Syracuse defeated DePaul 78-57 on Wednesday night. Here are a few thoughts from the game.
Not the DePaul game I was hoping for.
SU should have cruised from the start but DePaul proved to be a difficult opponent in the first half of this one. I was hoping this would be a game where the Orange could turn things around. But the offense still had no rhythm and the defense struggled, looking sluggish in the first ten minutes. This was the game that SU could’ve used to find that rhythm again. And who knows if it did? The team could come out firing against Georgetown on Saturday. Only time will tell, but I don’t think ‘Cuse looked any better by the end of today’s game.
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Does our rebounding seem worse than it actually is?
Is it just me or does it seem like this team never gets rebounds? I’m watching the game, frustrated, yelling, “get a rebound!” But it turns out, SU was destroying DePaul on the glass tonight. Syracuse grabbed 43 rebounds to DePaul’s 29 and 21 of those 43 were offensive. So what’s the deal? Should I worry about grabbing rebounds? Probably not. The Orange ranks in the top 20 nationally in rebounds per game and in the top five in offensive rebounds per game.
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Can Southerland carry this team through the NCAA Tournament?
His 22 points and 10 rebounds tonight were a good way for him to go out during his last game in the Carrier Dome. But with Southerland’s presence be enough to carry this team through the tournament? Well, it can’t hurt. He’s going to try his hardest to carry this team and we saw that fight tonight. Southerland grabbed six offensive rebounds, three of which were on the same possession. He kept fighting to follow his shot and eventually scored. It’s that kind of aggressiveness and determination that this team needs out of more than just Southerland if it wasn’t to advance in the tournament.
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