When Quincy Guerrier entered the game with just less than 10 minutes remaining, Syracuse clung to a four-point lead. Guerrier drew a foul on his first possession on offense, and sank a free throw. Then he snagged a defensive rebound and continued the scoring. From the foul line, inside the lane and beyond the arc, Guerrier converted. 

Three minutes after strolling onto the court, Guerrier had scored eight consecutive points for the Orange and SU led by 11 in an eventual 72-53 win over Cornnell on Wednesday night.  

“(Coach Jim Boeheim) told me to get my rhythm and just get inside use my physicality and that’s what I did,” Guerrier said. 

The 3-pointer was Guerrier’s first of the season, and filled a void in the stat column that both he and his teammates had discussed prior to the game. Guerrier’s performance overall, 10 points and five rebounds, was the jolt of offense a team that had none through the first half needed. The Orange (3-1, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) shot 47.2% from the field and missed 6-of-18 shots from the charity stripe. The opponent, Cornell (1-4), missed more often, converting on 14-of-40 field goals and never hit enough consistent jumpers to keep a lead in the second half.

“We just had that one little spurt…that gave us the separation,” Boeheim said. 

For the much of the first half, Cornell appeared like Syracuse’s offense against Virginia: Stagnant. The Big Red players took minuscule steps as the ball spread around the perimeter. Syracuse’s white jerseys bobbed left then right then back left, following the flow of Cornell’s lateral passing. Eventually, the red clock above the backboard had ticked to close to offensive failure, the Big Red shot 3-pointers, though only 6-of-27 were hit on the night. Twice in the first half alone, Syracuse forced shot clock violations where the Big Red had done seemingly nothing to threaten a score.

Syracuse noted after the game that the Big Red played intentionally slow at times, holding the ball waiting for a look. The issues arose when Cornell had the look, and couldn’t convert. Cornell’s offense, which entered the game ranked 125th in adjusted field goal percentage, shot 35% from the field. 

Cornell’s main source of scoring came from the son of Syracuse head coach Boeheim. Jimmy, a junior forward for Cornell, finished with 25 points, much to the dismay of the Syracuse student section. After an early air ball, the students chanted “air ball” at Boeheim’s oldest son each time he touched the ball for the remainder of the first half. Jimmy wasn’t bothered though, sinking all of his free throws and finishing several passes near the low block. 

Midway through the second quarter, Boeheim had seen enough of his son’s offense exploiting the Syracuse defense. Though it wasn’t Jimmy that hit the 3-pointer with 6:48 left in the first half, the Cornell make, in a corner Guerrier was presumably responsible for, sent Boeheim into a frenzy. 

“Quincy!” he yelled before lecturing the freshman for the majority of the timeout. 

At that point Syracuse’s offense had stalled, and the defensive miscues had become more significant. As Jimmy consistently worked his way to the free throw line and dominated the lane offensively, Syracuse failed to create similar opportunities.  The Orange shot just two free throws in the first half and couldn’t hit open shots against a matchup zone which was granting open looks, though only from far out. 

“We were forcing it a little,” said Buddy Boeheim, who shot 4-of-13 from 3. “We were just missing open shots and that’s going to happen. We knew that we’d break the game eventually.” 

Syracuse had hit its shots to start the game but by the time halftime hit, and the Orange led their Ivy League opponent by one point, SU needed something different. 

With a little more than 13 minutes remaining, a miss down the other end provided Syracuse a fast break opportunity. The Orange had the same look countless times through out the game. Cornell swarmed the ball handler and an open Syracuse player bounced at the 3-point line. This time, it was Joe Girard III and he sank the 3-pointer. What could’ve been a three-point game became a nine-point Orange lead. 

Syracuse still didn’t find rhythm, though. It wouldn’t be until Bourama Sidibe reached his fourth foul. With the 6-foot-10 center one slip up away from ending his night, Boeheim enlisted Guerrier and a small lineup featuring Marek Dolezaj at the center. 

Gurrier entered the game with Boeheim’s comments on his mind. The 44-year head coach told Guerrier, who claims to be one of the strongest players on the team, to play physical. Syracuse needed someone to drive to the hoop. It needed someone to be physical. It needed someone to demand defense and still not be stopped. On Wednesday, that someone was the man off the bench, Quincy Gurrier.

Published on November 20, 2019 at 9:52 pm

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44