Syracuse Basketball: Freshmen show grit, guts and poise in storming back

There were slightly more than 12 minutes to go in the second half on Saturday night in Central New York, and Notre Dame had just connected on another 3-pointer to give the Fighting Irish a 59-47 edge over Syracuse basketball in an Atlantic Coast Conference showdown that the Orange could ill-afford to lose at home.

At that point, Notre Dame had made its seemingly 44th shot from deep (sarcasm, yet #OnBrand). Throughout this league encounter, the ‘Cuse struggled to close out Fighting Irish shooters, and there are a lot of them.

My fellow fans on social media were screaming: start playing man-to-man defense! I get it. When an opponent passes well, as Notre Dame does, and gets hot from 3-point land, as Notre Dame did, then the Orange zone defense can be absolutely frustrating to watch.

So at the 12:18 mark, the ‘Cuse trails the Fighting Irish by a dozen, and I’m thinking to myself, “Syracuse basketball is going to lose to a 9-8 team, at the JMA Wireless Dome, after beating that same foe on the road in early December, albeit by one point.” Ugh.

But Syracuse basketball didn’t throw in the towel, and its freshmen grew up a ton.

As head coach Jim Boeheim will sometimes do when trailing by double-digits in the second half of a game (hi, ‘Cuse versus Virginia in the 2016 Elite Eight), Boeheim threw on the full-court press. Since Notre Dame passes with precision, said press didn’t always work.

However, it did some. And it sped the Fighting Irish up. And Notre Dame started missing perimeter shots it was previously making. And the Orange was getting out in transition, making some jumpers of its own, and clawing its way more into this thing.

Most impressively, as Syracuse basketball made its second-half comeback versus the Fighting Irish, it primarily did so riding a line-up of four freshmen and senior center Jesse Edwards. You see, we all know that the ‘Cuse brought in a six-member 2022 recruiting class that was ranked in the top 20 by some recruiting services.

We all know that freshman point guard Judah Mintz is the real deal. But this wasn’t the Jesse and Judah comeback. Those two, along with freshman wing Justin Taylor, freshman forward Maliq Brown, and freshman forward Chris Bell, combined to form a unit that for a large stretch of the second half got Syracuse basketball back into the game.

Senior shooting guard Joe Girard III would play down the stretch in place of Taylor. Make no mistake about it, though, Taylor and his other freshmen colleagues won this ACC clash for the ‘Cuse, along with Edwards.

These Orange newbies showed grit, poise, determination, spunk, passion and guts. I could go on and on and on. Beating a so-so Notre Dame team, 78-73, in the grand scheme of the 2022-23 season, doesn’t move the needle much as it pertains to the ‘Cuse resume.

Syracuse basketball (12-6, 5-2 in the ACC) was on its own turf. The Fighting Irish (9-9, 1-6) entered the JMA Wireless Dome with an NCAA NET ranking of No. 166. So the devastation of falling on the Hill would have proven greater than the “exhilaration” of emerging victorious over an average opponent.

Nonetheless, with a 2022-23 roster that includes six freshmen and two more underclassmen, what I saw the ‘Cuse do in the final 12 minutes of this game – outscore Notre Dame, 31-14, with four freshmen in the Orange’s line-up – was beautiful, exciting and encouraging for this team’s future.

Both squads shot well from the field and from deep. The boards were fairly even. It was a clean game, as the ‘Cuse and the Fighting Irish combined for a total of 11 turnovers. Notre Dame made seven more 3-pointers than Syracuse basketball, but the Orange had a 10-point advantage at the charity stripe.

That was the main difference in the final outcome. Mintz went 8-of-10 from the free-throw line and produced 14 points. He dished out eight assists and only one turnover.

Edwards tallied 13 points, 15 rebounds, four assists and four blocks. Taylor may have only generated five points, but he connected on a pivotal 3-pointer. Bell and Brown collected 17 points and 15 points, respectively. Brown corralled six boards while Bell was 5-of-8 from downtown.

Syracuse basketball is now 9-2 over its last 11 affairs. If the Orange wants to enter the conversation for an invite to this spring’s Big Dance, it needs more impressive ACC triumphs. The ‘Cuse will have a chance this Monday night, when the team travels to Miami, which has proven one of the better ACC squads so far in 2022-23.

I have to stress, though, that while this comeback win over Notre Dame on Saturday evening doesn’t bolster the Orange’s post-season resume, Syracuse basketball freshmen showed a lot of heart in grabbing this victory. Resume or no resume, that counts for a whole lot in my book.