Observations from SU’s win over Louisville: Zone defense, lack of bench depth
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Plenty has happened since Syracuse last played at the JMA Wireless Dome on Jan. 27.
The team dismissed forward Benny Williams the day before its matchup against Atlantic Coast Conference bottom-dweller Louisville and a few days after a blowout loss on the road to Wake Forest. Without Williams, who had carved himself a role as a valuable bench piece, the Orange had to focus on the matchup against the Cardinals.
Instead of being a somber affair, the game was fast paced and featured 18 lead changes. SU’s offense received a massive spark from Chris Bell, who finished with a career-high 30 points, before Judah Mintz started to heat up toward the end of the first half.
The second half was no different, with both the Cardinals and Orange nailing shots. It had the feeling of whoever had the last shot would win. It didn’t exactly play out that way.
Louisville kept it close until the very end. With 34 seconds to go, Bell buried his eighth 3-pointer of the night to give SU a late 91-87 lead. He had a block on the other end, but the Cardinals hung around.
With five seconds to go, Skyy Clark buried a desperation 3-pointer to tie the game 92-92. But the Orange responded quickly, with Quadir Copeland rushing down the floor, drawing a goaltending with three seconds left. And on the final shot, Clark missed the 3, ending the offensive thriller with a miss.
Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (15-8, 6-6 ACC) 94-92 win over Louisville (7-16, 2-10 ACC):
The fast and the furious
Following the Wake Forest loss, head coach Adrian Autry was very critical of his team’s effort. He didn’t have to worry tonight.
After Louisville started the matchup with a 9-2 lead, Syracuse started a shootout. It wasn’t just that the teams were making most of their shots (they did). But the Orange and the Cardinals were playing at a fast pace.
When one team scored, the other struck right back. The first half provided a good example of this. Midway through the first 20 minutes, Maliq Brown scored a layup. But within seconds, Louisville’s Curtis Williams sunk a jump shot and tied the game at 27-27.
The second half provided much of the same, especially on the fast break. Copeland stole the ball and threw an underhand pass to J.J. Starling. Starling drove to the hoop and threw up a layup. It was blocked but got called for goaltending and SU had a 60-59 lead.
There was no big lead between either team. After the Cardinals took a four-point lead with 8:46 remaining, Mintz quickly scored four points of his own to tie the game. Even when Louisville took a six-point game late in the second half, that lead evaporated after a Starling 3-pointer and a Mintz and-one.
Each team threw haymaker after haymaker.
No Benny. What now?
If you just looked at the starting lineup, you wouldn’t notice anything different. Mintz, Starling, Brown, Bell and Justin Taylor all started like normal. But the obvious difference was from who didn’t come off the bench.
From a pure basketball perspective, Williams’ dismissal was a massive blow to the depth. Without Williams, the Orange relied on their starting lineup and Copeland to carry the burden of minutes.
The only other player that got minutes during the game was Peter Carey, who finished with five. But within the first minute of him coming on the floor, he had a defensive rebound and a shooting foul against him. He ended up scoring no points and grabbing no rebounds.
In between foul shots, you could see players like Starling stretching their legs, trying to stay fresh. When players like Bell sat on the bench, they looked tired. It’s hard to blame them.
With the limited number of SU players on the floor, it undoubtedly affected its defense.
Return to the 2-3 zone
Throughout the entire first half, Syracuse showed virtually no sign of playing a man defense. The Orange rotated between playing a 2-3 and 3-2 zone to lock down.
SU initially stymied Louisville in the paint for the most part. But the Cardinals made them pay from the 3-point line. They finished 11-of-25 from beyond the arc. This was pretty damning for the Syracuse defense considering Louisville had the 313th-best 3-point percentage in the country heading into the contest.
The Cardinals took advantage of the Orange’s defense by grabbing offensive boards. Three and a half minutes into the second half, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield nabbed an offensive rebound, kicking out to Tre White, who then passed back to Huntley-Hatfield. The 6-foot-10 forward then drained a corner 3. Later in the half, Huntley-Hatfield would get the offensive rebound then White scored on a layup.
Coming out of halftime, SU tried playing man-to-man defense. But it still mostly stayed in the zone. Cardinals like White penetrated the paint and converted on second-chance dunks. One such dunk gave his team a 71-67 lead.
Bell the sharp shooter
After Bell bricked his first 3-point attempt of the evening, he was sharp throughout the rest of the contest. Bell finished with 11-for-15, which featured eight 3-pointers. While Bell was hot, he did not shoot from his typical spot: the corners.
Instead, Bell moved around to make his magic. He converted on a 2-point jumper from the baseline to tie the game at 11. Later in the half, Brown faced pressure down low and threw out to an open Bell. The forward faked to elude the defender before pulling up and nailing the 3-pointer to give SU the lead. Later in the second half, Bell didn’t do a pump fake and still hit a triple.
The first half was a stark improvement for Bell, who went 0-for-7 from 3 in his past two games. Once Bell had been successful from all around the floor, he went back to the corner in the second half, making a triple to give SU a 58-57 lead.
When the forward came back into the game at the 6:48 mark of the second half, he received applause as the Orange’s leading scorer. He made it count in the clutch, making a contested 3 as the shot clock expired to give SU an 84-81 lead. This 3-pointer also secured the game as Bell’s best since he joined Syracuse.
