better in the second half. I don't know. I can't get him...I've never had, in my hundred years of coaching, had to tell a player to jump. Sometimes I think he thinks it's against the rules to jump. He's got perfect position and he's reaching. Second half he was much better. Both games. But you give him 14 points in the first half, changes the direction of the game. We've got to be better there but Bourama's playing at half speed and Frank is not ready for this. That's why he was playing five minutes a game this year. We're trying to make the best of what they can do." 

Q: It seemed like a back and forth game and then they had that 13-0 run. What happened there?

Boeheim: "That's what I said. That's what I started the press conference with. We didn't score, we didn't stop them and they had a run. Basketball is a game of runs. Then we had a 10-0 run. That's the way the game works.

Q: At what point did you decide to keep Joe off the floor?

Boeheim: "He struggled the whole game. It was a real struggle. I thought Sy could give us some quickness, give us penetration. I thought Sy did a really good job. I thought he was really good." 

Q: What about Jimmy's performance?

Boeheim: "He's playing great. He's exceeding all of my expectations. I didn't think he had any way he would do that. He's playing great basketball. He's played great all year."

Q: Jimmy had a lot of success going to the basket. Was that a concerted effort in this game?

Boeheim: "You take what you can get. You don't know what you're going to get, you have ideas but you don't know until the game unfolds and you see what's there. When they play Buddy and Cole that hard on the outside, there's going to be driving areas and Jimmy's good at driving the ball. That's what he does and he did a great job getting to the basket today."  

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