Syracuse trailed by 17 after just one quarter. A 24-point deficit just a few minutes later. Midway through the second quarter, Syracuse trailed by 30.

Notre Dame’s lead kept growing and growing and growing.

The No. 3 Fighting Irish (18-1, 6-0 Atlantic Coast) proved once again on Thursday why it’s one of the nation’s top teams with a 90-62 win over Syracuse (14-5, 4-2) at Purcell Pavilion. UND jumped out to the early lead and buried the Orange from the start. SU had won eight of its last nine games — its only loss coming by four points — but the hot streak came to a startling halt as Notre Dame ran away with the blowout victory.

“You’re just playing uphill from there,” Syracuse head coach Quentin Hillsman said. “When you dig yourself that kind of hole, you’re playing uphill. … We played a great second half but we gave it away in the first quarter.”

In the first half, the Fighting Irish scored 57 points, 26 of which were in the paint. UND sliced through Syracuse’s full-court press and found easy baskets which led to an eye-popping 67.6 field-goal percentage. Meanwhile on the other end, the Orange hit just 27.5 percent and trailed by 28.

SU had the same amount of turnovers as UND and even one more rebound, but the disparity in made baskets led to the disparity in points. Syracuse couldn’t set up its press and Notre Dame exposed the Orange when it could set up its offense.

“At the end of the day you’ve got to try and make some shots so you can get the pressure set and be aggressive,” Hillsman said. “So it’s just one of those things where you just find a way to get the ball in the basket, get some dead balls so we can press.”

At the start of the third quarter, SU started doing that. A 15-5 run cut the deficit down to 18 points. But with the Orange’s fast-paced and 3-point heavy offense, a comeback was still attainable.

Out of a timeout midway through the third, though, Notre Dame’s Madison Cable stood on the left wing and sunk a three off of a textbook catch-and-shoot play. It stopped SU’s momentum and Syracuse wouldn’t come closer than 18 points the rest of the way.

With the loss, Syracuse dropped to 2-29 all-time against Notre Dame. As ACC play wears on, the Orange will get more chances to knock off ranked opponents — against No. 17 Louisville on Monday and No. 16 Miami on Feb. 1. A road loss against a perennial power like Notre Dame won’t hurt SU too much, but not many positives come from a 28-point blowout loss.

“It’s just tough when you lose a game like that and you dig yourself a hole,” Hillsman said. “The only positive is that you get out of the game safe and don’t have any injuries.”

Published on January 21, 2016 at 11:08 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds