Syracuse Basketball: SU injects tournament resume with life after Louisville win

Syracuse basketball squad gets monumental victory over the Louisville Cardinals on Wednesday night in the Carrier Dome. Here’s how it all went down.

The Syracuse basketball squad used their week off wisely and had one of their best showings of the season in a thrilling 69-49 win over the Louisville Cardinals. Here’s how it all went down in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday night.

The first score of the game was a trifecta from Oshae Brissett on a wide-open play and it was great to see. I spoke to Oshae after the past couple of games where he had varying levels of success and he said it was all about getting back to the basics, something he got away from at the beginning of the season.

A few things early in the game that really stood out: Elijah Hughes has jacked up more three-point attempts than anyone in the ACC and he has the ability to make them, but he settles for those shots.

While a myth exists among Syracuse fans with Paschal Chukwu. Don’t get me wrong Chukwu has had a lot of screw-ups, but free throws usually aren’t one of them. Jim Boeheim has praised Paschal’s ability to convert from the charity stripe in practice and he started the game 2-of-2 at the line.

Something you don’t normally see is Tyus Battle ever getting rest, let alone in the first half. But that’s exactly what Boeheim did after an uncharacteristic shot clock violation by Battle. After sitting for a few minutes, Jim did put him back in the game.

Boeheim has been at the helm for 43 years, he knows what he’s doing and after that early timeout, Tyus immediately came out in battle-mode and hit a long deuce to put the Orange up near the halfway point of the first stanza.

But overall a really stale first half offensively for both sides with only 26 points on the board through the first 12 plus minutes of action. From all the Cardinals experts we spoke with, they like playing up-tempo and this game was anything but.

That worked out for Syracuse because they aren’t the most prolific offense in the ACC, but one player who continues to struggle is Elijah Hughes.

But the crowd and the rest of the team got everyone going. Buddy Boeheim converted on back-to-back buckets to give SU a quick five then Hughes hit a transition three and before you could blink a stale first half suddenly saw Syracuse hold a 24-12 edge with 5:48 remaining in the game. Which gave Syracuse a 10-0 run during this stretch.

But overall great hustle from the Orange, Oshae Brissett re-dedicated himself to pounding the paint, and Syracuse continued to roll extending the lead to 15 with 2:36 remaining in the first half. Overall that equates to a 16-3 run over a span of six and a half minutes.

First-half takeaways: 

• Oshae Brissett overall: 5-of-8 from the field, 2-of-3 from downtown, and throw in six boards for good measure. A wonderful first half that showed aggressiveness from deep and knowing when to attack the defense and get to the cup.
• Rebounding numbers were apparently even at the half at 19, but to be honest it felt like Syracuse came away with so many more.
• The Orange were perfect from the charity stripe before a late miss by Elijah Hughes, still, 8-of-9 is better than we normally see from this group.

Second half

With a 12 point lead and Syracuse desperate for more quality victories for the resume, Syracuse came out a bit lackadaisical giving up a quick four points to the opposition.

But one of the great benefits of the 2-3 zone is that it creates turnovers and that can lead to the instant offense on the other end. When SU gets in these ruts offensively, the transition offense is a nice option to lean on. After the first five minutes of play, Syracuse led the points off of turnovers battle: 11-5.

Syracuse has done a nice job taking advantages of mismatches on the court for example: anytime Ryan McMahon (6-foot) was on the court, Tyus Battle sought him out for the one-on-one matchup and took advantage.

The referees in this one appeared to call a ton of phantom fouls throughout the game and when instant replay became available, it became painfully obvious there were some critical misses. At least when we criticize officials we don’t get fined *shoulder shrug*.

With the momentum of the game hanging in the balance, a HUGE Elijah three put Syracuse up by 19 points with under 12 minutes remaining.

Ironically in the scouting notebook leading into this game Louisville throughout the season has struggled against the press, but Syracuse didn’t go to the press once in this game. While on the other side with the Cardinals going down big, they went to the press and it befuddled Syracuse a few times causing some turnover issues.

But overall a magical performance, one of the best this season from this Orange squad. A balanced attack from Syracuse and honestly the team just stepped up in a must-win situation at home.

Final takeaways: 

• Tyus Battle hit double figures for the 22nd time in 26 games, finishing with 11 points.
• Elijah Hughes after some ice cold games delivered some clutch baskets for Syracuse down the stretch. Hughes finished with 18 points on with all four of his makes coming from beyond the arc.
• Syracuse desperately needed to get some skins on their wall ahead of the tournament and boy did they inject newfound life with a win of this magnitude.
• Orange overall 11-of-30 from beyond the arc.
• Finally, Syracuse won the battle of the boards: 39-36.

Up next no rest for the weary, the Orange will stay at home to welcome in the mighty Duke Blue Devils with College GameDay as the backdrop for an epic ACC rematch on Saturday with tipoff set for 6:00 p.m.