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NCAA MEN'S FIRST FOUR: DAYTON

March 14, 2018

Dayton, Ohio

Syracuse - 60, Arizona State - 56

THE MODERATOR: We're joined by the head coach of the Syracuse Orange, Jim Boeheim, as well as student-athletes Frank Howard and Tyus Battle.

COACH BOEHEIM: I thought Arizona State really got after us. They got quick guards. They got up in our two guards and these guys have to play 40 minutes. And no matter how much people have pressured us, no matter what's happened at the end of the game they still make plays.

Tyus made a 3 to get us some cushion and then defensively we had some really good possessions. We just couldn't get the rebound two or three times. But these guys have battled all year. Our offense struggles.

I thought we had, when we took the timeout down seven I thought we had our best possessions all year. We just moved the ball and we got really good shots and made some really good offensive plays. But give Arizona State a lot of credit, I've seen them a lot.

We watched a lot of tape and they haven't played defense at this level. I thought they were very good defensively, and they did a good job on the boards against us. They made it very difficult for us to score. But I thought our defense has been good all year and that's where we hang our hats, on the defensive end.

THE MODERATOR: Questions for the student-athletes.

Q. Frank, Coach Boeheim mentioned the timeout and getting the good offensive possessions after that. What worked there on offense and what were you guys trying to do?
FRANK HOWARD: We just took our time. The guards did a great job of keeping us out of the lane and guarding the dribble drive. So coach put in a few new schemes, something we can do down the stretch and it worked. And Oshae made some huge plays and worked well.

Q. After a game like this, what's sort of the feeling you have? Just went through a battle. What's just sort of in your gut you're feeling right now, besides you just won an NCAA game?
FRANK HOWARD: It's a great feeling especially for the young guys to get the first one under their belt. For me, I had a great run my freshman year, so I'm kind of focussed on TCU, you know what I mean? They have a great team. Right now we're going to enjoy this one. Enjoy the plane ride to Detroit and just focus on TCU from there.

TYUS BATTLE: It's a great feeling, but we've been battling for games the entire year. It's just another win for us. And we just have to look at the next game and focus on TCU.

Q. Either of the guards, ASU, a lot times in the second half they had a lot of possessions in a row where they were shooting 3-pointers. So what's it like to go against a team where you almost know the ball will be shot up behind the arc?
TYUS BATTLE: We've seen this a lot this year. A lot of teams try to beat us from the 3-point line. And we know that they can shoot the ball. At the end we did a much better job running them off the line and forcing them to take tougher shots.

Q. Tyus, what did you think of Oshae's performance? He went down in the first half. Were you concerned at all about him coming back in the game?
TYUS BATTLE: I knew he was going to get back up. He's hit some huge shots. He's done that countless times this year. Always rebounding the ball and he's always playing hard and he stepped up big time tonight.

Q. With you two playing 40 minutes-plus every night, I was interested in what you do your off days? How often are you on your feet? Does coach let you take online classes?
TYUS BATTLE: I rest a lot. I'm a laid-back guy I do a lot of sleeping, video games, stuff like that. So, I'm not on my feet too much.

FRANK HOWARD: Yeah, same thing. I sleep a lot.

COACH BOEHEIM: All year they've had to play 40 minutes every night. They didn't get pressed 40 minutes like this. So this was a tough task tonight, I thought.

Q. Tyus, you hadn't made a 3 since the midway point of the first half when you were, obviously, seemed like you were looking for that one with just under two minutes to go. Why were you so intent on taking that 3 and what went into it?
TYUS BATTLE: I used the crossover and I was open. So I'm not going to pass up a shot that's open. And I've broken that move countless times. So I'm confident taking that shot.

Q. Frank, you and Paschal are close, you're roommates. What was going through your head when he's the one icing the game for you at the line down the stretch?
FRANK HOWARD: I mean, I was a little surprised he missed to be honest. He shoots countless amount of free throws at practice, Coach Griff. I see him knock down free throws every day. So I was confident with him up there.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you. Questions for Coach.

Q. To follow up on that question about how much they play, have you had to adjust your practice regimen at all with what you do with --
COACH BOEHEIM: The last couple of years we've been -- we don't practice as much, as long. Pretty short practices. We try to go hard. But for a very short time, we do a lot of individual stuff and very short practice. No more than an hour and 15 minutes total.

These two guys are amazing. They're going up against tremendous defensive teams all year long, and they're getting the bulk of the defensive pressure, they get doubled in everything, every time they come off a screen. And Oshae has been the only other guy that's been able to get going.

We run a lot of stuff for him, too. But we just haven't gotten anything out of the other guys. It's difficult to win offensively when you've got three guys scoring. And if they're off a little bit, then it puts all the pressure back on our defense.

And Arizona State is a very good team against zones. I mean, people play them zones, but they saw zones a lot. So they've got shooters, they've got good passers. They've got four guys that can make 3s, and they've got guys that handle the ball in the post and pass the ball in the post.

They've got us in a couple of backdoors which people don't get too much on us. But we for the most part got out on their shooters. And for the most part we didn't let them get in the lane, the little guards. And when they did, we adjusted pretty well to it. We didn't give them anything real easy.

To hold them to 56 points is, that's a pretty good night defensively. We had one good offensive stretch, when we were down, 49-32. We had a good stretch there where we tied it, seven straight, made some really good plays, good movements.

But overall their defense was much better than they showed during the year. And during the year of course they score more so they get more -- there's more possessions and so they're going to give up more. But they were much better defensively than their record and what their results show.

But I thought they were a good team. I know they didn't finish well. But the same team beat Kansas and Xavier early in the year. It's the same guys. Nobody got hurt. And I thought they played well. I thought we did a great job. When we were down seven we had to score two or three times almost in a row or the game would have been over.

So Tyus makes that shot. He's made it all year. In end-of-game situations where we've needed a shot he's made the step-back. It's been good for him. And then we held on. We still missed more free throws than we missed [sic]. We've been a good free-throw shooting team. Missed some down the stretch that enabled them to still have a chance at the end.

But it was a great effort, great physical effort and that's every game we played this year. It's nothing different, nothing new. And we made the plays at the end that we had to make.

Q. When you were down seven there with seven minutes to go and you called that timeout, and all the guys have played virtually the whole game, what did you see in them?
COACH BOEHEIM: We ran something different and it happened to work. We ran the same play four times in a row and scored all four times. So just tried to open it up a little bit and you either throw it back to Oshae, give him a shot or get it to the other side. And when we got to the other side, we got a little bit secondary movement off of that, but it was the same play.

Q. Not what you said to them, what you did you see when you had them in the huddle? Did you see fatigue or frustration or anything?
COACH BOEHEIM: I don't look for any of that. I'm looking to tell them what to do and they'll go out there and try to do it.

Q. Frank started the game with two early turnovers and you went over and said something. What did you say to him?
COACH BOEHEIM: We can't have that. That's the way he played early in the year. We can't have that. He knows that. He didn't turn it over the rest of the game.

He was -- definitely I'm glad we won because it doesn't sound so bad when you say it, he definitely was not anywhere close to right tonight. He missed two practice days. Strep throat knocks it out of you. He just practiced yesterday for the first time in a while. And we didn't do that much.

So I was worried about him in the game. And I thought he hung in there. He hung in there pretty good. That's tough. He definitely was hurting. It wasn't -- those guards got up. They're good. They got up. They did just the right thing. They got up and went after us and tried to wear those guys down. And we're fortunate that Tyus isn't going to wear down, but Frank coming off that I think he was worn down a little bit in this game for sure.

Q. You're a veteran. A team playing like this the way y'all are playing, how far can it go? Is it just basically one possession after the other, one foot after the other? What's your sense of this team leaving here?
COACH BOEHEIM: It's tough. It's tough for us to come back. It will be tough to come back Friday night. These guys have to expend every bit of energy they have when we play. So it will be a real challenge for us. But we have played really well coming back this year. And we'll be ready to play Friday. But it will be difficult.

I think the one thing about this tournament as it goes on, I think you'll see that there's going to be a lot of tough games. There's a lot of good teams. There isn't that much separation anymore between the teams, higher seeds, better seeds, whatever and the other teams behind them.

I've watched a lot of games this year and I've seen a lot of teams that are good basketball teams. And I think that when you look at Arizona State, they've got some really good players. They've got some veteran players. Even when they were losing at the end of the year, they were in those games. I mean, they were right there.

But there's a lot of good teams. And when you get ready to play, if you can go out, play your best, you have a chance to win. I mean, it's not like you don't have a chance to win. There's not that much separation.

We were at Virginia down four with about four minutes to go. Carolina, we lost at home. It was tie game really late. We were only out a couple of games this year, and this team, they're giving you everything -- they've given everything they have and our defense is pretty good. It was not as good tonight as it can be.

Our centers have to give us more in there. They were not there tonight for us. They have to be better in the next game. But this team gives you everything they've got. They give you everything, every game. Very proud of what this team has been able to accomplish this year.

THE MODERATOR: Thank you.

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