Syracuse’s men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim questioned a reporter’s credibility based on his height and lack of basketball experience following a 64-54 win over Clemson on Wednesday night.
Matthew Gutierrez, who covers Syracuse basketball for The Athletic, tweeted on Monday that the Orange would be ‘somewhere around 17-5’ and scored more minutes in the 68-yard field as reserves Jesse Edwards and Kadary Richmond. The duo scored a combined 12 points in a 72-70 victory over North Carolina that day.
Gutierrez tweeted on Tuesday that he and Boeheim were “all good about this” after having a conversation about his observations. On Wednesday, however, Boeheim appeared to be responding to Gutierrez’s original tweet when asked a question about the game.
“But if I had played Jesse and Kadary, we would probably be 22-2 by now,” Boeheim said after the win on Wednesday. “I just did not see it. Could not figure it out myself after 45 years. I need a reporter to figure it out … who has never played basketball and is 5 feet 2.”
Edwards (1.9 points per game) and Richmond (6.9 PPG) scored five points together.
Syracuse is a bubble team listed in ESPN insider Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out.”
Wednesday night was not the first time that Boeheim’s remarks have attracted attention this season. Last month in his radio program, following the decision of Duke Jalen Johnson’s rookie to prepare him for the NBA draft, Boeheim said the proposed lottery “harms” the Blue Devils, who in his subsequent games a became better team without him.
After criticism, including from ESPN commentator Jay Bilas, Boeheim tried to back up his comments.
“This is not a distribution that Jalen Johnson is distributing,” Boeheim said at a news conference after the game last month. “I did not even see Jalen Johnson play this year, to be honest. He’s a great player. Probably a good pro. I just made the remark, in my opinion, that I thought in those two games they were playing “Better without him. Jay Bilas said I permanently said they were a better team without him. I did not say that. I did not want to say that.”