Syracuse Basketball: The Orange need to improve efficiency late to win

Syracuse basketball needed to hold on again after having a double-digit lead. The Orange snuck away with a Hoyas win but needs to improve later in games.

On Saturday, Syracuse basketball held on against rival the Georgetown Hoyas. This comes directly after squandering a big lead to a Pittsburgh Panthers team that was missing several pieces. Execution suffered in the second half allowing the Orange to be outscored by 8 in the second half versus Georgetown.

Syracuse has one of the better offenses in the nation, raking 49th in points per game with 80 and 56th in offensive efficiency according to Kenpom.com. So scoring only 31 in the second half against Georgetown and 28 against Pittsburgh is well off of what the team’s averages are.

In the second half of games this season, Syracuse has only scored 40 three times, against Bryant, Boston College, and Buffalo. Another alarming trend is Syracuse is much less efficient in the second half of games as well.

Syracuse five times this year has shot better from the floor in the first half than the second half. That leaves four games that they have come out in the second half and shot better. So about even. The numbers support that, as the Orange have shot 44.2% in the first halves combined and slightly better, 44.3%, in second halves and overtime.

Shooting about even each half makes sense for any team. Being basically 44% from each half with the team shooting 44% on the season makes a lot of sense for Syracuse, so where does efficiency take place in the Orange’s second-half woes their past two games?

The five times Syracuse shot better in the first half than they have in the second half, they went to halftime with a lead in each one averaging a lead of at least 13 in all except against Northeastern. In the four games they shot better in the second half, Syracuse trailed in three off them with the exception being at Boston College where the Orange showed how much of a juggernaut their offense can be.

The Orange will not only need to improve efficiency offensively but defensively. Syracuse opponents have averaged 67.4 points a game this season which is 119th in the nation. It is no shocker to anyone that the Orange’s defense is not as good as other years, especially with the absence of Bourama Sidibe.

In the first half, the Orange surrendered 18 and 30 against Pittsburgh and Georgetown respectively. Both on a better pace than their season average, but with Syracuse scoring under their season pace in both second halves they cannot allow Pittsburgh and Georgetown over 45% from the field. Add in the 10 offensive rebounds given up to the Panthers, and the Orange will not win many games with that formula.

We know Syracuse tendencies in the second half. They try to take the air out of the ball and let their defense seal their fate. The past two contests have had mixed results. How this impacts strategy and the team’s efficiency moving forward is a mystery but what isn’t a mystery is that the quality of opponents the Orange will face will drastically improve, even in a down ACC.