Syracuse basketball, in a twist, scores massive win at FSU with its defense

For all the criticism of the Syracuse basketball defense to date in the 2021-22 campaign, and believe me, that criticism is totally warranted, the ‘Cuse beat one of the Atlantic Coast Conference’s top teams by relying on – you guessed it – the Orange’s defense.

It’s proven some kind of interesting season at this juncture for Syracuse basketball, which opened ACC competition on Saturday evening in hostile territory versus Florida State.

When the Orange invaded Tallahassee, Fla., to battle with the Seminoles, the ‘Cuse was a sizable underdog. Its zone defense was pretty awful of late.

And FSU had conquered 25 league foes in a row on its own turf, needing just one more success to tie the record currently held by Duke.

So it’s understandable that the majority of Orange fanatics out there, myself included, figured that the ‘Cuse would end up falling to the Seminoles on Saturday.

I felt that Syracuse basketball likely could keep things close, but that its defense wouldn’t hold up for 40 minutes in a presumed setback at the hands of Florida State. I love it when I’m wrong.

Syracuse basketball has won two-consecutive nail-biters.

Sure, cardiac ‘Cuse was in full effect inside the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center. Both the Orange and FSU were fairly putrid in shooting the ball, and the Seminoles were downright abysmal from beyond the arc.

Syracuse basketball only connected on about 23 percent of its field-goal attempts in the first half, and yet it managed to head into the locker room only down eight points, 32-24.

Early in the second half, Florida State stretched its lead to 11 points, but then the Seminoles went ice cold. Meanwhile, head coach Jim Boeheim instituted a 1-3-1 zone defense, rather than the usual 2-3 zone. That seemed to frazzle FSU.

Plus, in the second half, the Orange started making shots, and it reduced its number of turnovers. The ‘Cuse would eventually take the lead and grow its own advantage to 11 points with about five minutes to go.

However, the Seminoles didn’t go away. They, too, hit a few timely 3-pointers, and they focused on interior scoring at key moments. Florida State would trim that deficit to one point with about 30 seconds remaining.

I assumed, given FSU’s momentum and the home-court crowd, that the Seminoles would then steal this ACC opener from the Orange (5-3, 1-0). Again, I was dead wrong.

Senior forward Cole Swider, who made multiple pivotal 3-pointers in the second half, calmly sank two free throws to push Syracuse basketball ahead by three points with around 10 seconds left.

Florida State players had two opportunities to tie the game with a 3-pointer at the end, but neither, thankfully, went in. The ‘Cuse escaped the Sunshine State with a 63-60, gut-check victory over FSU (5-3, 0-1).

So a Syracuse basketball defense that was allowing 82 points per contest only surrendered 60 points to Florida State. And after a home loss to Colgate and two more defeats in the Bahamas, the Orange has hunkered down and bested two quality foes, Indiana and FSU, by a combined five points.

Cardiac ‘Cuse? You bet. But this Syracuse basketball roster, while still a work in progress on defense, possesses a ton of grit, heart and toughness. I love that.

Next up is a daunting date this Tuesday night with top-10 Villanova at the 2021 Jimmy V Classic in New York City.