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Syracuse delivered yet another lifeless performance this season on Monday night, the four-year anniversary of John Gillon’s buzzer-beater to beat Duke. Riding a three-game win streak heading into the game, it was the worst the Orange have looked since just two weeks prior, when SU was embarrassed in a 17-point road loss to Clemson. And two weeks before that, the slowest-paced offense in Division I, Virginia, picked apart the Orange’s zone for 81 points. 

The blowout losses are piling up while the Orange have just one win against a team ranked inside the KenPom top 40 in the last two seasons. Not only do the 2020-21 Orange have a low ceiling, but the floor is in serious danger of collapsing in the final two regular season games. Its defense may have already reached the bottom Monday night. 

Duke torched the Syracuse zone for 10 first-half 3s, a zone with an aura of deep NCAA Tournament runs that appears — like every other defensive scheme — to be dependent on personnel and effort.

Jim Boeheim said the forwards, not the guards, are at fault for the defense allowing 52 first-half points. But postgame, Buddy Boeheim said it was everyone’s fault — and he’s right. Syracuse didn’t just lose on Monday. They were embarrassed. ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi called the game between Syracuse and Duke — two teams with similar resumes that are on the outside looking in at the NCAA Tournament — a “play-out” game. Syracuse (13-7, 7-6 Atlantic Coast) needed the win, and instead, it delivered one of its worst halves of the season and never gave itself a chance in a 85-71 loss to Duke (11-8, 9-6) at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

If the first-half performance against Notre Dame was supposed to be the wake-up call, the Orange slept through it then and  during their trip to Durham, North Carolina on Monday. 

“At this stage of the season, I don’t know,” Boeheim said of SU’s defense. “That’s something I can’t understand.”

The Orange showed who they are on Monday night. The mistakes and mishaps that cluttered Syracuse’s first half weren’t just talent deficiencies. It wasn’t just that Duke banked in a 3. Or that Jeremy Roach, a 29.9% 3-point shooter entering Monday, made all four of his first half 3s. Or that the Orange had no match for 7-foot center Mark Williams on the interior. 

Syracuse turned it over four times in the opening five minutes. Joe Girard III dribbled the ball off his foot, and Quincy Guerrier stepped out of bounds after a pump fake. Buddy traveled because of passing indecision, and Alan Griffin tried a dribble crossover against Jordan Goldwire, one of the league’s best perimeter defenders. 

The Orange didn’t make their first 3 until 15 minutes into the game via Kadary Richmond. At that point, the Blue Devils had already made eight. 

The Orange proved they’re an explosive offense when shots are falling, but they’re oftentimes bereft of ideas when shots aren’t. 

On one long rebound, Williams beat the Orange down the court and caught a half-court pass for an easy basket. On another transition play, Guerrier never watched the ball or Williams running unguarded toward the hoop. When Duke missed a long 3, not one Syracuse player boxed out, and the Blue Devils’ Matthew Hurt tipped it back out to Roach. 

“It’s on everyone in a 2-3 zone, it’s on everyone to do their job,” Buddy said. “And if one person slips up, the whole zone is just affected by it. A couple times tonight early, they just got a catch-and-shoot, really nobody was there to at least slow them down until we got there or anything.”

Roach sank the uncontested 3, which was only uncontested because Girard didn’t close out. When Duke did miss a 3 on a rare occasion, weak side rebounding remained an issue for the Orange, as it has all season and will continue to be. Marek Dolezaj isn’t a center and Boeheim keeps claiming that his trio of backups — John Bol Ajak, Frank Anselem and Jesse Edwards — aren’t ready.

This is what the Orange are: a team without a true center that hasn’t recruited the position effectively in multiple cycles. 

“He was a little overmatched out there,” Boeheim said of Dolezaj. 

One blowout loss to Duke in a vacuum could be excused. But the Orange have now trailed by nine or more at halftime in four of their last six games. SU’s last four losses — 20 to Pittsburgh, 23 to Virginia, 17 to Clemson and 14 to Duke — haven’t been close games, and the losses aren’t due to a missing center or some shooting variance. They’ve been thoroughly squashed. 

All the recent Syracuse teams that had NCAA Tournament success in 2013, 2016 and 2018 had top-20 KenPom defenses. The 2020-21 Orange rank 89th in adjusted efficiency. 

Instead, Syracuse’s closest games in the 2020-21 season have come against Bryant, Buffalo, Georgetown, Pittsburgh (the first time) and NC State. None of those teams are Tournament teams, and unsurprisingly, neither is Syracuse. SU could beat Georgia Tech and North Carolina and play their way back in. But expecting Syracuse to be something they haven’t been all season would be naive.

Syracuse showed its fans, the NCAA Tournament committee and a national television audience exactly what it is now. And there’s no reason to believe otherwise.

The game was won when….

Duke won the opening tip-off and Williams converted an alley-oop to give the Blue Devils a 2-0 lead nine seconds into the game. ESPN color commentator Jay Bilas said at the end of the game that there was “never a game.” Syracuse’s highest win probability came at 2-2 in the first quarter, the only time the game was tied after it began. 

The win probability chart shows just how uncompetitive the most important game of Syracuse season’s was.

Source: KenPom.com

Quote of the night: Jim Boeheim

“Somebody in the locker room, I’m not going to talk about who, one of the starters said, ‘I didn’t play defense in the first half.’”

Syracuse’s defense was a no-show in the opening 20 minutes of Monday night’s contest. Boeheim said that he doesn’t think the guards are the problem, but he started Richmond over Girard in the second half. Both Guerrier and Griffin were in and out of the game in the first half, with Robert Braswell subbing in for them at times because he played better defense, Boeheim said. 

Number to know: 52

After Notre Dame posted 46 first-half points and Boeheim said that the Orange needed to increase their defensive intensity early in games, Duke scored 52 first-half points on Monday night. Syracuse improved in the second half, but the game was decided by that point. Duke made 10-of-18 from 3 but also was first to most loose balls, beat the Orange down the court in transition and were left open more often than not. 

Game ball: Kadary Richmond

Syracuse’s freshman point guard finished the game with 15 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Richmond made his lone 3-point attempt and added five rebounds and three assists to fill out his stat line. 

Most importantly, though, Boeheim showed he was willing to start Richmond in the second half when he clearly outplayed Girard in the first half. Girard’s struggled as of late, totaling five points in the five halves since he erupted for 16 in the opening 20 minutes against Boston College on Feb. 13. 

“Obviously, it’s not a hard decision,” Boeheim said. “Even if I had started Joe, I’d have played Kadary in the second half. I thought it might give us a jump to start him in the second half.”

Most of Richmond’s success came from dribble penetration, where he produced three layups right at the rim in the opening frame. Even though most of his offense came in the first half, he helped spark a previously stagnant SU offense. 

He also made a 3-pointer when Duke left him open and dared him to shoot, which Shawn Mark, his former coach, said is the next step in his development at SU. Richmond’s ability to beat his man off the dribble and penetrate into the lane opens up space for the shooters in this SU offense and helps the Orange get easy layups from the guard position.

Kadary Richmond finished with 15 points in SU’s loss. Courtesy of Duke Athletics

Three final points

On the centers

Bourama Sidibe’s injury has forced Dolezaj to play out of position, and the results have certainly been negative for the Orange on the interior. Dolezaj doesn’t rebound or defend well enough against taller or heavier players. Boeheim turned to Ajak for some minutes at the end of the first half and the game, but he didn’t look particularly ready. Boeheim said postgame that neither Edwards nor Anselem is ready, either.

“He works hard. He’s just not ready,” Boeheim said on Anselem. “He should really still be in high school. He had another year. He’s not ready, but he works hard every day. He and Jesse aren’t ready to play right now.”

Woody Newton’s cameo

Woody Newton hasn’t had a memorable freshman season. It started bright, when Newton scored nine points three of his four games. It appeared he’d be a solid bench contributor, even if only for 10 minutes a game. But the freshman has seen his playing time near zero since the Orange went on a pause in late December due to COVID-19. Newton played three minutes against Pittsburgh on Jan. 6, the Orange’s first game back from the break.

Since then, Newton’s played 10 total minutes. He missed his lone 3-point attempt on Monday night, and it’s unclear what his role will be at SU going forward, if he does remain with the program. SU’s frontcourt will be crowded if Guerrier and Griffin come back next season. 

Bubble watch

Syracuse’s Tournament odds are at 12% as of Tuesday morning, per BartTorvik.com. The Orange need to beat both Georgia Tech and North Carolina to move into the NCAA Tournament conversation. Wins in both of those games, plus a win in the ACC tournament in Greensboro, would probably be enough. Anything short of that likely leaves the Orange outside the bubble. Boeheim said he doesn’t talk to his team about the bubble after the loss on Saturday, but he did address it Monday night.

“We haven’t had bad losses, but we haven’t had enough good wins,” Boeheim said. “Virginia Tech isn’t enough. Georgia Tech is playing great, that will be as hard of a game or a harder game than this maybe, and Carolina is playing great again, and whoever we play in the last game will be a good team. We have to win games.”

Boeheim said last week that the Orange will “probably” add a March 3 game after UNC. 

Next up

The Orange will travel to Atlanta to take on Georgia Tech at noon Saturday. SU will have another chance to pick up its first Quadrant 1 win to improve its NCAA Tournament resume.

“They’re a really good team. They can really score,” Buddy said. “We’re going to have to know personnel right away and know they’ve got good inside-outside games.”

Published on February 23, 2021 at 9:55 am

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo