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BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech head coach Mike Young said Syracuse’s defense is one that keeps you up at night. It led to a nightmare two weeks ago for the Hokies, who shot 15.6% from deep. 

The only difference for VT on Saturday night was to make sure it got to its spots whenever the zone did actually puncture. And through most of the first half, that happened continuously after SU crashed on passes down low. 

With one possession left in the opening period, the Hokies threw the ball to Hunter Cattoor as he cut near the left baseline. Maliq Brown came over to help momentarily, leaving Grant Basile wide-open at the left wing. Basile caught the ball, stepped in and drilled the shot over Brown’s extended hand, holding up the No. 3 with each hand as the halftime buzzer sounded. 

“Our defense was just not able to do anything in the first half to contain them,” Jim Boeheim said. “We were too far behind at halftime, basically.”

Basile’s second 3-pointer was Virginia Tech’s 11th of the night, bringing the Hokies halftime point total to 52. The 11 3’s were the most Syracuse has given up in the first half since it lost to Colgate earlier this season, and 52 is the most SU has allowed in the opening period all year. Syracuse (13-9, 6-5 Atlantic Coast) moved to a full-court press throughout the second half, which stopped most of the deep shots, but it couldn’t dig out of the first half hole in its 85-70 loss to Virginia Tech (12-8, 2-7 ACC). 

The Orange wanted to mitigate the low pass, which it didn’t do a job at, Boeheim said. The passes inside led to more open looks for the Hokies. Cattoor, who didn’t play in the teams’ previous matchup, took advantage of that twice in the opening 10 minutes, draining back-to-back 3-pointers from the right corner. Both were over Symir Torrence, who also couldn’t do anything to help SU defensively in the first half. 

Williams shifted to Torrence’s spot in the zone after Judah Mintz checked into the game but his efforts were fruitless as well. Williams attacked Basile after he caught the ball directly under the basket, but Basile kicked it out to Cattoor, who drained his third shot from beyond the arc (he finished with six 3s). 

“The easiest way to beat the zone is by making 3s,” Joe Girard III said. “(Cattoor) and the rest of them did a pretty job of getting to open spots and knocking them down.” 

MJ Collins got involved in the 3-point party as well, drilling a shot from the corner after Williams was pulled away from his spot again before hitting back-to-back attempts despite Justin Taylor putting a hand in his face on the first. 

“We were able to peck around the edges and get a couple of 3s down there,” Young said.

The Orange had no choice but to resort to the full-court press at the start of the second half, something Brown said has helped bring “energy” to the team overall this season. It worked the second time around with an errant pass going right into the hands of Girard. 

Girard drove down the right side, expecting contact but not getting any as he rose up for a layup. His attempt was short, though Brown was there for the offensive rebound. Brown tried to finish on the opposite side of the basket but his attempt clanked off the bottom of the rim. 

“We had stretches where it was good tonight but it wasn’t as effective as it has been in past games,” Taylor said. 

The setup of the press had one SU defender near Virginia Tech’s basket while the rest guarded the opposite side of the half court. Brown got his right hand on an inbounds pass on one possession, forcing it out of bounds. But the Hokies took advantage of the height difference at the back of the press with Torrence alone against Basile. Basile received a full-court pass, leaping for it before turning around and hitting a lefty hook shot.

Torrence made up for his lack of size by moving up in the press, poking the ball out twice near midcourt. His first steal resulted in an easy layup for Brown after a quick pass in between to Mintz.

“(Torrence) made a couple big steals and took the ball right away from people, we don’t usually do that,” Boeheim said. 

Mostly, Syracuse’s bigs, Edwards and Mounir Hima, played at the back of the press. But once the Hokies got past the rest of Syracuse’s squad, they couldn’t do much. 

Like its half-court offense, Virginia Tech looked for the back cut when SU pressed. Midway through the second half, Hima waited under the basket as the Hokies tried to advance the ball. Basile eventually got control, driving right at Hima, who abandoned his original position. Mutts sprinted behind Hima and caught a wide-open pass from Basile, slamming it to put the Hokies up by 14. Boeheim immediately pulled Hima from the game.

“We just have to do a better job getting back on defense and not letting them get easy layups,” Taylor said when using the press.

The Orange still recorded several steals in the half, including one from Edwards with five minutes left in the game. He snagged a high pass from Basile in the middle of the zone before attempting a behind-the-back pass to Mintz near midcourt. 

But the delivery was botched. The ball ended up on the floor, where Cattoor corralled it with his body. He looked up and saw Mutts wide open, throwing it to him from the ground for the final strike.

Published on January 28, 2023 at 9:22 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu