Syracuse Basketball: Tyus Battle puts SU on his back in big win vs BC

The Syracuse basketball team got a huge boost from their leading scorer Tyus Battle and pulled off a huge road win vs Boston College.

The Syracuse basketball team was licking their wounds after an embarrassing showing vs Virginia Tech. They showed some of that anger in this gritty road win vs Boston College, here’s how it all played out.

Syracuse continued their slow starts to games. In the first few minutes of the game, Syracuse was sleep walking and got down 10-2 with 17:08 remaining in the first half.

The Orange did a lot of that during nonconference play and got away with it because they were more talented. Syracuse can’t afford to dig themselves in holes in conference play and expect to just make up for it later in the game, that’s arrogant and unlikely.

Something that was palpable in the first half was lackadaisical effort from the Orange in their transition defense at the beginning of the game. When Boston College got a turnover and started running, Syracuse settled for fouling instead of getting into their half court defense. Also the lack of focus led to some silly turnovers, but fortunately Syracuse eventually woke up.

Credit Elijah Hughes who has been streaky: vs Miami two games ago, Hughes was 6-of-9 from beyond the arc; vs VA Tech in the last outing was 2-of-9 from long distance. Elijah doesn’t have to be the hero for this team, but he needs to be consistent.

With the team struggling to score offensively Hughes pulled the team out of their funk with two connections from a different area code, then the rest of Syracuse started to figure things out. Making it a 15-14 game with under 12 minutes remaining in the first half.

Then we got a glimpse of what Oshae Brissett can do when he’s playing his game:

This was part of an amazing 14-0 run to get Syracuse right back in the thick of things with some dedication to getting the ball in the paint which has been missing from their offense.

But then Syracuse’s offense got a HUGE jolt from none other than Buddy Boeheim. As soon as he got into the game there was instant offense with two big threes and even a drive to the basket.

After an auspicious start, Syracuse somehow ended up with 42 points in the first half. While the Eagles managed 35. If I would’ve told you how this game started and SU still ended up with that many points, you wouldn’t have believed me.

Takeaways from the first half:

• Very balanced scoring effort from the Orange (five different players had at least six points in the first half). Great shooting overall as a team: SU was 63 percent from field and 50 percent from long range.
• Only two free throw attempts for Syracuse and that came at the end of the half. Syracuse has to find a way to get to the charity stripe, this has been an issue all season.
• Importantly  Syracuse had the edge in the battle of the boards (11 to 9).

Second half

Syracuse opened the half on a quick 4-0 run to extend the lead to 46-35. Tyus Battle notched his 12th point, but more importantly continues to develop as a player in terms of his facilitation (five assists).

A player that has been a thorn in the side for the Orange, continued to be one in the middle of this second half and his name is Jordan Chatman. Chatman drilled back-to-back three point conversions making it a game again (46-41 with just over 16 minutes remaining in the game).

But no game is ever all peaches and cream, Boston College continued to get to the free throw line while the Orange simply didn’t. With 11:47 remaining in the game, BC (15-of-18), SU (1-of-2), I’ll let you be the judge of that.

But forgetting the referee’s involvement, Tyus Battle for the 20th time in his career went over the 20 point barometer. When Syracuse has needed it, their leader has stepped up to the plate, time after time this season. Tough drives, contested three pointers, he’s just been such a special player for the Orange over the years.

With under eight minutes to go, Syracuse led 65-57 with much of that love coming from Battle. But a danger throughout the game was really the foul trouble for the Orange.

Even with a late surge from a pesky BC team, Syracuse continued to have answers. Whether that was a timely turnover, a Boeheim three, or a right place vs right time rebound. Syracuse ended up winning this one 77-71.

Big takeaways from this game overall:

• Tyus Battle finished with 31 points (second time crossing the 30 point mark this season) also ended up with six assists and four boards.
• The Orange lost the free throw battle badly yet still won, that’s not typical (Syracuse made eight free throws, BC made 20 free throws). It was even worse then that, but Syracuse played the foul game at the end of regulation.
• Syracuse is now 15-6 overall and 6-2 in the ACC with 10 games remaining in conference play.
• Syracuse will play Boston College in a rematch at the Carrier Dome on February ninth at 2:00 p.m.

Up next for the Orange they finish their three game road trip in Pittsburgh against the Panthers on Saturday with tipoff set for 6:00 p.m. Syracuse just played the Panthers on January 19th, winning that one 74-63 in the Carrier Dome.