Syracuse Basketball: Jim Boeheim offers blunt assessment of SU defense

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim, always candid with his thoughts, says the Orange roster isn’t playing its zone defense well, and ‘Cuse players aren’t being physical enough.

“We have to score,” Boeheim said in his press conference following the team’s 79-75 setback to long-time rival Georgetown in Washington, D.C., on Saturday, according to a transcript provided by SyracuseOnSI publisher Mike McAllister. “We’re not stopping people, really, that are good offenses. We’ve got to be able to stop people.”

The Orange (5-5) to date in the 2021-22 campaign is really all over the place. In one half, the team is good on offense but bad on defense. Or for one whole game, the ‘Cuse excels on offense or defense, but is poor on the other end of the floor.

There is simply tremendous inconsistency with this line-up, and it did surprise me a little bit that Boeheim didn’t utilize his bench against the Hoyas in the second half as he did in the first 20 minutes, when the Orange’s three primary reserves all did some nice things.

Syracuse basketball boss Jim Boeheim is none too pleased with the ‘Cuse defense.

I think back to the 2012-13 stanza. Syracuse basketball went through a rough patch toward the end of the regular season, but the team’s 2-3 zone defense was lights out in March Madness.

Case in point, the No. 4 seed Orange only allowed 50 points to No. 1 seed Indiana in a Sweet 16 upset, and then the ‘Cuse gave up just 39 points to No. 3 seed Marquette in an Elite Eight triumph.

Those were some kind of stellar defensive performances. And I hate to compare that Orange group to the current one, but it is disconcerting that to date in 2021-22, Syracuse basketball is allowing nearly 80 points per game on defense, a statistic that is hovering not far from the bottom on a national scale in Division I men’s hoops.

In all fairness, the ‘Cuse has looked better in stretches on defense of late. It only allowed 60 points to Florida State and 67 points to No. 6 Villanova.

But last Tuesday, Syracuse basketball had a three-point lead at the break over those Wildcats and lost. This past Saturday, the Orange was up by 10 points versus Georgetown (5-4) at the break and got outscored by 14 points after intermission.

"The ‘Cuse has made some tweaks to its 2-3 zone here and there, but Boeheim noted, “At the end of the day it doesn’t matter what defense you’re playing, you’ve got to play it. We’re not playing it good enough. We’re not physical enough. We’ve got to be better defensively. Bottom line.”"