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Syracuse picked up its best win of the season Saturday at Notre Dame, squeaking out a one-point victory over the Fighting Irish behind a Judah Mintz layup with less than 15 seconds left. The victory ended a three-game losing streak for the Orange, who had gotten off to the worst seven-game start (3-4) in Jim Boeheim’s tenure.

SU hosted Oakland on Tuesday night, a struggling team out of the Horizon League. The Orange finished the first half on an 18-0 run and pulled away further in the final 20 minutes en route to a 29-point win. Joe Girard III and Jesse Edwards led the way with 18 points apiece, and Syracuse also got solid contributions from John Bol Ajak (six rebounds in eight minutes), Justin Taylor (25 minutes, five points, four rebounds) and Maliq Brown (12 points, seven rebounds).

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s 95-66 win against Oakland:

Syracuse uses 18-0 first-half run to pull away

Oakland, a heavy underdog, hung around for the game’s first 13 minutes and even took a 21-20 lead off a Trey Townsend jumper. Keaton Hervey stole the ball from Girard moments later and converted the layup on the other end to make it 27-24. But SU pulled away from there, using strong defense, a hot spurt from Girard and solid transition offense to finish the half on an 18-0 run.

It started by Ajak throwing the ball up to Edwards inside, and the center finishing the right-handed hook. Girard stole it from Jalen Moore on Oakland’s next possession and fed Chris Bell, who posterized Will Shepherd with a right-handed dunk in transition. Bell dunked over Shepherd, who, in an attempt to draw a charge, was called for a blocking foul. Bell flexed as he stepped over Shepherd, celebrating.

Girard took over from there, adding eight more points, six via 3s, to finish the half with 15 points. On one play, Girard ran toward Ajak at the top of the arc, collected the short pass and drilled the deep 3. Ajak and Edwards added layups and after Moore air balled a fadeaway look, Mintz finished a nifty euro step move in transition as time expired, putting the Orange ahead 45-24.

Orange hammer the ball inside to Edwards

Jim Boeheim said postgame Saturday that SU needed to continue getting the ball inside and avoid settling for 3s. Against Notre Dame, the Orange made only 16.7% of their 3-pointers but had 40 attempts inside the arc that they were able to consistently convert.

That continued against Oakland, one of the smallest Division I teams. The Grizzlies only have one player taller than 6-foot-9, reserve forward Chris Conway, who played 15 minutes because of the height differential between the two teams. Otherwise, Edwards had 6-foot-6 Trey Townsend on him.

Syracuse emphasized getting the ball to Edwards in the paint from the opening tip. On the game’s first possession, Girard lobbed it to Edwards from the left wing. Edwards went up uncontested to catch the ball before landing and quickly finishing for an easy two points.

Edwards, a player Boeheim said the Orange needs to get the ball to more, got consistently good looks throughout the game, which led to a 100% performance (9-of-9) from the field. On one sequence early in the second half, Edwards knocked down a baseline jumper off an inbounds pass, blocked Townsend’s layup attempt from behind and ran the floor for a two-handed alley-oop slam.

Nothing working from beyond the arc

Syracuse hasn’t been a good 3-point shooting team early this season, knocking down only 31.7% (246th-best nationally) through eight games. Girard’s streakiness and poor shooting from Mintz (13%) and Bell (30%) have led to poor performance on the deep ball. With the exception of Girard, that continued on Tuesday when the other Orange players made just 4-of-13 attempts from beyond the arc.

Oakland dared Mintz to shoot it Tuesday night, backing off him by several feet more than Notre Dame gave him Saturday. The freshman tried to take advantage but missed two wide-open looks in the first half. His driving lanes were mostly absent, too, but he still finished with 10 points.

Bell hit his first 3-point attempt of the game early in the first half, but missed several wide-open ones there afterwards, finishing 1-for-4 from beyond the arc. The wing’s lack of rebounding has cost him playing time so far this season, and his shooting hasn’t helped him overcome it. Bell, who registered over 25 minutes in four straight games, finished with 12 minutes after recording 10 against Notre Dame.

Girard making it rain

After going three-straight games where he totaled only nine points — including a scoreless outing at Illinois last week — Girard has re-found his shooting stroke, totaling 18-plus points for the second-consecutive outing. The guard looked confident curling off screens and weaving through defenders for open looks. He shot 57% from 3-point range, making 4-of-7 attempts, his best performance since going 5-of-9 against Northeastern on Nov. 19.

Girard hit 3s from all around the arc. Many came off the dribble, with Girard waiting for screens to drive right, or just dribbling around until he felt open enough to pull the trigger.

On one make late in the first half, Girard used a pump fake to drive inside before fading away for a 2-pointer that dropped in after touching nearly every part of the rim. Minutes into the second half, the senior curled around a screen and hit a wide-open pull-up 3 off one dribble.

With 17:49 left, it proved to be Girard’s last basket, as Boeheim checked him out of the game with Syracuse up 28. Girard sat next to his coach for the remainder, cheering on SU’s reserves — including three walk-ons, who checked in with five minutes left — as they took care of the rest.

Published on December 6, 2022 at 8:18 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_