Joe Girard III earned his first start of the season Saturday, and contributed in a big way. He scored 24 points on 7-for-8 shooting. The New York state all-time high school leading scorer earned the start over sophomore Jalen Carey, who didn’t register a minute in the game.

Here’s a breakdown of the film of Girard’s performance against Seattle. (All screenshots via ESPN)

Impact without the ball

Girard, without touching the ball, adds a new dimension to the Orange. His 5-for-6 shooting from behind the arc solidified him as a player who can sink open shots. The Orange struggled to get anything going against Virginia when the Cavaliers packed the lane and forced them to shoot from the perimeter. But against Seattle, the extra shooter on the floor forced the Redhawks to focus their defensive strategy on the 3-point line. In this play, Girard fades to the wing and Terrell Brown stays in between the paint and Girard behind the 3-point line.

With Buddy Boeheim and Elijah Hughes — both formidable long-range shooters — on the opposite side, defenders on the outside can’t commit to help on either side of the ball.

Girard sees this and makes a quick cut to the top of the key. Since he cuts as Marek Dolezaj makes his move into the paint, Brown jumps toward Girard at the same time as the interior help defenders jump towards Dolezaj. Bourama Sidibe is left wide open for SU’s first points of the game.

Defense in the 2-3

As expected of most freshmen, Girard had a share of missteps in the 2-3 zone. He has good defensive instincts and finished with two steals, but in some cases his physical limitations showed. On this play, Girard played the top of the zone and followed quick passes around the perimeter.

When the ball came back around to Girard’s side, Girard was late to jump out on Aaron Nettles on the perimeter, which opened up a passing lane to set up a high-low option.

Despite rotating a little late, Girard went for the steal, so Hughes had to help on the high man. That allowed Seattle to work the ball inside to Myles Carter, who would have had a good look inside if not for a strong rotation from Hughes back down low.

First step flash

Girard showed a good ability to fly by defenders who ran out to try and take the 3-pointer away from him off the catch. Near the end of the first half, Nettles rotated after Hughes found Girard in the corner. Girard caught the ball, ripped quickly to his left hand and drove the baseline. His pass inside to Jesse Edwards went through the 7-footer’s hands — an issue the two can fix by playing together more often. But Girard impressively used a quick one-dribble attack to create space in the midrange on the inside several times in the game.

From way downtown

Though Girard easily countered the Redhawks defensive strategy, when he extends a few feet beyond the arc defenders remember why they must get out on him. On this play, Buddy drives into the paint and Girard flashes back towards the top of the key to create a passing angle. Though Brown eventually contested, the defense was still late to see Girard.

The NCAA 3-point line moved out further for this season, now to the international distance of 22 feet and 1 3/4 inches. Girard made a shot a few feet beyond that with ease.

Published on November 18, 2019 at 10:41 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary