Irritating that Syracuse basketball bench didn’t get more time in Hoyas loss

Syracuse basketball head coach Jim Boeheim recently didn’t provide a ton of praise to his current reserves, even half-jokingly saying that he wished former Orange player Dion Waiters was on his bench.

Yet in the team’s four-point setback to former Big East Conference rival Georgetown on the road this past Saturday, the Orange’s three main reserves all did some really nice things in the first half, as the ‘Cuse built up a 10-point lead.

In the second half, though, when Syracuse basketball was outscored by 14 points, Boeheim didn’t go back to his bench. Am I surprised? Not at all, as Boeheim often relies almost exclusively on his starters.

But did this frustrate me and many, many other Orange fans? Absolutely. Particularly since, in the second half, it appeared to me that the ‘Cuse starters looked fatigued.

Syracuse basketball can’t have its starters play 35-plus minutes every game.

I know that Orange players and their peers around the country are in terrific shape. I get all that. But in recent weeks, Syracuse basketball has endured a challenging stretch of games that entailed playing some good teams and traveling quite a bit.

Following the 79-75 defeat at the hands of the Hoyas, Boeheim even said in his post-game press conference that his team is worn out.

So why exactly didn’t Boeheim, whom I admire, love and respect, use his bench in the second half, when Georgetown stormed back to prevail in our nation’s capital?

According to box scores provided by Syracuse.com and ESPN’s Web site, all five Syracuse basketball starters played at least 30 minutes. If you take away junior center Jesse Edwards, the other four starters all competed for a minimum of 36 minutes.

Let’s take a look at the three key reserves. Freshman forward Benny Williams made a sweet spin move, scored two points, played four minutes, and the team was plus-five points when he was on the floor.

Junior guard Symir Torrence drove to the hoop for a bucket, had two assists and collected one board in five minutes. The Orange was plus-seven points.

For sophomore center Frank Anselem, he tallied five points, one rebound and one block in 10 minutes, with a minus-two points.

Those are solid contributions from Williams, Torrence and Anselem when the ‘Cuse raced to a 44-34 edge over Georgetown at the break.

In the second half, the Hoyas held a 45-31 advantage to win by four points, and Boeheim didn’t rely on his bench. Again, this wasn’t a surprise, but it also didn’t make much sense to me.