University of Connecticut Athletics
Syracuse Quotes
3/8/2012 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 8, 2012
COACH BOEHEIM: Both teams struggled shooting the ball, and both teams are very good defensively. We couldn't really get anything going offensively, and then we changed something just a little bit. Got a little bit more space. Kris got a couple penetrations and got to the foul line, and then we made a couple good -- we got James open a couple times. He's a tremendous shooter. That's James Southerland over there.
He can make those shots, and he made them early in the year. He struggled a little bit during the week, but he's been making them in practice. He looked good the last game, made a big one, and we think he can make those shots and be a factor for us, a big factor for us the rest of the way. So it was good for him to get those looks.
Our guys are very unselfish. They found him in there and got him the ball.
We were really good with the ball today. Didn't turn it over. That's been the strength of our team all year. We make up for not doing a great job rebounding with doing a great job taking care of the basketball. But Connecticut is very, very good. When they had the lead, eight or nine points, they were in great position, and I thought our guys just dug down on defense, played a little bit harder and got going on offense. It was a great comeback. It's very difficult to play a team like Connecticut. They've had a couple games. They're loose. I hate sitting around all week, and it's very difficult. I'm glad that we were able to get a win. We haven't played that many games and we need to play again. Tomorrow's game will help us, but this was a tremendous comeback. This team has been very good down the stretch all year, and that was the case today.
Q. After you hit that second three, can you talk about what were the emotions, the Garden was going wild?
JAMES SOUTHERLAND: It felt really great out there, especially being at home and all. I missed my first two shots. The first one I felt was good, the second one was kind of rushed. It's good my teammates are here for me, they're not giving up on me just because I missed two shots, and it feels good. It was a great atmosphere.
Q. What does it say about this team's depth that he takes that wild three-pointer? COACH BOEHEIM: I didn't think he took a wild three-pointer. He took a good job, but he wasn't having a great day. Dion was having a great day and Brandon was having a great day. So it was just a matter of going with the two guys that were playing better, and some games it's been those two, some games it's been Scoop and one of them. But today Scoop wasn't making shots, and I thought that the two best offensive guards we had were those two guys. I thought Michael Carter had a great first half. He made three great passes, and I thought Rakeem, we're using him coming in at center. He was huge in the first half. He made a couple blocks and I think had four or five rebounds in about eight minutes. I thought he was really good, and I think this was a good game for him and gave us another guy in that center position. I thought he was very good today.
Q. For James and Jim, can you take us through James' journey as a freshman to now being an impact player for the Orange? COACH BOEHEIM: Well, I think James is a very, very good offensive player, and I think he hasn't scratched his potential. He's getting better every day. He's got to help us more on the boards, but he's a tremendous shooter.
