Syracuse, N.Y. — Following a highly-competitive game between the teams last week and a potential coronavirus exposure, Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim said he doesn’t expect the Orange to host the University at Buffalo in men’s basketball in the future.
On his radio show on TK99 on Wednesday night, Boeheim expressed irritation with trash talk from Buffalo throughout the Orange’s overtime win, a tight game that required a 16-point second-half comeback and an epic chase-down block by Alan Griffin to force overtime.
Boeheim said Buffalo players talked trash during the game and then complained afterward that they should have won.
“Buffalo trash-talked the whole game,” Boeheim said. “They were trash-talking after the game. So there’s no way they’re ever going to play here again. We don’t need that and it’s not very representative of what you should do. They’re up there, ‘Well, we should have won.’ No. You play 40 minutes. Then you play an overtime. Who is ahead at end of the game is the team that should win. That’s the team that should have won. Period.
“Not to say you didn’t have a chance to win. But you didn’t win. To say you should have won. … Nobody should ever say that. I try never to say that. I try to say we could have won. We were in position to win at Rutgers. We were three up with five minutes to go. … They made the plays down the stretch and they’re a real good team and we didn’t have two starters.”
Brian Wolff, Buffalo’s director of athletic communications for men’s basketball, declined comment on Thursday.
The teams have played competitive and physical games in three of the past four seasons, with the Orange winning two of three. Those were the first games between the schools since 2001.
In 2017, Boeheim credited a win over a quality Buffalo team for helping the Orange into the NCAA Tournament as one of the final four at-large selections. SU went on to make a run to the Sweet 16.
After Buffalo snapped an 18-game losing streak against Syracuse the next year, former Buffalo coach Nate Oats, who has a reputation for expressing himself in ways many coaches wouldn’t, ruffled some feathers by bluntly saying, “We’re the better team. We play harder.”
In addition to his thoughts about the previous game, Boeheim also provided an update on the SU program, which currently is on pause due to contact tracing following the game against Buffalo, a process that has resulted in the cancellation of three SU games over the next two weeks.
The Orange’s next scheduled game is now Jan. 6 against Florida State. Boeheim said that Bourama Sidibe’s recovery from a torn meniscus is currently on target and SU expects him to be available.
The Bulls had an undisclosed number of positive test results following the game. Now an undisclosed number of Syracuse players are considered close contacts, meaning they are required by New York State to quarantine for 14 days.
Boeheim said Syracuse’s players can do some working out during their quarantine, but that it is limited to individual workouts with one player and one coach, and they must maintain distance and wear masks.
Boeheim declined to say if Syracuse has had positive test results since the Buffalo game but expressed skepticism that the coronavirus spreads during athletic competitions.
He said that players are only in close proximity to each other for a limited portion of time. Based on measurements Syracuse made during the Boston College game through wearable technology, Boeheim estimated that players only spend about five minutes of actual time in close proximity with each other.
Boeheim expressed his displeasure with Onondaga County and New York State’s Department of Heath determinations about what circumstances should trigger contact tracing quarantines.
The national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention defines a close contact as individuals who spend 15 minutes within six feet of each other in a 24-hour period. New York uses a more conservative approach of 10 minutes. In addition to those definitions, the World Health Organization includes individuals with direct physical contact with someone who tested positive for any amount of time.
“When you have contact tracing you’re out,” Boeheim said. “Buffalo had some cases. I don’t think it transfers on the court. But, unfortunately, nobody agrees in the medical community. They think it could. I don’t think it can. … We’re only around a player from Buffalo about five minutes. We had the chips against Boston College so we know we were next to a player about five minutes. It’s supposed to be 10 or 15, but they don’t agree with that. They think it’s any contact. Woody (Newton) played four minutes and he’s out.”
Boeheim also expressed frustration that New York continues to require a 14-day quarantine for contact tracing, the longest of any state in the ACC’s footprint.
While the CDC says that remains the safest approach, it has updated its guidance to acknowledge the toll that amount of time in quarantine can take on individuals and said it finds seven and 10-day quarantines to be practical and acceptable alternatives when certain conditions are met.
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