CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. — The ball rolled on the ground and orange Syracuse jerseys swarmed. As hands reached for the ball, Boston College’s Derryck Thornton side-shuffled near the 3-point line.

Four SU players collapsed, leaving the fifth on an island between Thornton and Steffon Mitchell. Two quick passes later, Thornton notched his third 3 of the game. SU head coach Jim Boeheim stormed up the baseline, feigning two punches. Less than a minute later, Jay Heath converted another deep ball.

On Tuesday, SU had its statistically worst-defensive performance along the 3-point arc. It didn’t matter.

The Eagles totaled 19 3s against Syracuse and lost by double-digits, 84-71, in the Conte Forum on ESPN2. With three rotational front-court players out, Boston College (13-17, 7-12) attempted 42 deep balls. SU (17-13, 10-9 Atlantic Coast) weathered the barrage, though, stitching together long defensive stops in the game’s deciding stretches. SU let shooters leak free after allowing an offensive rebound, and while its two best players ultimately decided the score, it was BC’s constant launching that kept the game within reach.

“Teams take a lot of 3s against us, anyway,” Boeheim said. “They went to an extreme because I think they had to.”

It was a game of season-highs for both sides. It was the most deep tries SU allowed since North Florida registered 17 on Dec. 21. And the Eagles eclipsed their previous single-game high in 3s by eight. In the first half, BC collapsed and kicked, letting Syracuse’s 2-3 zone overload on one side before a shooter skirted free on the wing.

When Boston College visited the Carrier Dome on Jan. 15, it created open looks but didn’t connect. BC missed its first 18 tries from deep and finished with six in a 24-point loss. Tuesday night featured a similar strategy, Joe Girard III said postgame.

For the Eagles first 3, they followed the prototypical way to break down the zone. The ball started on the right-wing before being passed down to Heath in the post. Elijah Hughes rotated over but the corner was left open. Kamari Williams rose and Hughes swiped his hand on the follow-through.

Within 16 minutes on Tuesday night, they had six 3s. They eclipsed that four minutes into the second half, too.

“You can’t leave shooters open in college basketball,” Boeheim said. “… Most of their 3s until the end there were off rebounds going back out. Those are hard to match up on.”

In the second frame, Buddy and Girard collapsed on a guard atop the key, and a quick pass to Thornton cut the SU lead to six points. Boeheim quickly called a timeout, yelling at his son as he approached the huddle.

Thornton finished with 6 3s, breaking free on broken plays. Heath, BC’s leading 3-point shooter (37.3%), operated from the high-post but found room from the top of the key. But it was Julian Rishwain that uncharacteristically helped BC’s attack. The freshman started just his fourth game in place of Jairus and Jared Hamilton, who, along with Nik Popovic, missed the game.

Rishwain tallied a conference-high 23 minutes and swished four 3s. He rotated over screens and drew SU guards higher out. Yet, SU’s interior defense was enough. They allowed just six two-pointers, its second-lowest total of the season. Though it was more of a product of BC’s gameplan, Syracuse players said.

While five of BC’s 3s came in the final 2:18, the Orange have still given up 30 3s in the last 80 minutes of gametime. It didn’t matter Tuesday night, but with an impending postseason gauntlet, a tighter defense around the perimeter can be the difference between an early-exit and postseason-clinching run.

“We just made our free throws at the end to keep that separation,” Hughes said. “But they got hot, we gotta do a better job.”

Published on March 3, 2020 at 11:13 pm

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