Observations of Syracuse vs. Cornell: Rebounding woes, 1st-half run fuels win

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Syracuse trailed Cornell for 19 minutes in the first half. It couldn’t defend the 3 and hardly had any production from Jesse Edwards. But, by the time the final buzzer sounded, a 14-5 run that ended the first half and sparked a massive second half lead, helped SU mount a double-digit win. The victory was arguably the ugliest of the Orange’s season, but they have now won five straight games and wrapped up non-conference play with an 8-5 record.

Syracuse (8-4, 1-0 Atlantic Coast) had five players finish with at least 10 points and — helped along by a nearly eight minute scoring drought from the Big Red (7-3, 0-0 Ivy League) — eventually put away Cornell 78-63. When Edwards threw down a dunk in the remaining seconds of the game, his double-double was the cherry on top of one of the best second half comebacks this season.

Here are some observations from the win.

Shooting out of the zone

Cornell is known for shooting 3-pointers and it came out firing from the first possession. By the 16th minute, Syracuse called timeout, the Big Red had already grabbed an 11-7 lead. While the two guards at the top of Syracuse’s zone moved laterally to stay in front of and pressure the offense, Cornell exploited the spaces at the top of the key, and in either corner, to set up open looks.

Cornell is tied with Utah State for the most in the country. Even when they didn’t connect, the Big Red continued to fire from deep because of their ability to create space from range for a laundry list of high-powered 3-point shooters. In one possession, Keller Boothby was short on two straight 3s. A few possessions — and five more missed 3s — later, Nazir Williams hastily pulled up from the JMA Dome logo early into the shot clock and connected on a 3-pointer, picking apart a defense on its heels.

Then in the second half, the Big Red went completely cold, but they just kept trying to make the 3 ball work. With 11:52 left in the game, they hit their season average of 35 3-point attempts, but were shooting just 25.7% at the time.

First half run swings momentum

When Chris Bell made the first free throw to tie the game at 37 apiece with just a few seconds remaining in the first half, it erased a deficit that at one point ballooned out to 11 points. The Orange were reeling throughout the first half, caught off guard by a 3-point shooting effort that saw a total of 22 attempts from deep through the first 20 minutes. Syracuse couldn’t find an offensive rebound and struggled to piece together cohesive possessions that led to open looks consistently. A Williams 3 with 3:46 left in the first half gave the Big Red that lead, and it looked as though the Orange might once again go into halftime trailing.

Then Judah Mintz hit two straight layups and a free throw. Williams responded with another 3-pointer, but Joe Girard III added in a pair of free throws before Bell pulled up from the right edge to knock down a 3-pointer. Bell sized up his defender, pulled up, and flipped the momentum of the entire game on that make. He forced a steal on the other end, then watched from the other end of the court as Girard hit a 3-pointer.

It wasn’t a perfect half. It was one that saw Jim Boeheim step onto the court and visibly instruct Bell on how to play in the zone. It was a half that saw Mintz misfire from deep every time he tried and that led to Syracuse fans booing. But a 14-5 run across three and a half minutes erased all that and ensured it was a tied game heading into the break.

Rebounding becomes an issue

Boeheim was adamant on Monday that Syracuse’s players — the forwards in particular — aren’t going to play if they don’t get down low to rebound. He said that, for whatever reason, Benny Williams and Bell don’t want to crash the boards and that the Orange don’t do well against physical teams. Midway through the first half, with Cornell in the midst of a run that cemented a tie game at half, Boothby knocked down a contested 3 in the right corner after a kick out from Sean Hanson to extend the Big Red’s lead to nine points. Boothby’s three wouldn’t have happened if Mounir Hima had corralled the defensive rebound.

Hanson is two inches shorter than Edwards and Hima, but outplayed the pair. He finished the game with 11 points and grabbed seven boards, allowing Cornell to extend plays. Eventually, Boeheim pulled Edwards, who played 27 minutes, and opted to have Williams and Maliq Brown fill a dual role of center.

Even as the Big Red cooled off from deep and muddled their way through a 26-point second half, they still continued to successfully rebound. Cornell ended the game with 45 rebounds, including 22 offensive rebounds.

Back door left wide open, then slammed shut

Boeheim clearly had enough with his big men with 7:41 left in the first half and the Orange sitting in a 25-16 hole. Cornell had just forced a foul on Brown when it drove past the forward and into the lane for a layup attempt. Boeheim ran out to the court after calling a timeout and stood where Brown should have been before frustratingly pointing at the floor. Once Cornell jumped out to a lead, Syracuse’s defense faded up toward the 3-point line in order to stop the flurry of long shots.

That opened up the baseline for Cornell, allowing its forwards to break inside behind Edwards, Brown or Williams and find a basket via an entry pass inside. On two straight possessions, Hanson cut in and a Cornell guard threw up a lob, linking up for two. The Orange’s defense, particularly Brown and Williams, stood taller in the second half, but still periodically let Cornell in behind it for backdoor layups.

When the Big Red would pass inside — most of the time coming from a pass to the free throw line — the Orange would clamp down and stop any chance at a drive toward the hoop. Once that stopped, the 3-pointers stopped falling as well, and the Orange opened up a lead that at one point got to 20 points as part of a Cornell scoring drought that lasted over eight minutes.

Girard keeps SU afloat

The one spot of consistency Saturday afternoon for the Orange was Girard, who finished with 19 points. SU’s leading scorer took charge, scoring the majority of Syracuse’s points in the first half. Girard found success from deep and meandered his way through the paint en route to a 5-for-12 shooting performance from the field.

Early in the second half, as a part of a huge run for the Orange, Girard drove inside and drew a foul, connecting on both free throws. Then, he flung a cross-court pass to Bell, who connected on a 3-pointer. Finally, he forced a steal on Cornell at the top of the key and led the charge on a 3-on-1 transition. He saw Mintz sprinting and lofted up a pass, pumping his fist as Mintz threw down a dunk to punctuate the sequence.

Girard finished with four assists and added three rebounds in one of his most effective games of the season. He didn’t experience any cold streaks and rarely thrusted up ill-advised shots, instead opting to work on his defenders and create enough space to shoot or keep them off balance enough to drive in on them.