Jim Boeheim on Syracuse's Defense: 'It's 100% Responsible For Our Record'

Defensive issues have been at the center of Syracuse basketball's losses this season.

Mike McAllister | Jan 3, 2022

Jim Boeheim on Syracuse's Defense: 'It's 100% Responsible For Our Record' /

To say Syracuse basketball has struggled defensively this season would be an understatement. The Orange is second to last in the ACC in scoring defense, ninth in three point percentage defense, and the issues on that end of the floor have been the key to each of Syracuse's six losses.

On Monday, Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim participated in the ACC head coach conference call and was asked about the team's defense this season.

"Our defense lost us the game the other day," Boeheim said. "We played horrible defense. I just put together some clips. I usually show them five or six really bad defensive clips. We have 14 without trying of just guys not playing their position, not in their position where they're supposed to be. And when you score 69 points Virginia then you should be able to win the game. They give up 50. Our defense was a disgrace and that's me. I'm the coach. I'm responsible for that. Every guy, literally seven guys, made a really bad defensive mistake. Couple guys made multiple defensive mistakes and you can't win games that way. We've already demonstrated that. Our offense is more than good enough. Our defense has been horrendous. It's really 100% responsible for our record. We've done, at most, everything I know how to fix it. We're going to keep trying to fix it. But at the end of the day, we need to play better on the defensive end."

Boeheim would go on to say the issues stem from bad positioning not defensive effort.

"There's no excuse, really at any stage of the season, to make some of the defensive mistakes that we're making," Boeheim added.

Syracuse's next game is at Miami on Wednesday, January 5th. Miami is sixth in the ACC in scoring and fourth in shooting percentage.

Published Jan 3, 2022

MIKE MCALLISTER

Title: Publisher All Syracuse Education: Roberts Wesleyan College Location: Syracuse, New York Expertise: Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting. EXPERIENCE Mike McAllister has been covering Syracuse basketball, football and recruiting for more than a decade. Mike's career started with his own free blog as a way to vent following sporting events. Shortly thereafter, a network of basketball sites called Coast 2 Coast Hoops asked him to run their Syracuse site. That site was called Nation of Orange, and Mike quickly established it as a go-to for Syracuse fans. After running Nation of Orange for several months, a position with the Syracuse site on the Scout network became available. After one year as the recruiting expert with Cuse Nation, he was named the publisher. Mike oversaw the transition from Scout to 247Sports, and ran the site on that network for years. Presented with the opportunity to join one of the biggest names in the sports journalism industry, Sports Illustrated, Mike jumped at the chance. All Syracuse was started from scratch by Mike and the Fan Nation team. It has now become a staple for Orange fans of various sports. Mike has broken news on recruiting, Syracuse basketball and football team information and has established himself as the top recruiting inside in the market. He has appeared on local radio shows, television broadcasts, national radio shows and much more. Mr. McAllister has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Accounting and Information Management from Roberts Wesleyan College.