A quick take on Syracuse’s 101-63 absolute blowout of Boston College Saturday afternoon at a spectator-less Conte Forum in Chestnut Hill, Mass.:
WHAT HAPPENED: Syracuse (4-1, 1-0) rebounded from its first loss of the season with a marvelous performance from the opening tip to the finish in bewildering BC at both ends of the court. In the first ACC game of the season, SU enjoyed the return to the lineup of Buddy Boeheim, after sitting out three games due to New York State contact tracing protocols. Boeheim made his prescience felt from the opening tipoff, garnering an assist on the Orange’s first basket by Marek Dolezaj, finishing with a a trio of three-pointers and 17 points, and passing his father Jim as the leading Syracuse career scoring leader with the surname Boeheim. Up 18 at halftime, the ‘Cuse displayed balanced offense with all five starters in double figures five minutes into the second half, at one point up 48-points with under 3:00 to play.
ANALYSIS: Syracuse came off the bus ready to shoot, hitting a torrid 59% from the field, including 52% from beyond the arc, running circles around a porous Boston College (1-5, 0-1) defense. The Eagles had no answer for SU big men Quincy Guerrier and Dolezaj who had fun inside offensively combining for 24 points and 10 boards, and Doelzaj had a game-high seven assists. Leading scorer Alan Griffin was in his usual spot finishing with a game-high 22 points. The SU zone defense was stout, forcing BC into countless bad shots (32% shooting), 16 turnovers, and limiting the Eagles to only 33 second-half points.
HERO: What a jump into his second season for Guerrier. He dominated at the offensive end in the first half with 5-for-7 shooting for 14 points along with five rebounds. Joe Girard rebounded from a poor performance at Rutgers this past Tuesday finishing 5-for-7 from long range (6 of 7 overall) – 17 points and five pretty assists.
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ZERO: It was one of those games with very little negative for the Orange, especially going over the century mark in points. So, to be extremely picky, SU could have scored even more if it wasn’t for 15 turnovers and three offensive fouls.
WHAT’S NEXT: After a week off, Syracuse returns home for a non-conference game against Buffalo next Sat., Dec. 19. The teams last met in 2018 when the Bulls pulled out a 71-59 upset shocker at the Dome. Buffalo (2-2) first has a game at Miami (OH) on Tuesday. Game Time: TBA. TV: ACC Network.
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