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CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. — It’s essentially become an annual tradition in central New York: once the calendar flips to the new year, and conference play begins heating up, it’s time to ask if Syracuse will be in the 68-team NCAA Tournament field. Since 2015, SU has been a regular on the bubble, some years getting into the tournament, some years missing out. In 2018, the Orange were safely in, but last year, they weren’t close.

And this year, the question will still loom over Syracuse in the second half of its season. As of Friday, SU wasn’t even on the bubble in Joe Lunardi’s projections. At 10-6, the Orange don’t have a great resume at the moment — they’re No. 136 in the NET rankings (the primary metric for evaluating tournament-worthy teams) and don’t have any quadrant I or II wins.

That’s why Saturday’s game at No. 11 Virginia was so important. Syracuse needs wins and won’t have many more opportunities for quadrant I wins — something that’s particularly important for getting into the tournament. Yet for the first 29 minutes against UVA, Syracuse didn’t show up. The Cavaliers got out to a 23-point lead, controlling the game from the opening tip, and despite a seven-minute scoreless drought in the second half that allowed SU to get within single digits, still won pretty comfortably.

The loss made it clear that with five quadrant I games remaining on their schedule, the Orange have a lot of work to do if they want to get into the tournament conversation.

Jim Boeheim said after the game Saturday that Syracuse made too many uncharacteristic mistakes, like the two missed layups Joe Girard III had early in the first half. Add Girard and Judah Mintz’s slow starts to a slew of turnovers, Virginia’s 12 3-pointers and another poor offensive game from Jesse Edwards, and you get a deficit that was simply too much to overcome and no clear path to beating a quality team on the road.

“Virginia’s really good,” Boeheim said postgame. “I think our team is getting better, but just made too many mistakes today.”

Boeheim says Syracuse’s younger players, in particular, are improving. Maliq Brown had 10 points and eight rebounds in a career-high 36 minutes and Mounir Hima notched six rebounds and four blocks in 15 minutes. The coach hoped Saturday’s loss proves to be a learning experience for those younger players, who are the ones the Orange need to step up over the rest of Atlantic Coast Conference play.

Edwards’ production is beginning to diminish and defenses are keying in on Girard. The senior guard still got a game-high 19 points, hitting five of his nine 3-point attempts, but Syracuse certainly needs more offense from its center, who Boeheim said is a “mystery” right now.

“He’s not playing the way he was earlier in the year,” Boeheim said. “He was a different player (then).”

After scoring at least 18 points in six of his first ten games, Edwards has now gone his last six games without reaching that mark. His four points Saturday were his fewest of the season. Edwards still led the Orange with 10 rebounds, but offensively, he was pushed around by UVA’s frontcourt, unable to get to the basket.

Virginia head coach Tony Bennett said he’s seen how much Edwards has improved over the course of his four-year career and he made sure the Cavaliers trapped the center on every post touch after he hit two early shots. It’s something UVA often does to centers, but Edwards looked unprepared to handle the traps, leading to him recording a team-high four turnovers. Bennett said Virginia’s approach to containing Edwards wasn’t anything special. Rather, the center is just stuck in a tough stretch right now.

“He’s struggled for a while now,” Boeheim said. “Hasn’t just been this game.”

Without the production from Edwards that Syracuse was used to early in the season, it’s clear that the Orange aren’t, at the moment, able to compete with the ACC’s top dogs. Bennett credited Boeheim for finding other alternatives outside of Edwards to score and get SU back in the game, but the struggles early in the game rendered that rather moot.

And with six quadrant I games remaining on the schedule, including one in eight days at No. 12 Miami, Syracuse is going to need a lot more from Edwards and its young players if it wants to compete in those matchups and reach its customary stop on the tournament’s bubble. And that needs to start soon.

The game was won when…

Ben Vander Plas drilled a 3-pointer, his second in as many possessions, to put Virginia up 50-27 with 15:24 to go in the second half. The 3 was part of a 15-1 UVA run to open the half after Syracuse finished the first half on an 8-0 run to get within nine points. At 23, it was the Cavaliers’ largest lead of the game and proved insurmountable for the Orange to overcome despite an impressive comeback.

Quote of the night: Jim Boeheim on UVA’s 22 assists

“When you play a zone, every shot they take is going to be assisted. That’s why they’re gonna get assists…I’ve explained that about 100 times.”
Virginia registered an assist on 22 of its 23 field goals, effectively working the ball around the zone and into the high post and baseline areas to generate open looks. Syracuse, meanwhile, had 15 assists on its 24 made shots. Boeheim expressed frustration postgame with a question that asked if UVA did anything different against the 2-3 zone, saying the assists are just a byproduct of playing against that kind of defense.

Stat to know: 60%

UVA entered the game getting only 32% of its points from 3-pointers this season, a mark that ranked 161st in the country, per KenPom. But in the first half, the Cavaliers hit seven 3s, giving them 21 of their 35 points (60%) from beyond the arc. Armann Franklin was the primary catalyst, making his first three shots from deep and finishing with a team-high 16 points.

Game ball: Joe Girard III

After a sluggish first half, Girard did what he could in the second to get Syracuse back in the game. His 3 from the wing off a Symir Torrence pass got SU within 12 with 7:45 left and he later hit two 3-pointers within 12 seconds of each other to make it an eight-point game with just over two minutes left. Girard’s 28 points and four 3s against Louisville helped the Orange squeak out a win, and his 19 and five on Saturday, along with 18 points from Mintz, helped Syracuse mount a miraculous second-half comeback.

“We need those two guys to score,” Boeheim said. “They kinda got us back a little bit, but it was too much, we weren’t gonna get back all the way.”

Brown steps up

Brown has begun to carve out a role on this Syracuse team after notching 12 points and seven rebounds against Oakland on December 6, but he went scoreless against Louisville and Boston College, totaling a combined 15 minutes. But with Benny Williams sick, Boeheim turned to the freshman to essentially play the starting power forward role. Boeheim wanted Brown to come off the bench like he usually does and Brown said not starting makes him more confident and aware of his matchups.

After checking in four minutes into the game, Brown stripped Vander Plas and got a nice feed from Edwards for a dunk on the other end. Brown’s eight rebounds were the second-most on SU and helped the Orange out-rebound UVA by seven. His 10 points added an offensive weapon that Syracuse needed and another inside option with Edwards shut down. Boeheim said he thought Brown, who grew up 45 miles from Charlottesville in Culpepper, Virginia, played “really well” in his return home.

The decision to start John Bol Ajak

Redshirt junior John Bol Ajak made his first career start Saturday in place of Williams, who Boeheim said was sick Friday and Saturday. But after playing less than four minutes, and recording a turnover but no other stats, Boeheim sent Brown to the scorer’s table to check in for Ajak. The forward, who has seen an increased role this season with higher levels of defense and passing, didn’t return to the game.

Boeheim said Syracuse tried to run a few plays through Ajak, but wasn’t successful. On SU’s first possession, Ajak tried to hand off to Girard, but Kihei Clark stole it and got fouled. Boeheim told Brown before the game that he would get starters’ minutes despite coming off the bench. Justin Taylor also played 24 minutes at the forward spot, but that was in place of Chris Bell, who only recorded 16.

Hima makes an impact

Hima played his second-highest number of minutes in a game this season on Saturday, registering 15, which included six rebounds and four blocks in place of Edwards. Hima, a 7-footer with a 7-foot-8 wingspan, made his presence felt late in the first half, first by blocking Jayden Gardner at the free-throw line, then blocking another shot on UVA’s next possession as the shot clock expired. Finally, Hima blocked Franklin, leading to a Mintz transition layup.

“Mounir really gave us a big lift at the end of the first half,” Boeheim said. “It probably would’ve been a 15-point game at halftime if he hadn’t blocked two or three shots.”

Hima missed his only two field goal attempts and picked up three fouls, but his defensive impact off the bench helped Syracuse make its 8-0 run at the end of the first half. That could be important in future games when Edwards’ production is limited.

Next up: Virginia Tech

Syracuse returns home to face Virginia Tech, which sits at 11-5 after losing to NC State by four on Saturday. It was the Hokies’ fourth straight loss after an 11-1 start, but each has been by five points or less. VT beat SU by 12 in Blacksburg, Virginia last February, and the Hokies already have a few impressive wins this season, including ones over North Carolina, Oklahoma State and Penn State. With the game played inside the JMA Wireless Dome, Virginia Tech will be counted (for now) as a quadrant II opponent for Syracuse.

Published on January 8, 2023 at 7:27 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_