The final score shows that Syracuse defeated Notre Dame on Saturday, 75-67 basketball game. And while eight points is a healthy win margin, the game certainly did not start out that way.
Syracuse was down 14 at half as Notre Dame shot 54.5 percent from the field and 7 for 14 from beyond the arc.
“We couldn’t get anything going early,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “We didn’t have any emotion defensively, we were standing and their a really good shooting team.”
Notre Dame’s took its biggest lead of the game with 16:49 left when they went up 55-35.
But Boeheim switched Syracuse into a full court press, which keyed the comeback. It worked to perfection against the Irish, as they went scoreless for a six minute stretch. That allowed the Orange to go on a 24-5 run to come roaring back.
“This game was one of the better comebacks I’ve had here,” Boeheim said. “To be that much down to a good ball handling team […] We pressed, we turned them over, we sped them up a little bit and didn’t get hurt when they did beat the press.”
Aside from Syracuse’s full-court press, Buddy Boeheim exploded on offens. With 7:36 left, Buddy sank his fifth 3-pointer of the game to give Syracuse its first lead of the game at 62-60. Syracuse never trailed after that.
“It was a game of two halves,” Buddy said. “The press did a great job for us […] It was a lot of fun, it was a big win for us, we needed to win that. Down 18, down 20, whatever it was, we just fought and stayed together.”
Buddy finished the day with a career-high 29 points going 6 -10 from beyond the arc, and 10-19 shooting overall. 20 of Buddy’s 29 points were scored in the second half, truly making this “a game of two halves.”
» Related: Syracuse overcomes a 20-point deficit to overtake Notre Dame
To put this come from behind victory into perspective; Saturday’s win over Notre Dame was the biggest comeback Syracuse has made since overcoming a 20 point deficit since 2005 against Rutgers.
“It was guys getting him the ball when he’s set,” said Boeheim of his son’s career day. “He lead the ACC in 3-point field goal percentage and 3-point field goals made; he hasn’t changed. If anything I think he is a better 3-point shooter this year […] It was just a really good team win tonight, really good.”
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