JIM BOEHEIM: We thought yesterday in the walk-through that Tyus had a reasonable chance to play today, then when he came in, he was worse. He fell on his back. It’s just a bad bruise. We thought he had a chance today, but he’s probably realistically two or three days away from being able to play, I think.
I think that the story of tonight’s game, these two guys stepped up, and when you lose your best players, somebody has to step up. These two guys did a great job. We started the game and let Frame get too many looks, and I thought that was the difference in the second half. We got him and then Paschal did a good job when they got the ball in the middle. He did a good job of making it hard for them to score in there.
But Pittsburgh plays — Jeff has done a great job with that team. They play the whole game, come at you. Frame has always hurt us, and he certainly did tonight, as well.
But this was a really good win. I thought everybody had a part in it, especially these two guys. When we got down, they made some big shots to get us back in the game.
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Q. Coach, can you talk a little bit about the lift that Buddy gave you and the tall line-up in the second half seemed to give you a spark.
JIM BOEHEIM: Well, Paschal is a key for us, no question. Marek has done a good job all year for us in the middle of the zone, making plays out of there. We handled their pressure very well and got the ball in the middle.
But Buddy is a very good shooter. He’s shot it well all year. He’s only really played about 14 minutes a game, and he’s averaged almost eight points a game in that 14 minutes. His mother tells me he should be playing more all the time, every day, but he’s been well-prepared to be able to step up in this kind of game.
He really turned the game in the second half when he hit those two right off there. But he’s a very good — he’s becoming better. He’s moving the ball, passing the ball better. You know, he’s getting better all the time.
Q. Elijah and Frank, with Tyus out, when you guys found that out, sort of as scoring and veteran leaders, how did you feel you had to step into a little bit bigger role?
FRANKLIN HOWARD: To be honest, it wasn’t too much to change. We all knew what our roles are. Just had to step up a little bit more on the defensive end and offensively, attack a little bit more, make some more plays. But we were prepared. Coach did a great job of giving us a scout and went out and executed.
ELIJAH HUGHES: Yeah, pretty much what Frank covered. Coach said some guys got to make a few more plays, and I feel like me and Frank did a good job and Buddy, as well, and everybody stepped up and made big plays, whether it was on defense or offense.
Q. Jim, did you change anything on defense in the second half, or was it just getting out on Frame?
JIM BOEHEIM: No, like the last four games that we had the lead at halftime, I tried to start coaching at halftime. Tonight I decided not to coach at all, and so they went out and made the adjustments.
We knew all along we had to guard Frame and we didn’t, and then we did. That was the difference. The difference in the game was that, and then Paschal in the middle. Those were the two things defensively. Instead of scoring 36, they scored 23. But offensively we moved the ball better than we have in the second half, and we made some shots.
Again, both — all three times we’ve played Pittsburgh, they’ve been right there all three games. They come at you really hard, and for a young team, they’re smart, they get the ball where they need to, and Frame has always hurt us. I said — I congratulated him and said, I’m glad you’re a senior; I’ve seen enough of you here.
Okay, thank you.
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