It has been called the Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball, and it is designed to run an opponent ragged. Relying on relentless defensive pressure, Mike Anderson’s teams seek to create a break-neck tempo that results in turnovers and easy baskets for their offense the other way.

Its trademark is the full-court press — a devilish tool that, when run effectively and with vigor, can frustrate even the country’s best guard play. Mixed in are half-court traps and variations of matchup zones that interchange frequently to hopefully confuse the opposition.

That is what awaits the nation’s top assist man, Michael Carter-Williams, as he leads Syracuse south into Fayetteville, Ark., on Friday for what could be the Orange’s (4-0) toughest test of the season. Following a dazzling 13-assist performance on Sunday against Colgate, this week’s hurdle — on the road, hostile environment, against the Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball — is significantly more difficult to climb. The Razorbacks (3-2) welcome the Orange into Bud Walton Arena for its first true road game not played aboard an aircraft carrier.

“Arkansas is very difficult at home; they’ve lost two road games, but they are a different team at home,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Any pressing team is always much more difficult to play on their home court, so that will be a real test for us on Friday.”

Naturally, a great deal of the burden falls on Carter-Williams’ shoulders. The sophomore point guard is coming off arguably the best three games of his career, where he tallied upward of nine assists in each contest and maintained nearly a 5-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.

His transition from a little-used freshman to the starting point guard has slid senior Brandon Triche into the shooting guard role. Triche, who played the point as a freshman alongside Andy Rautins, will need to help Carter-Williams break the press on Friday and provide stability on a team that has only two true ball-handlers — a potential detriment that has yet to be exploited so far this season.

That’s due in most part to the stellar play of Carter-Williams, who is averaging 9.3 assists per game.

“He’s making the right reads, you know?” Syracuse assistant coach Gerry McNamara said. “He could have scored, but at the same time he also got wide-open shots for our shooters (against Colgate) and different shots for guys in different areas. So as much as he could have scored, I thought the majority of the time he made the right decisions.”

On Friday, Anderson’s defense will harass the Orange in an attempt to force the SU players into making the wrong decisions. It’s a philosophy Anderson adopted from his old boss, legendary Razorbacks coach Nolan Richardson, who won a national championship at Arkansas in 1994. Anderson spent 17 years on Richardson’s staff and adopted the break-neck style — Anderson called it the “40 Minutes of Hell” — when he became a head coach for the first time in 2002 at Alabama-Birmingham.

So far in 2012, the Razorbacks rank in the Top 25 in the country in scoring offense at 82.4 points per game, which is a result of increased possessions courtesy of their defense. And it all adds up to an outstanding turnover margin of plus-8.6, which is tied for the third best in the nation.

In total, the Razorbacks have forced 43 more turnovers than they have committed themselves.

“They like to press, and we just have to keep our heads up and know when they’re coming we have to pass it out,” Syracuse forward Rakeem Christmas said.

The positive news for the Orange is that Carter-Williams is coming off a game in which his 13 assists were combined with just a single turnover. Boeheim called it the “one bad play” he made all game on a day that everything else was perfect.

It’s that type of ball security — a football term more than applicable to point guards — that Carter-Williams and Triche will need on Friday against the Razorbacks. They will be pressured unlike at any other point this season, that much is certain, but how the SU backcourt is going to respond remains to be seen.

Said Boeheim: “We’re in a good position after these first four games, so we’ll see what we do Friday.”

Published on November 28, 2012 at 11:24 pm

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