Syracuse Basketball Was Battle Tested Last Night, And They Prevailed

Syracuse basketball got tested last night and they passed with flying colors. Who stood out from the game and what were the notes and quotes?

What a game and what a win for the Syracuse basketball program. There’s so much to get to in this game, but lets start off by addressing the elephant in the room. The final play.

A lot of interesting things to break down: Franklin Howard getting inserted into the lineup on the most important play in the game. He only ended up with eight minutes in the game’s totality. Also the fact that the Clemson Tigers didn’t deny John Gillon the ball on the inbound play was also an interesting tactic.

So Gillon was able to inbound the ball without any resistance bringing it up beyond midcourt. They were attempting to go for the Villanova play that won the National Championship (Tyler Lydon had said after the game), but it was clogged.

Lydon showed a lot of mettle in that last sequence. He could’ve jacked up a 25 foot jumper with a man in his face. But he realized that it was a low percentage shot and put the ball on the floor and drove to the hoop. He again realized that if he forced something up it would miss or if he kept driving he could get called for a charge so he dishes out to Battle on the corner for the game-winning trey.

So he hits the shot and the cardiac Cuse lives on to see another day. This recent stretch of comebacks is unlike anything that I’ve seen in my history as a fan of the program. But even more curious is that, Jim Boeheim trusted Battle who was 1-for-6 from the field at the time and he’s only 19 years old.

We talked about this on ESPN Radio earlier this morning, we’re in a new age of basketball. Boeheim 20 years ago would never put the ball in a 18-19 year old’s hands with the game on the line, let alone be on the floor.

But with so many one-and-dones, this is what college basketball is. Listening to Tyus Battle in the postgame talking about his shot he just has a swagger about him. This silent confidence that he’ll make one eventually.

"“I mean, I knew one had to fall sometime. The play before I missed a wide open layup. Things happen, so I just wanted to knock down that shot and hopefully forget about the misses”"

Battle won’t say it, but I will. He’s too talented to keep missing shots and that’s a great mentality

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to have. I would argue what Jim Boeheim said at the beginning of this season. This is one of the most talented rosters he’s ever had here at Syracuse.

Every night we have a different guy stepping up. John Gillon over the last three games is 34-of-35 from the charity stripe. What’s the last player in Orange history to have that kind of run? Also included in that three game span is a 43 point effort.

Also another big stat from Gillon was a fat zero. No turnovers from Gillon and that’s key, especially considering that Clemson is one of the top teams in terms of steals in the ACC.

This was also the first time that SU has given up more than 70 points in a game in conference and found a way to win. I talked about earlier this season that for the Syracuse football team it’s “the quest for six”. For SU it’s the quest for .500 in conference, they are just one win away from matching last season’s ACC win total.

11 is the magic number to guarantee tournament entry, although I think 10 would get the job done. Syracuse (16-9 overall, 8-4 in conference play) has an interesting test against Pittsburgh on Saturday (another road test).

While on the surface it may seem like an easy game, consider prior to this five-game winning streak from SU they were 0-7 on the road. Plus Pitt has had a very streaky season including losing by two on the road to UNC, but also lost to Louisville by a whopping 55 points.

Next: All Aboard The Syracuse Basketball Express, Next Stop National Championship!

So who knows what Panther team is going to show up against the Orange on Saturday, but the Orange better be ready for a dog fight and another opportunity to notch an ACC win on their belt.