NEW YORK — A little less than two weeks ago, Duke gave Syracuse an opportunity. In their Feb. 24 matchup in Cameron Indoor Stadium, the Blue Devils missed their first 15 3-pointers. It was probably the worst offensive effort from Duke all season.

Syracuse lost that game because it too had an ugly offense. It finished with 44 points, its lowest total of the season. The shortage came because the man in charge of the other bench, Division I all-time wins leader Mike Krzyzewski, threw SU a defense it knows all too well — the 2-3 zone. He knew the blueprint to stopping Syracuse.

And during the most worrisome periods of Tuesday night’s 73-64 Syracuse (20-12, 8-10 Atlantic Coast) win over Wake Forest (11-20, 4-14) in the ACC Tournament’s opening round at the Barclays Center, it was the opponent’s deployment of Boeheim’s patented zone that stifled his Orange. WFU’s own version of the 2-3 helped it climb back after Syracuse started well. SU’s ability to adjust in the second half landed it another game to play Wednesday night.

“In the first half, we had a lot of good looks and just couldn’t make anything,” Boeheim said. “I think in the second half we attacked the zone better. I thought Frank (Howard) did a great job, Marek (Dolezaj) was tremendous getting into the open spots.”

The win provides relief, albeit not much of it. SU entered this tournament knowing Day 1 was a stepping stone to the matchups that can boost its chances of making the Big Dance. But its first game was also as far as the Orange had ever been. Although it has played deeper in the ACC tournament thanks to a bye, Syracuse never won a game in this setting since joining the conference for the 2013-2014 season. Until now.

So sixth-seeded North Carolina awaits. The Tar Heels came to the Carrier Dome a few weeks ago and survived a late push from SU. They are given the third-best odds of surviving ACC tournament, according to Kenpom.com, while SU has just a 17 percent chance of making it to the next round. In uncharted territory, the Orange will have to defy what the numbers say to avoid failing to make the NCAA Tournament for the third time in four years — something that has never happened in Jim Boeheim’s 42-year tenure as head coach. Now, SU has the opportunity it missed out on at Duke.

An opening similar to Tuesday’s wouldn’t hurt, as it appeared to be Syracuse’s game to lose from the get-go. A hot offensive start, highlighted by a sequence where sophomore guard Tyus Battle stole the ball, dunked it and converted an and-one on the next possession, gave the Orange a 20-4 edge before ten minutes could pass. Howard later said he warned his teammates that margin would shrink.

“I told the guys they were going to make a run. They’re an explosive team,” Howard said. “… We knew what they did to us down in their place. We took an L to them.”

On the other end, SU’s defense rattled Wake Forest early. The Demon Deacons hit just one 3-pointer before the half, even with some of their 13 attempts wide open. They mailed cross-court passes out of bounds and into the hands of Orange defenders.

WFU’s ability to flip to zone made the rubber match between the two teams the close contest it was billed to be. Syracuse cooled, committing a bundle of its nine first-half turnovers. It grew stagnant, freshman forward Oshae Brissett said, because Wake Forest’s stationary zone egged them into it.

“You see the defense there standing around,” Brissett said. “If it’s man, you feel like you could beat anybody. But in the zone, it’s like the whole team is guarding you once get the ball. We gotta move around a lot more.”

The margin crept closer as Wake Forest attacked SU from the high post, often times with a smaller guard like junior Bryant Crawford. A jumper from him and a Doral Moore posterizing dunk on Matthew Moyer later, the flood of Orange in the seats lost its raucousness. They had a game.

With about five minutes left, junior center Paschal Chukwu, at 7-foot-2, swatted a ball way out of bounds. The Barclays Center’s lower bowl full of Orange fans erupted. But the ref called goaltending and Wake Forest was awarded two. A 16-point lead had dipped to four points. From the sideline, head coach Jim Boeheim pushed his palms toward the hardwood and issued a directive to his team: calm down. They took that message to halftime along with a six-point lead.

In the second 20 minutes, Syracuse found the movement necessary to best the defense it knows so well. Marek Dolezaj opened the second half with five-straight SU points to pad the lead to nine. The freshman forward had his best game with 20 points on 6-of-7 shooting. He operated within the paint using polished passes and a trigger quicker than it ever has been since he arrived in Syracuse. He dunked thrice.

“It makes the game so much easier,” Battle said of Dolezaj’s contributions. “Especially when they’re in that 2-3 zone, teams extending out on Frank and I, trying to not let us shoot. When Marek sits in the middle and developed that 15-footer, he can shoot that shot and make the decisions down low. It makes the game so much easier.”

Then Howard added an and-one floater. Battle answered a WFU 3 with one of his own — SU would finish with just four triples on the night. Again, the Orange came out of the locker room playing good basketball.

With just over ten minutes to play, Howard ran the fast break. He had numbers. He looked to his left. The ball went the other way, right into the grasp of an ascending Brissett. The freshman forward didn’t have his best day, passing up some open jumpers and electing to drive into missed layups. He did not miss this time, dunking with so much momentum that he pulled his head above the rim. Syracuse led by 15.

Wake Forest chiseled. It nailed its 3s and drew a few charges. The lead fell into single digits, but unlike during SU’s trip to Winston-Salem in January, the Orange had answers. It will need a few more on Wednesday to fend off concerns about the most important thing in March.

Published on March 6, 2018 at 9:22 pm

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