Transcript: Everything Jim Boeheim Said After the Loss at Pitt

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim with some candid comments about his team's performance.

OPENING STATEMENT

"I thought we hung in there at the end of the first half, we came back," Boeheim said. "In the second half we came out and couldn't get any stops. Not just rebounding, we couldn't stop them. They just did whatever they wanted inside. They made some key threes when they had to. We could not get stops. Offensively we had some opportunities. We missed some layups when they made their run. We missed two or three easy shots around the basket. We haven't made anything from the three point line for a while now. We just haven't been consistent there the whole year. That's obviously hurting our offense. 

"Defensively, this was a defensive game. We got no stops. We're going to have to find a way to be better defensively going forward."

WHAT WAS THE BIG REASON FOR THE UNRAVELING TODAY?

"I think I just said that," Boeheim said. "We couldn't get a stop in the second half. Our defense was just not there."

SPECIFICALLY, WHAT WERE SOME OF THE ISSUES DEFENSIVELY?

"They got it inside too easily," Boeheim said. "When they missed, they got it and put it back. It was, really, every position struggled. The forward position struggled, the guard position, every position. We struggled at every position defensively. Really the whole second half. A little bit in the first half but the whole second half. A complete team breakdown defensively."

WHAT DOES GIRARD NEED TO DO TO MAKE THAT JUMP IN HIS SECOND YEAR?

"He hasn't played well overall," Boeheim said. "He's had a couple good games, but Kadary has not played well coming in in his opportunities. So it's not like we have a viable alternative. People are leaving Kadary open and he's not able to make open shots yet. It's hard to get to the basket when they don't play you. Joe does a good job of getting us into our offense. He's done a really good job of that. But he's struggled. He hasn't made shots like we know he can. He's gotten into the lane and hasn't been able to make a play in there. He's just struggled. But really both guys have struggled. They both need to play better."

TRANSITION DEFENSE

"We didn't get back very well," Boeheim said. "There were some loose balls they were able to convert. Normally we're a good transition team. We did not get back very well today."

AT WHAT POINT DO YOU CONSIDER YOU ARE NOT A TEAM OF SHOOTERS AND NEED TO GO INSIDE MORE?

"We're trying to go inside more," Boeheim said. "Absolutely trying to go inside more. We took 22 threes, but that's not a lot in today's college basketball. We got the ball to Quincy, he got 13, 14 looks inside. Marek got the ball, went to the basket, went to the foul line got eight free throws. So he got the ball. Alan was trying to get to the basket. Again, we want to get there. But Quincy is shooting around 20% from three in the league. Buddy was shooting about 30 (percent) in the league until tonight. So now he's down in the 20s and Joe's there too. We're not shooting the ball well, so obviously we do want to go inside. For us to win, I think we have to make some threes. If we are unable to make threes we are not going to score a lot of points inside. We're good in transition, but it's hard to get in transition when you're not rebounding the ball. That pretty much sums it up right there. But we made a concerted effort tonight, and in the North Carolina game, to get the ball to Quincy and Marek inside. Quincy did a good job down there, Marek did a good job today. 

"But I don't think we need to talk about our offense. We only turned it over once in the first half, five for the game. They did a good job too not turning it over, both teams did. I think we have to look at our defense. You give up 64 points in the second half, you don't need to talk about your offense. Our defense was probably the worst I've seen it since I've been here. Sixty-four points? Yeah that's a lot of points."

DID YOU PREPARE FOR JUSTIN CHAMPAGNIE PLAYING?

"We know he can play," Boeheim said. "We're preparing for every contingency. He's just a really good player. We were OK with him in the first half. In the second half we just couldn't control him at all. Again, he's a really good player. I think he's an all league player. He was the difference today. We did try to help back in there that opened up some threes from the perimeter. But he's a really good player and he hurt us."

WHERE DO YOU LOOK FOR ANSWERS ON DEFENSE?

"We don't have an answer," Boeheim said. "We're playing the best group we have and we're going to continue to play them, and hope that we get better. This was a bad day, you can have those. We've kind of avoided that, we've been in every game. This is the first game and we were ahead at halftime so it's not like we were out of it in the beginning. You're going to have a game like this, I think, during the course of the year. It's unfortunate. But we're four games into the league season and we've got to put this behind. We've got try to get better defensively with who we have. Offensively, other than our shooting from the three, we moved the ball. We got good shots. We missed a few layups. Other than the three, our offensive movement was good. We got good shots. We got good looks. But we've got to be better on defense, that's the bottom line. It's really foolish to talk about offense in this game. Yeah guys can play better offensively. Joe can, Kadary can. Buddy can shoot better. But, we have to play better defense. Period. And some of the bad offense leads to that. Transition game. If you don't make baskets, that obviously hurts you."

WHAT CAN YOU SAY ABOUT QUINCY'S PLAY?

"He's scoring," Boeheim said. "That's what we need him to do. We're going to go to him. He's getting shots and he's finishing. He's doing a great job offensively. Alan was very good offensively today. I thought Marek was good. Offensively this isn't an issue. The defensive end is everybody. If you look at every play, it's a guard here, a forward, it can be the center. Everybody is responsible. Everybody's held accountable in our defense. It's not one guy or two guys, it's everybody. We're not playing good team defense. The first half, we were OK. It wasn't bad. The second half, we played no defense. That's something we have to work on and be better at. We left the guy open who can shoot threes, and you can't do that. The same guy made all the threes in the second half. You have to find him and make somebody else shoot it. But our interior defense is not there. Obviously North Carolina showed that, this showed that. They're good inside and we have to be better inside against teams like this."