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All season, Syracuse has been missing a signature win. There have been opportunities, all missed ones. Seven points at Virginia. Four at Miami. Five to Virginia. Joe Girard III saving the ball to North Carolina for two points and a four-point loss. 

But then No. 23 NC State, winners of five of its last six games, came to the JMA Wireless Dome on Tuesday. With the visit came another opportunity for the Orange to expunge those struggles and win a big game. 

Like all those other games, Syracuse (16-10, 9-6 Atlantic Coast) was in it from start to finish. But SU finished this one. Judah Mintz (20 points, nine assists) hit two free throws to give SU a 75-72 lead with 24 seconds remaining, and the Wolfpack (20-7, 10-6 ACC) missed three shots on their last possession. The Orange, head coach Jim Boeheim said, made the big plays at the end. They hadn’t done that in previous losses. Tuesday night, though, was different. 

“Every time they took the lead at the end we made a big play,” Boeheim said. “We weren’t able to do that earlier.” 

Jesse Edwards notched his 11th double-double of the season with 18 points — 13 of which came in the second half — and 16 rebounds. The center said Syracuse learned a lot from all its “painful” close losses earlier in the season. “It sticks with you,” he explained. 

“It’s been tough losing these ones,” Edwards said. “To get one that’s that close against a good team — and also a top-25 team — is a next-level boost.” 

Edwards started off slow, missing his first six shots. But he got going midway through the second half, with SU up four. Edwards faked toward his left shoulder, then flipped back to convert off the glass, and-one. The foul was D.J. Burns Jr.’s fourth, sending him to the bench until there was 1:47 left. 

Even when he couldn’t buy a bucket, Edwards knew his shots would fall eventually. Well, maybe not his 3-point heave with nine minutes remaining. 

With the shot clock at two, the center found himself with the ball on the left wing. Now granted, Edwards said he does shoot 3s regularly in practice outside of 5-on-5 play, but his last 3-pointer in real competition came five years ago at IMG Academy. After 461 career college 2-point attempts, this was his first-ever 3. 

It dropped. Nothing but net. Over the last 20 seasons, players taking exactly one 3-point attempt and over 400 2-pointers had made 10.7% of their 3s — 28-for-262 — per KenPom. A sparse JMA Wireless Dome crowd was as loud as it’s been all season. 

“If you don’t win the game when he makes that shot, something’s wrong because it’s telling you you’re gonna win the game when that goes in,” Boeheim said, laughing, postgame. 

Edwards notched 18 points and 16 rebounds in Syracuse’s first ranked win since January 2021. Jacob Halsema | Staff Photographer

NC State was nearly able to hand Syracuse another disappointing loss, in large part because of its leading scorer, Terquavion Smith, who had 14 points, all in the second half. Smith struggled early, going 1-for-8 in the first half and missing all four of his looks from beyond the arc. But then he hit four 3s in the second half, including one from the corner that somehow hit the backboard and dropped. 

The Orange keyed in on Smith, trying to make him as uncomfortable as possible, while leaving Edwards to battle one-on-one with the 6-foot-9, 275-pounds Burns inside. The strategy worked, with the Wolfpack finishing 9-for-33 (27.3%) from beyond the arc. 

NC State went on an 11-0 first-half run, taking a nine-point lead, while Syracuse struggled to generate any offense. The Orange started the game 3-for-16 from the field — with four turnovers — and missed several easy layups. Maliq Brown sealed off his defender but missed the ensuing wide-open layup and Chris Bell drove baseline but missed a layup. As the freshman ran back on defense, his palms up, eyes to the roof look epitomized SU’s slow start. 

Eventually, though, the easy looks started falling, and it was Mintz who was the catalyst. 

Mintz threw one pass for Brown to dunk, then another — triggering an NC State timeout and two “let’s go’s” from Girard — before the 13-3 run’s exclamation point. Smith’s 3 fell short, and Girard tapped it to Mintz, who quickly passed to Bell for a loud two-handed dunk and a 25-24 SU lead. 

Then in the second half, with Syracuse up one with 24 seconds left, it came back to Mintz again. At the free-throw line for two shots, he imagined he was by himself, shooting at the Melo Center — like he always does — with a few managers rebounding for him. The freshman has had the ball in his hands at some of SU’s most critical junctures this season. It hasn’t always worked out, like in the final seconds against UNC when he was called for a charge. But Tuesday was different. Mintz drilled both shots. 

“I’ve had some tough games at the end of games this year,” Mintz said. “But (the coaches) just trusting in my ability to still make plays down the stretch was really a big confidence booster.”

Mintz said the Orange spent their six-day break in between the win at Florida State and Tuesday night watching NC State, seeing how the Wolfpack attacked their 2-3 zone last February, and how they’ve done it against other teams this season. Being able to scout them for a longer period than usual gave SU a “little bit of an edge,” Mintz said. 

The last time the Orange had gone this long without a game was back in November, when they had an eight-day layoff in between Lehigh and Colgate. The Raiders, of course, poured in 19 3-pointers and 80 points in a convincing upset win over SU. 

Syracuse wasn’t about to allow a nice break off to result in another loss, though.

Instead of only being able to walk into the locker room and reflect on what could’ve been, Mintz said SU finally entered with their heads up. They had told themselves the tide would turn eventually. 

“And today, it finally did,” Mintz said. “We were able to close it out.”  

Because this time was different.

Published on February 14, 2023 at 9:10 pm

Contact Connor: [email protected] | @csmith17_