Observations from SU’s win over Notre Dame: Shaky 2nd half, J.J. Starling reunion

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For those in attendance at the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday, the game was more so a blast to the past than a sign of things to come. Along with the contest between Syracuse and Notre Dame, there were postgame festivities and multiple video tributes — including ones from Mike Krzyzewski, Rick Pitino and Carmelo Anthony — for former SU head coach Jim Boeheim.

But Syracuse head coach Adrian Autry’s current squad put on a display that was reminiscent of dominant Orange teams from the past. SU shot 60.6% from the field including a 5-for-9 mark from the 3-point line in the first half alone.

With SU up by 20 at halftime, the second half became a slog as it continued to dominate, with Judah Mintz and J.J. Starling, who played his first game against his old school, scoring 21 and 14, respectively.

But for the second straight game, the Orange struggled in the second half and the Irish clawed back behind the efforts of Markus Burton and Braeden Shrewsberry who combined for 46 points. With 25 seconds to go, ND was only down three. The Syracuse defense stopped Shrewsberry from 3 and Chris Bell made free throws to seemingly ice the contest. But Notre Dame kept fighting and had a chance to tie, but Burton’s effort fell short and SU held on.

Here are observations from Syracuse’s (18-10, 9-8 Atlantic Coast) 88-85 win over Notre Dame (10-17, 5-11 ACC):

Lights out first half, another shaky second half

In the tight win over NC State, Syracuse had its best first half of the season, scoring 55 points after just 60 in a whole game against Georgia Tech. Bell ended 8-of-9 from 3-point range in the opening 20 minutes while the Orange had a healthy lead. In the first half against Notre Dame, it was no different as SU led by as much as 29 points.

But in the final two minutes of the first half, the Fighting Irish went on a 9-0 run, capped off by a long range 3 at the buzzer from Burton, who gave his team a little pep in its step heading back to the locker room.

Through four and a half minutes in the second half, the Orange shot 20% from the field, allowing the Fighting Irish to eventually cut the deficit down to as little as three points. Shrewsberry hit back-to-back 3s and Burton eluded Bell for an open 3-pointer to keep the Irish alive. Minutes later, Burton hit a fadeaway and-one to make the score 55-43. Just like the NC State game, Syracuse allowed it to become a game again.

Burton and Shrewsberry hit three 3-pointers early in the second half as the Notre Dame sideline lit up, while fans in the Dome started to squirm.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. and Bell made a layup and a 3-pointer, respectively, but the Irish did not go away. With seven minutes to go, Burton recorded an and-one and relentlessly drove to the basket against SU’s man defense. Shrewsberry hit two more 3s and the Irish were only down six points. And with 1:07 left, Julian Roper II made it a 3-point game with a corner 3. While SU made the stops it needed to, it was the second game in a row that the Orange played weaker in the second half.

J.J. Starling reunion

During warmups, nothing seemed out of the ordinary for Starling, who hugged just one assistant coach from his former team Notre Dame. There wasn’t much of a reunion for Starling considering only four players were on last year’s Fighting Irish squad.

Starling scored his first points against his old team on a banked layup after Mintz nabbed a steal at midcourt. At nearly the midway point of the half, Starling buried a 3 from the right wing, forcing Notre Dame head coach Micah Shrewsberry to call a timeout. Starling smiled and shuffled his way back to the SU bench. The former ND guard hit his second 3 of the game with 2:50 to go in the first half.

But like the rest of his teammates, Starling’s second half wasn’t as efficient as his first, not recording a bucket until the 5:32 mark of the half. It was a crucial floater that put SU back up by double digits. And as the final score indicated, every basket mattered in the end.

Early snails’ pace

Heading into today’s matchup, Notre Dame had a tempo of 63.9, which ranked 339th out of 362 Division-I teams. In layman’s terms, it means the Fighting Irish are a slow basketball team. Against the Orange, they showed it.

The Fighting Irish opted to pass around the 3-point arc and let the shot clock run down. On one possession in the first half, they made one too many passes as the Orange defense forced a shot clock violation.

The insistence on passing around ended up contributing to Syracuse’s 10 steals on the day, forcing plenty of fastbreak opportunities. Center Peter Carey, returning from a concussion, forced a steal and Mintz finished off the fastbreak with a layup to put the Orange up by 22 points. Earlier in the half, Bell scored a layup after Starling kept the possession alive with a steal.

It got to the point where Notre Dame struggled to even pass the ball correctly, tallying 17 turnovers. SU became the beneficiaries with 31 points off of turnovers.

But as the Irish improved in the second half, the extra passes ended up working in their favor on some occasions. Tae Davis hit a wide open 3-pointer to make the score 65-54, while Burton hit another one to cut the deficit to single digits. Still, ND came up short in the end and had not stopped playing the slow brand of basketball which put it so far behind in the first place.

Chris Bell getting chippy

After scoring 26 points in the first half and zero in the second against NC State, Bell seemed to pick up right where he left off, nailing a 3 from the left corner. Bell finished the day 6-of-8 for 18 points, including four 3s. But it was his second 3-pointer that garnered attention.

After Bell buried a 3-pointer from the left wing, he stood right next to Shrewsberry and seemed to have some words for the head coach. As Bell ran down the floor to get back on defense, Shrewsberry looked livid, staring at Bell and Autry. Shrewsberry’s feathers seemed ruffled. In the next pause in the action, Autry immediately subbed out Bell for Justin Taylor.

But almost as quickly as he was subbed out, Bell was back in, only getting a talk from Autry for a few moments.

The interaction didn’t stop from Bell having another efficient day, hitting shots from all over the court. He nailed contested fadeaways from the post and forced his way inside in another performance that would impress Golden State Warriors forward Draymond Green.