Photos by Robert Schiff
SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Boston College may have awoken a sleeping giant. After an embarrassing loss to the Eagles on New Year's Day, the Syracuse Orange men had more energy on Wednesday night on both sides of the ball, as they put away Miami, 70-55 in the ACC home opener at the Carrier Dome.
The Orange’s 56 percent shooting in its ACC home opener
helped outlast the Hurricanes’ eleven three-point baskets. Andrew White and Tyler Lydon led the way for
the Orange with 22 and 20 points, respectively.
“We kept looking to shoot
it,” head coach coach Jim Boeheim said. “Tyler made a couple of plays inside.
Offensively, we were just a little more aware of what we were trying to
do.”
Hot From the Start
It didn’t take long for the Orange offense to start
rolling. After winning the tip, Andrew
White hit a jumper for the first basket of the game in just 13 seconds. Tyus Battle made it 4-0 Syracuse with a
jumper of his own on the next possession.
“I thought they were very,
very sharp, right from the opening tip,” Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said. “The first few shots that they hit were
exactly the kind of shots we did not want them even shooting – just a pass directly
to a shooter.”
Two Can Play That Game
Miami answered with a 10-2 run, consisting of two
three-pointers and two dunks, the kind of shots Syracuse didn’t want its
opponent shooting, It was 10-6 Canes
after 3:21 of play.
SU center Taurean Thompson got into foul trouble early on, picking up
his second personal with 15:40 left in the first half and wasn’t much of a factor in the contest.
A Lydon slam and a Roberson layup tied the game up at 12-12
with 14:08 remaining until halftime. The
Canes weren’t giving up the lead easily, however.
Eye of the Hurricane
In what’s been a recurring theme for Syracuse this season,
an opposing player got hot from downtown.
Miami’s Dejan Visiljevic knocked down a three to give the Canes the
edge. He ended up 6-12 from beyond the
arc for 18 points.
Over the course of the next seven minutes, both teams traded makes from deep. Bruce Brown and Visiljevic connected for the Canes, while John Gillon, Lydon and White
each hit one for the Orange.
At one point, back-to-back threes from Lydon and White got
the crowd on its feet. Visiljevic
quieted them down however with a three. Syracuse led 25-24 with 6:03 to go in the first half.
Getting to the Point
From there, the Orange went on a 7-0 run. Gillon got it started with a layup, followed
by an assist to White. Gillon and Lydon
added three free throws as well during the run.
Syracuse was up 32-24 with 1:32 remaining until halftime. The Orange went into the locker room still up
eight, 34-26.
“I think everybody just had
energy,” Andrew White said. “I know our
guards and myself watched some extra tape with Coach G-Mac (Gerry McNamara) and
that helped us a little bit more because we were locked in better to personnel,
so I know I will ask him for that again.”
Gillon at the point started for Syracuse and didn’t look back. He was 3-7 from the field and scored eight points,
but also added eleven assists and two steals in 39 minutes of action. Frank Howard ended the night with one minute
on the scorecard.
“We just played to get the win,” Tyus Battle said. “We didn’t worry about our individual stats or anything like that. We flew around on defense, closed on shooters and crashed the boards.”
The two Tylers got things going for SU in the second half,
first with a Lydon slam, and then a Roberson layup, pushing the lead to 38-28.
Batten Down the Hatches
Kamari Murphy, Vasiljevic, and Brown led the
Hurricanes back from the deficit, with a combination of dunks, threes and
inside looks. Miami went on a 14-5 run
to cut the Orange lead to 43-42, with 13:03 to play.
Though the Canes pushed back hard, that was the closest they
got for the remainder of the contest.
Syracuse responded with a 9-0 run of its own, including back-to-back
threes from White to pump up the crowd.
The lead was back to ten at 52-42.
“Our defense was better
tonight,” Boeheim said. “We gave
up some open threes, but we did a better job.”
Vasiljevic and Dewan Huell tried to answer back, but Lydon took the game over for Syracuse. He scored nine-straight
Orange points over the next 2:52, including a Dome-rocking trey and slam on
back-to-back drives. SU was up 61-47
with 7:10 remaining.
“We come to practice every day to work and try to get better,” Lydon said. “With that being said, I think we were able to accomplish that and it showed today. We just have to keep working hard and move forward.”
The crowd was as energetic as it’s been all year. There were several instances when the fans
got up and cheered their team loudly. It
wasn’t only when the Orange players scored, but when they made hustle plays and key
stops as well.
“The crowd was great,”
Boeheim added. “The crowd has been good
all year, but I thought they were really good tonight.”
Miami only scored eight more points the rest of the way,
with six coming from Ja’Quan Newton.
Syracuse’s 7-0 run from the 4:40 mark put the game away, giving it a
68-51 lead after a Gillon jumper with 2:01 to play.
New Year's Resolution
After many were assuming the worst for Syracuse after losing
to Boston College on New Year’s Day, it got a much needed win against a tough
opponent.
“Teams have a certain edge
when they’re trying to fight back from a loss, and especially, I think, on the
road and the way they lost with Boston College making 16 three’s,” Larranaga
said. “I think it made the zone a little
bit more active and we didn’t respond very well.”
“We’ve got a long way to go
and we have a lot of work to do,” Boeheim said.
“This was a very good first step, but it was just one step.”
Pitt Stop
Syracuse moves to 9-6 on the year, and 1-1 in ACC play. Miami falls to 11-3, and 1-1 in the
conference. The Hurricanes have a full
week to prepare for Notre Dame (13-2, 2-0) at home next Thursday. The No. 23 Irish knocked off No. 9 Louisville on Wednesday night.
Syracuse now looks to build upon Wednesday night's win with another home
game against a tough Pittsburgh squad on Saturday.The Panthers (12-3, 1-1 ACC) took down No. 11 Virginia 88-76 in overtime at Pitt Wednesday night.
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