Syracuse rallied past Notre Dame on Saturday evening, 78-73. Here are some quick hits from the game:
- While the full-court press will garner the attention, it was only partially responsible for the Orange comeback. Here are the results of each Notre Dame possession during the first span when SU pressed:
- missed field goal attempt with four seconds on the shot clock
- missed three-pointer with 20 seconds on the shot clock
- made lay-up with 24 seconds on the shot clock (no press, SU had missed their shot)
- made lay-up with 21 seconds on the shot clock
- missed three-pointer with three seconds on the shot clock
- missed three-pointer with 22 seconds on the shot clock
- Syracuse pressed on five of six Irish possessions, giving up two points. But, their 2-3 zone forced two threes late in the shot clock that missed and the Irish simply missed two open threes early in the shot clock when they had shot 14-of-27 prior to that time. The press helped, but Notre Dame’s three-point shooting also regressed to the mean (they finished the game 1-of-10 from behind the arc).
- For good measure, the back-to-back possessions where Syracuse pressed with under 5:30 to play resulted in a missed three-pointer with five seconds on the shot clock and a missed field goal attempt with four seconds on the shot clock. Again, the 2-3 zone held up and forced missed on those possessions.
- Keep in mind, the press is only used when the ball comes from out of bounds, not off defensive rebounds. The Orange shot 5-of-7 from the floor in the first span, then made three straight shots the second time they used the press.
- Syracuse committed ten turnovers in two games against Notre Dame this season, four in the first and six in the second. They have committed ten or more turnovers in 13 contests. Judah Mintz came into the game averaging over three miscues per game in the last six and had just one against the Irish.
- In other “passive Notre Dame defense” news, the Orange got 17 of their 28 field goals in the game from point blank range, split into five dunks and 12 lay-ups. SU only missed four lay-up attempts, finishing the game with an 81.0 percent success rate inside the restricted area.
- In an interesting statistical quirk, the five SU players who saw the most playing time each finished with either eight or nine field goal attempts.
- Hopefully, Chris Bell’s energy on defense is not reliant upon him making five three-pointers in a game. He was far more active on both ends of the floor against Notre Dame than any other game this season.
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NEXT UP
The Orange (12-6, 5-2 ACC) will take the longest road trip on their schedule on Monday when they travel to #16 Miami. The Hurricanes (14-3, 5-2) have dropped two of their last three games, but both losses have come on the road, including Saturday’s 83-81 overtime loss at North Carolina State that will likely nudge them downward in the national rankings. The ‘Canes swept SU last season, winning the two meetings by a combined four points.
This year, Miami features a balanced attack with four scorers averaging over 11 points per game. Isaiah Wong paces the ‘Canes with 17.2 points, 4.0 assists, and 1.7 steals per game while being complemented by Jordan Miller’s 14.9 points per contest. Norchad Omier nearly averages a double-double at 13.9 points and 9.9 rebounds per outing while Nijel Pack adds 11.4 points per game and a team-leading 32 three-pointers on the campaign.
Syracuse and the Hurricanes will tip off at 7:00pm Eastern with the ACC Network telecasting the game.
POSTGAME
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