The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team came up short against the Duke Blue Devils, falling 86-66 from Cameron Indoor Stadium. The upset bid fell apart midway through the second half as Syracuse’s 17 turnovers would eventually come home to roost.
Despite Judah Mintz leading the Orange with 18 points, six assists, and three steals and Maliq Brown scoring a career-high 26 points, Duke’s transition offence and 8–8 outside shooting in the second half proved too much to overcome.
Despite Kyle Filipowski being out for the first 20 minutes due to two first-half fouls, Syracuse managed to hold their own against the Blue Devils. However, Duke, particularly Jared McCain, was able to disrupt Syracuse’s attack by turning it over and cutting to the basket in transition for easy threes. In the second half, Duke did not miss any three-pointers.
Against Duke’s formidable defence, Syracuse was a little too careless with the basketball, and it showed in their mistakes. Halfcourt defence for Duke turned out to be a difficult row to hoe.
In the Autry era, Syracuse is undoubtedly ahead of schedule and has done a good job setting itself up for success with strong non-conference play. However, Syracuse is currently 0-3 in games played in the first quadrant.
McCain’s open three in transition, which gave his team a 13-point lead, opened up scoring for Duke. After Autry called a timeout, Syracuse exchanged baskets with the Blue Devils, but it was unable to get the necessary stops or cut the lead back to single digits. It was a metaphor for how the team faltered in their games against Virginia, Tennessee, and Gonzaga.
Throughout the season, there have been encouraging indications of growth. Although Syracuse demonstrated some resiliency against Duke, the Orange is still not quite ready.
The main gunmen in Syracuse are rarely seen firing.
Chris Bell and Justin Taylor need more shots, so Syracuse will need to figure out a way to get them. Syracuse’s two best shooters, the starting forwards combined to shoot 0–3 overall and 0–2 from three point range against Duke.
Bell is 2-12 from three during the past five games, and Taylor is 5-13, though his 3-4 performance came against Niagara.
It’s true that floor spacing matters, but Syracuse can win games without having to shoot threes. But Autry has Quadir Copeland and Benny Williams for defence, so those two guys aren’t always on the pitch. Although Taylor puts forth more effort than is acknowledged, the Orange must find something to keep him and Bell on the floor.
Maliq magician
If there was one bright spot in Syracuse’s defeat at Duke, it was Brown’s performance. With 26 points and seven rebounds, the sophomore forward-turned-center had a career-high performance.
In addition to being the most mobile centre who can defend in space and on the perimeter, Brown provides Syracuse with their best offensive lineup. Usually, his deception results in one or two steals per game. The best defender Syracuse could have put on Filipowski was him.
In addition to having poise and game awareness, Brown can also make the occasional three-pointer. Teams are losing track of Brown on ball screens and roll action because they are so intent on slowing down Mintz, JJ Starling, and even Copeland. He has benefited from it.
Leave a Reply