Syracuse (4-1) eventually pulled away in a 70-37 win over Loyola (2-3) on Tuesday night, despite a fruitless start that only highlighted its apparent early-season problems. Here are three takeaways from the Orange win.

1. Tick tock

Loyola did a good job of staying in the game in the first half, despite not scoring for the first 10:04 and never finding much of an offensive groove.

It did so by milking the shot clock on just about every possession, which extended the Syracuse zone and only magnified the Orange’s inability to score from the outside. SU shot just 42.3 percent in the first half, as the Greyhounds provided a feasible winning blueprint for teams that can actually scratch onto the scoreboard.

2. Watch yourself

Syracuse was way too aggressive closing out on shooters, which led to easy points at the line for a Loyola team that wasn’t able to get them any other way. Sophomore guard Ron Patterson was guilty for this on two occasions, as was freshman Chris McCullough before he fouled Greyhounds guard Tyler Hubbard on a 3-point shot on the left wing.

Loyola scored 10 of its 37 points at the charity stripe, and still missed nine free throws. The Orange defense was quick and did a good job keeping the Greyhounds from thriving in the paint, but didn’t do itself any favors as far as fundamentals went.

3. He’s alive

After being buried on the bench for most of Syracuse’s first four contests, Chinonso Obokoh came on for Rakeem Christmas with Tyler Roberson sidelined due to injury.

When he first came on in the first half, he was beat on the offensive glass by Loyola forward Franz Rassman and fouled Rassman in front of the rim. That drew an angry yell from Boeheim, but Obokoh managed to find the bottom of the net twice in the second half on two layups off crisp passes from sophomore guard Ron Patterson.

It wasn’t anything too convincing, but Obokoh rebounded relatively well and protected the rim while Christmas caught some rest on SU’s bench.

Published on November 25, 2014 at 9:16 pm