Syracuse’s up-and-down defensive play comes up big at end of OT win over Richmond
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Richmond became familiarized with the high-pitched buzz of the shot clock expiring in the final three minutes of regulation.
The Spiders bit Syracuse’s defense throughout the second half, hitting back-to-back 3-pointers to take a five-point lead with roughly six minutes left. They attacked from the wings and corners, continuously moving to the ball to find deep look after deep look against a tired and inexperienced Syracuse zone.
Richmond’s luck ran out though. Its offense slowed down, looking for Andre Gustavson directly under the basket but finding Jesse Edwards’ extended hand for the rejection. Jason Nelson kept the ball for too long at the top of the key on the next possession, and the pass to Gustavson for a corner triple was too late. Then, following a dunk from Edwards to give SU a 63-62 lead, Edwards left hand halted another late floater from the elbow.
“It’s something we have to learn, every game we’re learning that as a team,” Edwards said about the zone. “We stopped those shooters more at the end than before.”
Syracuse’s (3-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) defensive play was up-and-down throughout Monday’s contest against Richmond (2-3, 0-0 Atlantic 10), but it came up big at the end, Jim Boeheim said. SU cashed in on defensive plays with 27 points off turnovers and Edwards finished with six blocks, including one at the end of overtime to seal the win. Boeheim said the Orange are going to stick to the zone after their win over Northeastern, and he added tonight that there’s still a lot of room to improve on defense.
Early, the zone created issues for Richmond as Joe Girard III and Judah Mintz forced turnovers from the top of the zone or took off in transition after the Spiders fumbled the ball inside. After Girard scored his first 3-pointer of the game in transition, Mintz got the ball off a Richmond turnover on the right side of the court.
Mintz scouted the court for a brief second, realizing Girard was a step ahead of his defender. Girard spun to his left, getting past his defender and finishing with a layup on the right side to give Syracuse a 14-2 lead.
“That’s what they can do when we play the zone like that,” Edwards said about Girard and Mintz.
Later, Mintz stalked Jason Roche’s movement from his spot at the top of the zone. Roche tried to pass, but Mintz poked the ball away and into the backcourt. He picked the ball up in stride, throwing it down with no defender in sight.
Northeastern had plenty of looks against Syracuse but beat itself inside, missing uncontested jumpers or free looks from deep. Richmond did the same at first, but an 11-2 run brought it back in the game. The Spiders realized the way to get past Syracuse’s zone is to simply move the ball around the court until something freed up at the perimeter.
The Spiders started the second half 3-for-3 from deep, capping off a run of making seven of their last 11 3-point attempts. First, Nelson stationed himself at the top of the key while Tyler Burton perused behind the back of Syracuse’s zone. The Orange thought Nelson was looking for Burton, giving him enough space to shoot from deep. He eventually did, finding the bottom of the net to cut Syracuse’s halftime lead to two.
Less than 30 seconds later, Nelson was left wide open in the right corner. After a lengthy possession, including a layup which Edwards blocked, Nelson got the ball from Neal Quinn. He drained the 3 before Chris Bell quickly answered back from deep on the other end.
For the final deep shot of the stretch, the Spiders rotated the ball to the right side of the court before a skip pass found Bigelow. Benny Williams was out of position, sprinting to try and get the closeout, but he couldn’t contest in time before Bigelow drained the 3.
“We let them get too many shots at the start probably,” Edwards said.
The Orange improved as Mintz stood at the top of the zone again, placing his left foot way higher than his right. The positioning allowed him to reach a lot further than normal, which he did with 11 minutes left in the game, poking out another weak pass at the top of the key.
Mintz took off with two defenders near him, elevating anyways. He slammed it, falling back on defense and screaming after another steal-and-score.
Four minutes later though, Roche was left wide open at the right wing, firing immediately and finding the bottom of the net. And five minutes after that, the Spiders moved the ball around the perimeter. Bell made sure to guard the right wing properly this time, but an extra Bigelow in the corner resulted in another 3.
“Our forwards are still not looking and seeing where the shooters are,” Boeheim said. “They’re standing there.”
When Syracuse finally started to defend the 3-point line, which mostly came in the waning minutes of regulation, Richmond couldn’t get much going. Edwards said it’s hard for an offense to rethink their strategy in-game once their main option is taken away.
Syracuse carried its strong defense into overtime, only allowing Bigelow to hit once from the right wing. Mintz scored after a shot clock violation, giving the Spiders the ball back with a four-point deficit and a minute left on the clock.
Bigelow got the ball back from deep, missing from the right corner as Bell closed out on him. He got it back at the wing but clanked again with Edwards in his face. Edwards fell back to try and get the rebound, which was instead collected by Nelson. Nelson went back up, but Edwards met him at the rim and rejected Richmond one more time.
“I was kind of frustrated that they got five rebounds in a row, it felt like we couldn’t just finish them off,” Edwards said. “That was the final play, just getting it over with.”
