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The blueprint was there. With an average height of just over 6-foot-2, a defense that can’t stop 53% of shots from inside the arc and 34.9% from beyond it, and one of the worst offensive rebounding rates, Syracuse outmatched Oakland before it even took the floor. All SU had to do was execute. 

Chris Bell was open at the right wing near the 8-minute mark of the first half, receiving the pass from Joe Girard III in transition and nailing the 3. John Bol Ajak then tossed the ball inside to Jesse Edwards, who leapt, caught it and took a small hop before heaving it into the basket from the left. And finally, Bell flew down the right off an Oakland turnover, elevating with Will Shepherd in front of him.

Shepherd fell backwards, but the whistle wasn’t blown in his favor. Instead, Bell’s right hand commanded the ball into the basket, and he stared at Shepherd, slightly flexing, before walking over Shepherd and then to the free-throw line.

Bell’s basket was the second in an 18-0 run to the end the first half, serving as the initial cut in an overall massacre over the Grizzlies. Syracuse (5-4, 1-0 ACC) defeated Oakland (2-9, 0-2 Horizon) 95-66, leading by as much as 42 on the night. Five SU players finished with double-digits in scoring against the sixth-worst defense in adjusted efficiency nationally, per KenPom. After a few tough games, some close wins and a few bad losses, Boeheim said it was a “good experience” to get some younger players on the floor in the blowout victory. 

“We’ve had a lot of tough games,” Boeheim said. 

Mintz said the scouting report was to give the ball to Edwards and let him use his height advantage early, just like against Notre Dame. After winning the opening tip-off, Mintz passed to Girard, who immediately floated the ball to Edwards, who came back down momentarily before scoring. 

Girard sprinted to the left corner less than four minutes in, throwing his hands up in the air wide open. Mintz didn’t find him, so Girard fled to the other wing, finally getting the ball. Taylor took up Girard’s vacant position and Oakland still didn’t have a defender in the area. Girard rocketed an overhead cross-court pass to Taylor, who nailed the 3 to give SU a 7-4 lead. 

Trey Townsend answered back though with a jumper from the free-throw line. With 16 minutes left in the half, Edwards slammed the ball into the basket with two hands following a string of passes on the left side. But Townsend cut behind Williams on the other end, finishing on the layup from the left side. 

Townsend scored three more times from the same spot — first off a pass from Jalen Moore after he faked a midrange jumper, once off a no-look pass from Jalen Moore, and another time despite an airborne Edwards contesting him. He helped Oakland lead eight times in the first half. 

But the Grizzlies’ advantage never amounted to more than two points as both teams went back-and-forth. Besides Townsend, they couldn’t break through Syracuse’s zone. And then Bell’s dunk opened things up for Syracuse’s offense. 

The Orange started playing smarter. Ajak forced an offensive foul, and Mintz didn’t take any bad shots, this time finding Girard in the left corner. 

“Whenever you have a shooter like Joe or a big like Jesse, my shot is not always the best shot for us,” Mintz said. “Getting other people involved makes everyone around me better.”

SU’s defense started to surround Townsend, which resulted in Edwards stealing the ball off an inbound. Edwards said he was late and not “active” enough on most of those plays, but the zone has the ability to key in on one player as Edwards started to “lean” into Townsend more. 

Girard then hit from deep again with the two minutes left in the half, walking up to Ajak at the top of the key to receive the hand-off before firing. Ajak finished with four assists against Notre Dame and continued to be a viable option as a big distributor following his dish to Girard. Ajak attacked the basket from the right side because Edwards was on the left, getting to the opposite end for what could’ve been a contested reverse layup. 

Edwards said he has the same relationship with Ajak as he does with Girard, he knows “automatically” where he’s going to be. Ajak placed his pass perfectly to Edwards, rocketing it high and away from his defender, leading to an easy finish. 

Girard hit his signature fadeaway step back on the right side, and Moore airballed on a baseline jumper on the other end. Ajak collected the ball, looking down the court with six seconds left on the clock. Mintz had already begun flying down the right side of the floor with a defender on him and Ajak got him the ball in stride. 

“(Ajak) did a great job of getting the ball to the people and rebounding too,” Boeheim said. “He got more rebounds in the first half than our other two forwards have gotten in the past few games.”

Mintz brought the ball over his defender amidst a euro step, dropping the ball into the basket. He shrugged walking back to the bench while the referee signaled the shot was good. 

Edwards showcased his improved shooting, faking a pass from the baseline before lofting the ball into the basket. And the Orange took advantage in transition with Mintz stealing the ball a minute into the period. 

Girard ran alongside Mintz from the top of the zone, flanking to the right corner. With just Moore on him, Mintz rose up for a layup with his right hand on the left side of the basket, curling his hand just enough to make it drop in off the backboard. 

“We watched film, we knew they weren’t that good of a transition defense,” Mintz said. “We just wanted to expose that and that’s what we did tonight.”

Seconds later, Moore got the ball to Townsend, who thought he could will the ball over Taylor in the lane. Townsend didn’t see Edwards was behind and both elevated at the same time. 

Edwards swatted the ball out of Townsend’s right hand, ricocheting it off the bottom of the backboard. The ball bounced to Girard at the right elbow and he took off with Edwards not far behind him. Moore was there, but elected to close out on Girard, who headed for the right wing. 

Girard had missed Mintz on a lob in the first half, though Oakland had a few defenders close to Mintz when Girard let go of the ball. The lob visibly frustrated Boeheim, but Girard went for it again as Moore wasn’t even close to Edwards. It was perfectly placed, letting Edwards arch back to grab the ball before hurling it in.

 

Published on December 6, 2022 at 8:11 pm

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