Syracuse, N.Y. -- Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim indicated that Benny Williams’ absence from SU’s game against Virginia was a matter of frustration and that he looked normal when he returned to the team’s practice on Wednesday.
Boeheim provided the information on Williams’ during an appearance on the Orange Nation radio show on ESPN Radio Syracuse on Thursday, his first comments since Williams was absent from the Orange’s loss to UVA on Monday night.
Boeheim said after the game that Williams “took a personal day.”
Williams, who had been a starter in 20 of the 21 games he played this season, was replaced in the starting unit by Maliq Brown in the Orange’s previous game against Virginia Tech. He play
“(Williams) was at practice yesterday and looked fine,” Boeheim said. “It’s always tough when you’re not playing to your expectations or other people’s. He hasn’t played the way he would have liked to, and I think it’s bothering him. But he was at practice and he worked hard. He hasn’t played the way he thinks he can play and the way we think he can play. But, other than that, he’s been at practice every day.”
Boeheim’s reaction to a reporter’s question about Williams’ status became the dominant story after the Orange played well and suffered a close loss against Virginia on Monday.
Boeheim questioned a student reporter for choosing to ask about Williams as the first question of his post-game press conference.
It was the second time in three games that Boeheim’s sour post-game press conference behavior became a discussion point.
Boeheim said that he is traditionally in a foul mood after losses and blamed part of the response on a miscommunication with the school’s sports information department.
Reporters were told that Boeheim would address Williams’ absence after the game. Boeheim said he thought they’d been told that he was absent for personal reasons.
He took issue with descriptions that said his response to the student reporter equated to bullying.
“I thought, and this is my fault, that it was released that Benny Williams wasn’t going to play for personal reasons before the game,” Boeheim said. “When I got the question I didn’t really understand it and I wasn’t going to expand on it. I realized as it continued that they didn’t know that, so I answered the question. It wasn’t a hard question. It was actually a very simple question. I certainly didn’t bully anybody. The reporter made a little face and I commented on it. That’s a fabrication to call that bullying. That didn’t happen.”
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