Syracuse basketball notched a 13-point win versus Boston College on Tuesday night, and now the Orange will wrap up the regular season at Miami.
Oftentimes, the Carrier Dome has proven a worthy home-court advantage for Syracuse basketball. In the 2019-20 campaign, not so much.
The Orange, buoyed by the one-two punch of redshirt junior forward Elijah Hughes and sophomore guard Buddy Boeheim, registered an 84-71 conquering of Boston College on Tuesday evening in front of a pro-‘Cuse crowd at the Silvio Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.
With that result, at the moment Syracuse (17-13, 10-9) is alone in fifth place in the Atlantic Coast Conference standings, but three other league crews previously tied with the Orange compete on Wednesday.
Think about this for a second. Overall, the ‘Cuse is 11-7 on the Hill, 6-4 on the road, and 0-2 at neutral sites. Within just conference play, Syracuse sits at a meager 4-6 in Central New York, and a solid 6-3 away from the Dome.
The Orange travels to the Sunshine State to square off with Miami this Saturday afternoon, in a contest that will complete the 2019-20 regular stanza.
Should the ‘Cuse prevail against the Hurricanes, Syracuse would finalize a 7-3 record in ACC road tilts. Even in a sub-par year for the league, that’s mighty impressive. Especially considering that the Orange fell by three points at highly rated Florida State, and by one point at Clemson.
Why the ‘Cuse is faring better on its foes’ own turf beats me. In its duel with the Eagles (13-17, 7-12), Syracuse did benefit from three of Boston College’s top guys not suiting up, including a pair of the Eagles’ big men. That’s unfortunate, as you never want to see anyone injured.
This circumstance led Boston College to focus almost exclusively on launching shots from deep versus the Orange’s 2-3 zone. The Eagles hoisted up a staggering 42 attempts from beyond the arc, and they connected on 19 of them, which is the most ever against the ‘Cuse.
I love my boys in Orange, but in assessing things honestly, the Syracuse perimeter defense is pretty awful. However, the ‘Cuse proved able to withstand this by not letting Boston College do anything of consequence in the paint.
Conversely, Syracuse continues to struggle from 3-point land, but the Orange is having great success in driving to the hoop, scoring in the lane, and getting to the charity stripe, where the ‘Cuse went 21-of-25, which is a fantastic 84.0 percent.
Syracuse also triumphed in the rebounding department, forced an abundance of turnovers by the Eagles, and limited its own careless mistakes.
The Orange has an opportunity to secure an additional road achievement in the ACC on Saturday. It remains a huge long-shot for the ‘Cuse to make the NCAA Tournament, but we should still admire what Syracuse is doing outside of the Dome.