First, it was Brandon Triche, getting to the rim with little regard for the 6-foot defender in front of him. Then, it was Michael Carter-Williams following the same formula, rising above his 6-foot defender for easy jump shots and finger rolls.

The Indiana backcourt tandem of Jordan Hulls and Yogi Ferrell had no answer for their 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-6 counterparts. And Syracuse exposed the mismatch time and again in its 61-50 win over top-seeded Indiana at the Verizon Center on Thursday night.

“Offensively we wanted our guards to go on their little guards,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “That was the best way to play offensively in this game.”

Carter-Williams scored a game-high 24 points on 9-for-19 shooting, and Triche chipped in with 14 on 6-for-12 shooting to key the Orange offense in the upset. The mismatches were clear from the onset.

Triche strong-armed his way to the rim against Hulls for the game’s first field goal, finishing with his left hand off the glass. Syracuse would isolate Triche throughout the first half, with the senior guard finishing in the lane on dunks and floaters along with fall-away jumpers.

Hulls couldn’t handle him.

“I came out pretty aggressive and I felt like I had an advantage against Hulls,” Triche said.

And Ferrell was equally overmatched against Carter-Williams. The Orange point guard rose up for a pull-up jumper to push SU ahead by three in the first five minutes, then stole the ball from Ferrell at halfcourt and shielded the ball from 6-foot-9 forward Christian Watford for the finish on the other end.

He drilled his first 3 from the left wing to end a three-minute drought for SU, extending the lead to 14-5. From there, his confidence soared.

His jumper was on, and he could easily see over Ferrell for clean looks. When pressure came, all he needed was a half step and Ferrell was beat, as he was on Carter-Williams’ finger roll to push the Orange up 31-15.

The formula ignited the SU offense and helped the team take a 12-point lead into the break. Indiana eventually switched 6-foot-5 guard Victor Oladipo onto Carter-Williams to end the first half and for the final 20 minutes.

Though Oladipo challenged Carter-Williams, the damage was done.

“We knew the types of players we got and we had a couple mismatches,” SU forward C.J. Fair said. “So their guards deny real hard and they play real aggressive. Sometimes, it’s give them one move and get by them so it opens up the floor.”

Published on March 29, 2013 at 4:12 am

Contact Ryne: rjgery@syr.edu