NCAA MEN'S BASKETBALL CHAMPIONSHIP: REGIONAL SEMIFINAL: SYRACUSE VS HOUSTON

March 27, 2021

Buddy Boeheim

Hinkle Fieldhouse

Syracuse Orange

Sweet 16 Postgame Media Conference

Houston - 62, Syracuse - 46

Q. You mentioned early this week, or leading into the game that you knew Jarreau was a really good on-ball defender. What did he do tonight that made things tough and what do you wish you maybe would have done as a offense to capitalize on those opportunities that helping on those screens presented?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: He's a great defender, defensive player in the league. I knew it was going to be a battle. He just jammed me coming off screens, jammed handoffs, whatever it was. He was just great. I got some looks I gotta make, and I put that on myself.

But he's a really good defender. That's a great defensive team and they're just really physical, really aggressive. And we got some looks that we didn't capitalize on. So you can't lose those opportunities against a team like that.

Q. I asked your dad about how a difficult a season this was playing in a pandemic and how beneficial it was. He mentioned about your brother being home and not playing. For you, how beneficial of a season was it just to play this season and how difficult truly was it?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: It was tough. It's the toughest season of my life. A lot of ups and downs. A lot of pauses. Never knowing if you're going to play the next night or not, who you're going to play. But I just think this year helped us all mentally and getting through to the next day and fighting every day, showing up ready to work hard.

And just proud of these guys for never quitting, no matter where we were at in the season. And just to be able to play 25, 26 games was great. And I don't think any of us thought we would have been able to play that much. So it was definitely tough, but just happy we got to play all these games. It was a lot of fun, and it was a great group.

Q. I know it might be a little tough to do immediately after a loss, but looking ahead to next year, is the way this team played over the last two, three weeks something that can carry over into next season?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: Yeah, definitely. I think we were just hitting our stride. Even this year I thought we got good looks, just didn't capitalize. And our defense was great, it's gotten a lot better, from the first game to this game our defense was improved night and day. I think we can build off this and looking forward to the offseason and getting back in the gym.

Q. Obviously (indiscernible) Syracuse basketball teams in your life. This team, being able to come back from what it did to get to the Sweet 16, what does it mean to you and what did it show about this team?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: Obviously this is a terrible feeling. Something that's going to take a lot to get over. But just coming into this position coming in today was great and just shows this team's resilient and got a group of guys that will fight no matter what. And just happy to be part of this group.

It was a lot of fun and the coaches did a great job with us. So definitely remember this season forever and everything we battled. And definitely in a couple weeks I'll look back on it and be proud.

Q. Can you talk about next year? Is it too early to look ahead? It seems there's plenty to be excited about for the guys that could be coming back next year. And what will this kind of do for that team, this run you guys made?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: Yeah, it's tough to look forward right now. But just excited. I think we can build on this. It shows -- we've got a guy like Benny coming in who is a great player, be an impact guy from the first day he gets here.

So the competition there. I think guys will be excited after seeing how great that this tournament is and how great it is to win in it. I'm excited to get back to work and got a lot of work to do, but it's definitely exciting moving forward.

Q. I know you have a long summer ahead of you and a lot to think about, but I'm wondering what things might go into the decision-making process in terms of coming back to school or maybe trying to leave for the NBA draft?

BUDDY BOEHEIM: I'll be back. I've got a lot of work to do. I know I can get a lot better. I've got to get a lot better if I ever want to think about that. So, I'm looking forward to being back and getting back to work as soon as possible.