The Syracuse basketball squad did what it absolutely needed to do on Tuesday night, picking up a triumph over Wake Forest. Now, North Carolina awaits.
After the SU hoops outfit squeaked out a 73-64 conquest against Wake Forest in the ACC Tournament’s first round last evening, Gary Battle, the father of sophomore wing Tyus Battle, took to Twitter and said something that resonates with me:
"“Everyone abandoned this group TT, GT, injuries, etc. who ever thought they could win 20 games? I did not. Never doubt this TM.”"
I whole-heartedly agree that all Orange fans out there, myself included, should never doubt this team.
Sophomore Taurean Thompson and graduate transfer Geno Thorpe unexpectedly leaving the program proved a bummer, but it’s their loss, and I wish them well. The season-ending injury sustained by freshman point guard Howard Washington is extremely upsetting, but he will come back stronger.
We are young, we are inexperienced, we are often offensively challenged, and we have little depth.
To that, I say, so what?
The ‘Cuse grits and grinds, and, 99.9 percent of the time, this crew hustles like crazy and gives
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everything it has in the tank. Sure, we committed 18 turnovers in the duel with the Demon Deacons, and our boys shot 23.5 percent from downtown.
However, we prevailed. At this point in the 2017-18 stanza, nothing else matters.
Freshman forward Marek Dolezaj had a career performance, scoring-wise, and our five starters each notched double-figures in points. Can’t hope for much more.
WF (11-20, 4-14), down by 19 at one juncture in the second half, trimmed the deficit to six. I figured that Syracuse (20-12, 8-10) may fold.
Per the normal, I love it when I’m totally and utterly wrong.
The Orange held it together, hit some clutch free throws, made a handful of key defensive stops and, most importantly, kept its composure.
Onward we go. SU has its inaugural success in the ACC Tournament since joining the league in 2013-14, and head coach Jim Boeheim has secured his 37th term with at least 20 victories.
As a reward, Syracuse matches up tonight in the ACC tourney’s second round at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y., with No. 12 ranked North Carolina.
The ‘Cuse, the No. 11 seed in this tournament, clearly remains on the March Madness bubble, in the “first four out” category on the Bracket Matrix Web site as of yesterday evening. The Tar Heels (22-9, 11-7), meanwhile, are the No. 6 seed and looking to make a run in Brooklyn to enhance their NCAA Tournament resume.
On Feb. 21, SU and UNC played to a tie with roughly three minutes left, before two costly mistakes enabled the Tar Heels to escape the Carrier Dome with the achievement, 78-74.
I recently wrote that Syracuse should hear its name called on Selection Sunday if it defeats North Carolina, which would represent a huge additional Quadrant 1 feat.
It won’t prove easy for a team with razor-thin depth suiting up for a second-straight clash on consecutive days. But, if anyone can do it, it’s this scrappy Orange group that I totally admire.
Junior point guard Frank Howard, in the post-game press conference following the Demon Deacons encounter, got asked by a reporter what his roster must do to beat the Tar Heels.
Next: Syracuse Basketball: Predictions, SU vs North Carolina (ACC Tournament)
"His response: “Just finish the game.”"
I concur.