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For Syracuse’s first six games in March, Buddy Boeheim carried the Orange’s offense. Defenses tried different strategies to contain him, but he didn’t shoot worse than 40% in those games. He averaged 26 points per game, igniting SU’s run from a borderline bubble team into the NCAA Tournament’s field.

But his offensive tear ended against Houston in the Sweet 16 on Saturday. The Cougars’ doubled off screens, and DeJon Jarreau spent most of the game shadowing Buddy. Syracuse’s junior guard managed just 12 points on 3-for-13 shooting, including 1-for-9 on 3-pointers, and finished with his worst field goal percentage since Feb. 6 against Clemson.

“I knew it was going to be a battle,” Buddy said after the game. “He just jammed me coming off screens, jammed handoffs, whatever it was. He was just great.”

Here’s how the Cougars contained the focal point of Syracuse’s offense in the Orange’s 62-46 loss — and what caused the rare breakdowns that happened in their defense:

The plays that didn’t work

Doubling off a screen, anticipating the roll pass

In this clip, Jarreau and Brison Gresham double Buddy after Quincy Guerrier pops up to set a ball screen. They knock the SU junior off-balance as he bounces a pass back to Guerrier after his roll to the top of the key.

Marcus Sasser stepped in front of Guerrier before the pass arrived, anticipating the movement and covering the backside of the double. He raced in transition and converted an open layup at the other end.

After Syracuse defeated West Virginia in the Round of 32, head coach Bob Huggins said that the Mountaineers switched off Buddy even when he told them to stop switching.

“We wanted size on Buddy, and we switched size off of him, and he shot it over the top of us and made three 3s,” Huggins said.

Houston didn’t make that same mistake six days later. The Cougars kept the 6-foot-5 Jarreau on him through screens and helped or doubled instead of switching. That prevented Buddy from slipping around a switch and limited how effectively he could create space with Jarreau still pinned on him.

Double ball screen doesn’t work

As Buddy cut to the top of the key around the perimeter, he received two ball screens from Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj to clear his path there.

But as he curled around the screen, Houston hedged two defenders on his open look — leaving Kadary Richmond open on the wing for a jumper if Syracuse wanted — and took away the 3-pointer at the top of the key.

That meant Syracuse resorted to its section option as the play kept developing. Buddy’s shot wasn’t open, and he had no room to initiate a drive to the basket, either. Instead, Robert Braswell curled around the same path Buddy did, and the junior guard hit Braswell with a bounce pass to lead him into an open late. But a trio of Houston defenders converged on Braswell and prevented an SU basket with a block.

Houston head coach Kelvin Sampson said postgame that Houston didn’t want to double the post. That would’ve meant backside rotations, and help would be necessary, which resulted in open shooters such as Buddy. The Cougars continued to guard the 3-point line, and Syracuse kept resorting to lanes inside.

“They were there to help him, but he’s a really good defender,” head coach Jim Boeheim said after the game.

Jarreau face-guarding Buddy

Earlier in the season, Boeheim said he was surprised that teams face-guarded Buddy on the 3-point line instead of helping inside. Jarreau does the same thing on this play, sticking with Buddy instead of helping Joe Girard III after he enters the lane. Justin Gorham immediately doubles on Buddy after he takes a handoff from Dolezaj too, forcing a dump back over the double-team to Syracuse’s center.

That eventually leads to a spinning layup for Dolezaj, but Houston’s double prevented an open look for Buddy from behind the arc — and also cut off the lane to take Jarreau inside.

Taking away Buddy’s interior game

With Jarreau taking away Buddy’s open looks behind the arc, Syracuse’s junior was forced to attempt some interior shots, too. He connected on 1-of-4 open looks from inside the 3-point line but couldn’t get a shot off this time. Jarreau stuck with Buddy while he drove toward the paint, and Dolezaj’s defender dropped to help — as did Richmond’s man on the opposite wing.

Buddy dished back to Dolezaj with the trio of defenders closing in, which created a wide-open look for Richmond in the corner. He converted, but Syracuse was again forced to use a secondary option on offense as opposed to Buddy.

“You watch him the last two games, he got open a lot ducking in and out of those screens,” Sampson said postgame. “But the key is you’ve got to stay outside his hips. You can’t stay inside them. You’ve got to be outside. And the big has to help.”

The rare ones that did

The one open shot

Out of Buddy’s 13 shot attempts against Houston, this was the most open one by far. A majority of his looks in the Orange’s previous two tournament games were open, even if they were a step or two further behind the arc, but the Cougars and Jarreau prevented Buddy from getting those same looks on Saturday.

This sequence opens up with Jarreau guarding Buddy, his man, on the left wing, before Buddy cuts underneath the basket — a typical curl route for him that usually includes a screen from a center along the way.

This time, though, Buddy doesn’t even get a proper screen. Jarreau loses Buddy along the way as he whisks by Jesse Edwards, and he faces around the perimeter before stopping on the wing. He has at least two steps in front of the closest Houston close out and converts the open 3-point opportunity.

The floater right before the block

Throughout Buddy’s junior season, he’s continued developing an interior game that includes more options than it has in previous seasons. He’s backed defenders in before spinning around for a jumper. He’s taken two dribbles off screens and pulled up from the elbow. Or he’s taken his defenders all the way to the blocks, finishing layups through contact and, sometimes, drawing fouls.

In this frame, Buddy curls around a screen from Guerrier and takes a pass from Girard. He doesn’t pull up for a 3-pointer but instead keeps his momentum driving toward the basket — with Jarreau trailing and Girard’s defender attempting to poke the ball away from behind.

As Reggie Chaney starts to rise for a block, Buddy lifts up a floater that beats the block and settles through the basket to cut Syracuse’s deficit to seven five minutes into the second half.

Screenshots via TBS.

Published on March 30, 2021 at 11:00 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @CraneAndrew