NEW YORK — The inherent advantage of being a 6-foot-5 guard like Frank Howard is court vision. He can see above smaller defenders. Yet it poses a threat because he’s almost always guarded by players who look up to him. Sometimes, Howard said, they can force him to be over-quick.

Smaller guards can switch. They can jab. They can trap. All of which came at him Tuesday night and made it difficult to gain his footing on the offensive end in Syracuse’s (7-1) 72-63 victory over Connecticut (6-2) at Madison Square Garden.

A career-high 18 points from redshirt freshman forward Matthew Moyer, game-high 22 points from guard Tyus Battle and the third double-double in the last four games from freshman forward Oshae Brissett bailed out Howard’s struggle. While Syracuse downed Connecticut in the Jimmy V Classic, Howard finished with a season-worst five points, a game-worst nine turnovers and shot just 1-for-10 from the floor across 39 minutes. He was covered by smaller guards, effectively making him a non-factor in SU’s win.

Howard acknowledged anemic output and insisted after the worst performance of his career that it was just a blip.

“It won’t happen again,” said Howard, who entered Tuesday coming off of four straight 15-plus point games. “I sped up a little bit too much. It happens … I got a little frustrated instead of being calm. I felt like I came out making the right plays, I kind of felt like I kind cut the defense up a little bit, got guys open a bit. Missed a few shots, started pressing. I let the little guard speed me up.”

One of Syracuse’s most efficient players, Howard said he is at his best when he dribbles low, stays low and creates for teammates off the dribble. He ranks second on the team in scoring, averaging 14.3 points per game, and has stepped into the starting point guard spot this season. He knows the kind of floor general he needs to be for Syracuse this year. The one who can limit turnovers, set up others and knock down shots to spread the floor.

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Two weeks ago against Toledo, Howard scored a game- and career-high 25 points and did not turn over the basketball once. He spent the majority of the game at the top of the key, where he said he will exploit guards who play under high screens. The problem against small, quick guards, such as UConn’s Antwoine Anderson and Tyler Polley, is that they can get around high screens and cause body-to-body contact up high.

“Great on-ball pressure sped me up,” Howard said. “They got me going through the paint. Rode me the whole way.”

In the first half Tuesday, Connecticut hit a 3-pointer to cut the Syracuse lead t0 10 with 5:17 left before the break. Howard did not run out from the left-top of the zone to a shooter on the right wing and the Huskies connected. Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim immediately called a timeout and looked fixedly at Howard for not getting out to contest the shot.

Later, a ball hit Howard and dribbled out of bounds near midcourt. And, after a weak pass attempt to the wing did not connect with his target, Brissett, Howard put his hands over his head as he watched the ball trickle out of bounds toward the Syracuse bench.

It remains to be seen whether Howard’s struggles Tuesday night against smaller guards are symptomatic of a larger issue. Both Howard and Boeheim are trusting that it isn’t.

“Frank’s played great all year, he just had a bad game,” Boeheim said. “He had a really bad game. I don’t think it’ll happen again. I think it’s a good learning experience for him. He just didn’t finish plays. It was a physical game. They knocked him off balance a little bit. He just made some bad turnovers. I think we were fortunate to be able to overcome that.

“He’ll get back,” Boeheim added. “He’s been playing well all year.”

Published on December 6, 2017 at 2:08 am

Contact Matthew: mguti100@syr.edu | @MatthewGut21