Virginia Defeats Syracuse 59-47 in Orange’s Last Home Game of the Season

Story and photos by Julia Morris

Syracuse, N.Y. -- With five minutes left in the Syracuse-Virginia game, Cavaliers’ guard Malcolm Brogdon shot a three-pointer that sailed far past the basket, failing to make any contact with the rim – but instead of the ball landing in the hands of a Syracuse defender, Virginia forward Anthony Gill  asserted himself in the paint, grabbed the rebound and laid the ball in to put Virginia up 53-38. 

Gill’s putback was one of many for Virginia on Monday night as the No. 2 Cavaliers (28-1, 16-1 ACC) dominated Syracuse on the boards.  Virginia out-rebounded Syracuse (18-12, 9-8 ACC) 42-20 and defeated the Orange by a final score of 59-47 on Senior Night at the Carrier Dome.

“I thought the big difference in the ball game was they just got us inside on the boards,” Coach Jim Boeheim said. “And I just don’t think we competed on the backboards like we have all year. 42-20 on the boards  - that’s all it takes.”

The fact that Virginia out-rebounded Syracuse and challenged the Orange defensively is not a surprise, given that the Cavaliers are one of the top defensive teams in the nation and have now held opponents to less than 50 points in fourteen games this season.

The Cavs' only loss came by six points to No. 4 Duke Jan 31. 

“They’re clearly the second best team in the country,” Boeheim said.  “They have tremendous physical strength, strong guys…very good players and there’s a reason they have only lost one game.”

Both Teams Struggle to Score Early On

But what did come as a surprise was how Virginia could not score in the beginning of the game.  The Cavaliers, who have been playing without top scorer Justin Anderson since he injured his finger against Louisville in February, did not make a field goal until the 11:42 mark, when Gill made a layup down low.   They also did not break double digits until there was less than four minutes left in the half. 

Part of the reason for Virginia’s offensive struggles was the team’s turnovers.  Within the first four minutes of the game, the Cavalierswere called for goal tending, travelling, and threw a couple of passes away to give them four of their ten first half turnovers. 

Even though Virginia struggled from the field, Syracuse could not capitalize and actually finished the half with a worse shooting percentage than the Cavaliers.  Through the first six minutes of play, Syracuse’s only points came from two foul shots by Rakeem Christmas, who was playing his last home game in an Orange uniform.  Christmas did finish the half with eight points even though he faced double-team defensive pressure by Virginia.

“In the first half he did a really good job - he passed out of there and when he had his opportunity to score, he scored,” Boeheim said.

Along with Christmas, Trevor Cooney had eight points at the end of the first half and banked in a three from the top of the key with 3:13 left to put Syracuse up 20-12.  But Cooney said Syracuse could have gone ahead by a bigger margin.

“I thought we should have been up by more than that and we should have taken advantage of a team that only scored two points in whatever time it was,” Cooney said.

Virginia finally added more points and found a rhythm as time was winding down in the first, going on a 12-5 run before the break. With just over a minute before halftime, London Perrantes threw an alley-oop to Mike Tobey, who slammed it in to give Virginia its first lead of the game, 21-20. Then in the final seconds, Perrantes hit a fade-away shot that banked in and gave Virginia a 23-20 lead heading into the break.

Virginia Defense Too Much for Syracuse in the Second Half           

The second half started with a much quicker scoring pace than the first.  Virginia carried its momentum from the end of the first half into the second to build a 38-14 run.  The Cavaliers were led by Gill, who had 12 of his 17 points in the second half.

The Cavaliers also wasted little time getting rebounds.  Just over two minutes into the second half, Darion Atkins grabbed a rebound after Brogdon missed a jumper. Atkins’ initial putback missed but he grabbed the rebound again and banked it in to put Virginia up 33-25.  Overall, Virginia outrebounded Syracuse 23-11 in the second.

“They flat out killed us on the boards,” Gbinije said. “I really don’t have an explanation for it…that number is unacceptable.”

The crowd of 25, 338 seemed out of it until Gbinije threw an alley-oop pass to Tyler Roberson, who threw down a two handed dunk that cut the lead back to eleven with 14:32 to play.  But even though Gbinije found Roberson on that play, he had trouble finding the basket himself.  He finished the game 2-of-11 from the field and had only eight points on the night.

“They played great team defense,” Gbinije said. “They did a good job of helping and covering and their rotations were on the money- individually they played good defense as well.”

Roberson hit another jumper with 10 minutes left to pull Syracuse within 10 but that would be the closest the Orange would get.

Gill’s putback after Brogdon’s air ball put Virginia back up by 15.  And the Cavaliers continued to build on that lead as the game ended.  With 3:45 left, Gill threw down a massive dunk that put the Cavaliers up by 17.  Syracuse chipped into the lead in the final minutes but it was too late and Virginia sealed the 59-47 victory.

Christmas Reflects on Last Home Game

With a minute left in the game, Syracuse senior Rakeem Christmas was subbed out.  Because of Syracuse’s self-imposed post-season ban, the game was the last one for Christmas at the Carrier Dome.  The crowd stood on its feet and cheered as he walked off the court.

“It’s a great feeling when people are cheering for you,” Christmas said.  “All these four years were great, everyone that came in my life here is going to leave a long-lasting impression on me so I’m thankful I came here.”

Next Up

With the loss, Syracuse will not reach 20 wins this season.  That marks the first time since the 1996-1997 season that the Orange has failed to do so.  But Boeheim said he was surprised that the Orange had even managed to pull off 18 victories this season.

“My feeling is I’m not sure exactly how this team won 18 games,” Boeheim said. “When you can’t shoot it and you don’t defend well at the guard spot and you’re small there’s not a lot of positives there.”

Syracuse will play its season finale against North Carolina State on Saturday. Tip off is set for 12 p.m.

Virginia has now won nine games in a row and clinched the regular season ACC title and number one seed in the ACC Tournament.  The Cavaliers will wrap up regular season play at Louisville on Saturday.  Game time is 6:30 p.m.  

Videos:

Coach Boeheim Post-Game  

Michael Gbinije Post-Game 

Rakeem Christmas Post-Game 

Trevor Cooney Post-Game