The halftime score was nearly identical to a game that will live forever in Syracuse lore. Two years ago, No. 10 seed Syracuse’s offense sputtered to 21 first-half points against No. 1 seed Virginia in the Elite Eight. Then, the Orange implemented a full-court press to stun UVA and become Final Four bound.

On Saturday afternoon, SU’s offense again scored just 21 first-half points against the Cavaliers. So it turned to the press, which also contributed to an upset win over Virginia last season. But the full-court pressure produced mixed results in Syracuse’s (15-8, 4-6 Atlantic Coast) 59-44 loss to Virginia (22-1, 11-0) inside the Carrier Dome. The press, which salvaged SU’s season a year ago and helped SU top Georgetown in December, could not inject life into an SU offense that scored its fewest points in Carrier Dome history.

“We can press for about two minutes and we might catch somebody,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “But after that, we’re not a very good full-court pressing team.”

That’s exactly what happened against UVA. The Orange turned to its press after its first made basket of the second half and produced an immediate corner trap, from which the ball was knocked out of bounds. Later, SU got a couple of turnovers out of the pressure, though UVA worked the middle of the court to produce two-on-one situations and a few alley-oops.

Syracuse has utilized the press only sparingly for two primary reasons. First, SU is thin. Only six players saw time Saturday, with freshman forward Bourama Sidibe battling tendinitis and freshman guard Howard Washington out for the year. Second, Syracuse pressures the other team only after made baskets, which have been infrequent as the offense continues to slide.

The Orange practices the press every day, assistant coach Allen Griffin said. He said there are a variety of reasons for applying the pressure, and that it’s not always meant to be an all-out way to generate steals. Sometimes, it’s a speed-the-game-up mechanism. Sometimes, it’s just to provide a change-up of sorts from the 2-3 zone. Maybe an unforced turnover will come of it. Other times, Syracuse implements the press in an attempt to generate turnovers and create offense.

The latter has been the main reason for SU’s usage of the press this season, even as early as the scrimmages against Division-II opponents. The Orange went to the press in the first half to kick-start the offense. Against then-No.2 Kansas on Dec. 2, Syracuse’s pressure helped spark a 16-2 second-half run. Similar pressure increased the pace of the game at Georgetown on Dec. 16, after which sophomore guard Tyus Battle said the pressure worked because, “We were hustling … Diving on the floor.”

Late in the game on Saturday, Syracuse extended its pressure in the half court as well.
Alexandra Moreo | Senior Staff Photographer

Boeheim contradicted himself Saturday, as he said in November that the full-court press could be a boost for the inexperienced team that is Syracuse.

“We’ve been working on it, we’ve spent a lot of time on our press,” Boeheim said before the season began. “The difference this year and last year is we have a shot blocker. That’s the only difference. We would have probably pressed a little bit more last year if we had a shot blocker … And we didn’t have that last year. That’s why we only pressed when we really were desperate. And so I think we can press a little bit more this year. I think we’re a little bit better defensively with our pressure in the other positions. I think we’re more mobile there. And we’re forcing.”

Yet the Cavaliers had no problem with the press, as they are “good with pressure,” Boeheim said after SU’s loss at Virginia on Jan. 9. On Saturday, junior center Paschal Chukwu struggled to assert himself and while freshman forward Marek Dolezaj picked up two blocks, he too was not in position to challenge shots in the press. Junior point guard Frank Howard said SU’s guards let UVA players get free in the backcourt, which put the bigs at a disadvantage.

Nevertheless, with a thin team such as Syracuse, the timing is paramount, Griffin said, because “When we have to press outside of the press we really need to press, it can catch up to you.”

Given SU’s thin rotation, Syracuse may not press much moving forward. But it may have to, considering how ineffective its offense has proven to be.

Published on February 3, 2018 at 8:07 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21