University of Pittsburgh Athletics
Post-Game Quotesheet
2/7/2015 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 7, 2015
Recap | Box Score | Notes
POST-GAME QUOTESHEET
Syracuse at Pitt • Petersen Events Center • Pittsburgh, Pa. • February 7, 2015
Pitt 83, Syracuse 77
Quoting Pitt Head Coach Jamie Dixon
Opening Statement:
“We have had unbelievable crowds, fans, followings and atmospheres. This from the start was about as big as we have ever had. I can’t thank them enough after the games. This is unique and special. I don’t take it for granted and certainly don’t want anybody else to. The students were out early, sleeping over. This was tremendous spirit for the University of Pittsburgh. It was great to see on national television once again. We’ve seen it every game and we are so thankful. As far as the game, we just kept battling. It was a slow start with Syracuse making shots. We didn’t rebound. We were down 7-0 on the glass. That is all we talked about was getting it done on the glass. We just kept finding ways. Cameron Wright going out was another piece of adversity we had to get through and that is what we did. Different guys stood up. We wanted Chris Jones to be a big scorer off the bench. We talked to him about being aggressive and taking shots. I thought that was big for us as well. Obviously, with Sheldon [Jeter], we made some adjustments and put him in Jamel’s [Artis] spot. As Jamel has evolved, he’s become better and more comfortable. He has been in a completely different role than what he was in last year as a sophomore. We were able to find Sheldon in the spots where he is more comfortable and most efficient. We can keep him around the basket where he can take those midrange shots and also near the glass. Sheldon has been working hard. After I saw him here late at night shooting in the gym on his own I texted him, and I told him that I knew how bad he wanted it and I know how hard he is working. It is going to come for him. I am so excited for him. I thought we had great performances from all of our guys, considering we had Cameron out and had to play through that. It was a great game and great atmosphere. [Rakeem] Christmas was terrific which isn’t surprising since he is averaging twenty points, ten rebounds. I thought it was big that we kept [Trevor] Cooney under control. This is as good as we’ve attacked their zone. It is a good thing going forward to Louisville.”
On Cameron Wright’s injury:
“It is an ankle. We will see how it feels with the swelling going forward tomorrow. I’m not going to project at this point but we will see.
On Jamel Artis’ recent performances:
“He is playing with more awareness, taking good shots and making good decisions. I think we played through him even more so today out on the perimeter. The five assists are really what changed the game. The whole second half we played through Jamel and scored 45 points against a team who doesn’t give up 45 points in a half. I thought James [Robinson] and Chris [Jones] knocking down shots early made them comfortable, confident and aggressive. That made other defenders guard them and that stretched out the defense. It is something we have had to do. We have talked about our guys against a zone passing up shots, allowing the defense to set, reset, and clog it up. We need to take some shots and not worry about missing shots. Jamel found the open spots. Michael [Young] was good ducking in and occupying guys as well.”
On Sheldon’s performance increasing playing time:
“We are going to keep getting better. We are a work in progress for obvious reasons. We have guys out that we didn’t anticipate and guys in different spots. With Cameron not playing and guys with different injuries, we have to have everyone ready. We have had Ryan Luther play really well in certain games and have Sheldon, Chris, and Josh [Newkirk]. As I mention these names, they are all freshmen or sophomores and those characteristics stand out.”
On Sheldon Jeter:
“I think I’ve talked about that earlier as far as putting him in the right spot and having some success. We put him in Jamel’s [Artis] spot, where Jamel has been getting touches and baskets. We let Jamel play out on the perimeter a little more. We’ve seen so much zone because you don’t have your best shooters going into a season. So we have had to do some things differently. It is evolving and we are playing through Jamel who has become our guy. We lose our senior, Cameron [Wright] for the game so we have to do things differently.
On having different guys hit big shots down the stretch:
“I think it is good because we have had guys in different roles than they’ve ever been in. That is why guys get better in this program and I’ve seen it year after year where guys improve. They are getting different opportunities. Jamel [Artis] made plays and James [Robinson] has hit some big shots. Sheldon [Jeter] today and Chris [Jones] hit a big three. A lot of different guys and again, these are all sophomores and freshmen.”
On switching to the zone in the second half:
“It was good early, [Trevor] Cooney was out, and so that was the reason. We may have stayed with it a little too long, but we had all kinds of foul trouble, as did they. Cooney wasn’t in for a very short stretch and he was back in a lot quicker than I thought. We got two good possessions out of that. Then it wasn’t as effective. Then we went back to our other defense and it was more successful in the first half. We fought through a lot of foul trouble injuries, and an undermanned team. I loved how we passed the ball, 22 assists.”
On the teams improved shooting after halftime:
“I think the zone offense that we went to. We played it a little bit early, but I think Jamel [Artis] getting guys shots. Sheldon [Jeter] knocking down some shots was big. We had 45 points, 59% in the second half was big for us. I thought we took good shots.”
On keeping Sheldon Jeter’s confidence up:
“I think you text him when you see him working out. You do things like that and tell him things are going to go. He is a first year guy for us. I have confidence in him. I’ve sat and talked with him and told him “I have confidence in you. I believe in you.” We see it in practice and he sees the things in practice that he needs to do better. We were able to do some things defensively with him in there. It is not easy to come in and be successful right off the bat- especially with our changing line ups that we have had. He has played different positions. He actually played three different positions today.”
On Rakeem Christmas’ production:
“We tried double teaming him; we didn’t do a great job of it. We did have the five turnovers on him, so that was big. We didn’t want him to get offensive rebounds. He only had 1. He hit some tough shots. He hit the left handed jump hook, we can live with that. He hit a fade-away that bounced in. He makes tough shots. At the end of the press he got a dunk. Those are the baskets you don’t want to give him. We tried a variety of things defensively against him. Fouls put us in different situations and our limited numbers.”
On taking care of business at home:
“This is obviously big. These three games, Notre Dame, Syracuse, and the non-conference win. That’s what you have to do. When you have your senior out, that doesn’t exactly what you hope to happen. We found a way and beat a very good team. We have to get ready for Louisville going forward. We saw a lot of zone today and we’ll see a lot of zone come Wednesday. I’m excited about this team going forward. This team has gotten better, they’ve improved. They are continuing to work. We are at 16-8 and we’ve faced more challenges than most 16-8 teams.”
Quoting Pitt guard James Robinson:
On winning a game through offense:
“It helps when you make your shots. I think we made good shots tonight, especially since they were in the zone [defense]. We had guys on the perimeter that were attacking and finding lanes to pass. That’s what it’s about.”
On what he thought when Cam Wright went down in the first half:
“He got up and kind of limped around after. We weren’t really too sure what was wrong with him. One of the assistant coaches told me that he was done [for the game]. Cam is a really important part of our team. So even when he’s not out there on the court, he’s in the huddle still calling the five guys on the court to the side. He’s giving us instructions, helping us out the best that he can.
Guys just stepped in. Sheldon [Jeter], Chris [Jones], and Josh [Newkirk] played really well. When Cameron went down, guys did step up to fill that void.”
Quoting Pitt forward Michael Young:
On the importance of winning this game:
“It is very important. We had Notre Dame then a very close game against Bryant, and I feel like we really struggled in that game. We had a few days to get ready for Syracuse. We knew they were going to come in and play hard. Syracuse is always a good game. Since we knew they were going to play hard, we knew we had to play smart, hard, and out-rebound them. I think those were the keys to winning the game. This is definitely a big win for us, a three game winning streak and two of those being within the ACC.”
Quoting Pitt forward Jamel Artis:
On converting in the second half:
“We spaced out more from the zone. Our lanes were at the baseline, and a big guy posting up—which occupied the wings a lot. Also, our ball-fakes— they were very good. Our guys just made shots and plays.”
On playing in a game when the officials make as many calls as they did:
“You just have to keep playing through it. You can’t really do anything about it.”
Quoting Pitt forward Sheldon Jeter:
On playing in a game when the officials make as many calls as they did:
“It’s frustrating.”
On gaining time throughout the season to come out and have a standout game tonight:
“It feels great. We got the ‘W.’ I played well; we all played well. We just need to keep this energy going. We have three straight wins so we need to keep it going now.”
On if he thought he would get more time since Cameron Wright was out of the game:
“I didn’t even know that he was out until halftime. My mindset was to just go in there and play hard. My minutes have been sporadic lately, so, whatever time I got I was going to make the most of it.”
Quoting Syracuse Head Coach Jim Boeheim
Opening Statement:
“I thought both teams played as well as they could play. I know we played just about as well as we played all year. I thought the difference in the game was [Sheldon] Jeter coming off the bench and he made some big shots. [James] Robinson hit three 3’s in the first half that were big, then [Chris] Jones hit the big three in the second half. Jeter was the difference in the game; he made those last two big jumpers. It was a great game. I thought we played as well as we played all year. Rakeem [Christmas] was tremendous inside and I thought [Mike] Gbinije had an unbelievable game. They played better and they won the game.”
On Mike’s free throw shooting:
“He’s a good shooter and I think he’s in his head a little bit right now. He can’t seem to come to a consistency. He says he’s thinking about it and that’s not a good thing. There’s no thinking involved in shooting. If you’re thinking about it, that’s a problem.”
On the teams mindset given everything that happened this week:
“No I was not. This team has played hard all year; they’ll play hard all year. There are many teams that are 6-18 right now and they play their ass off. There’s no excuse not to play your ass off. If you’re in college and you’re playing or you’re in high school, eighth grade or sixth grade or you’re playing in the summer, if you don’t play your ass off then you shouldn’t be playing. Anybody that doesn’t get that doesn’t get sports and probably never played sports or probably was never good at it.”
On the effort given today:
“I’m proud of them every game. I think they played their hearts out every game we play. We don’t always play good, but they played hard every game. We made more shots today than we have in some other games. We did a pretty good job on the boards. We missed some key foul shots in the second half. When you’re on the road you have to make those plays. We haven’t always played great but we played better tonight than three or four of the games in the league that we won. They’re going to play hard and go after it every game.”
On specific things that Sheldon Jeter did that gave the team problems:
“He got open spots. They did a really good job of moving the basketball and getting it to him. He made two or three pretty big shots.”
On shooting 60% in the first half then to 40% in the second:
“For us to score 77 points, that’s like a record. Our offense was not the problem. We couldn’t stop them when we needed to and I think Jeter was a big part of it. Even though they only made seven three’s, that’s pretty good for them and they made some key ones. Jones in particular were big.”
On the crowd impacting the team on the road:
“I’ve never seen a fan make a basket yet. I don’t know. I think it’s a good atmosphere. If you’re a good player, you’ll want to play in that kind of environment. Pitt win’s here because they have good players and a good coach and they play well. That’s why they win.”
Quoting Kaleb Joseph:
On finding his offensive groove in the second half:
Quoting Michael Gbinije:
On what allowed Pitt to take a second half advantage:
“They just made plays. They hit some big threes down the stretch that really expanded the game. At times, we had a chance to get away and they would hit a three and make the game close again. Credit to them; they did a good job of taking good shots and making us work.”
On how the team reacted to Pitt’s zone:
“We knew they were going to come in and play zone a little bit. We just had to get in our sets, and at times we took longer than we wanted, but we figured it out coming down the stretch.”
On the game’s atmosphere:
“It was fun to play in. [They are] ruthless fans, to say the least. It’s a fun environment to go into an away arena and have to get a win with them heckling, so it was fun to play with them. It gives us energy.”
