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Syracuse’s ever-increasing confidence seemed to only grow. It stemmed from Judah Mintz’s efficient 17 first-half points, which quickly morphed into a new career-high of 33 near the opening minutes of the second. Then, it spread, resulting in hot outside shooting from Chris Bell and flashy playmaking from guard Quadir Copeland.

The confidence translated into mutual trust and a series of hesitation-less passes around the perimeter in search of the best shot. It translated into a Maliq Brown dunk and a Justin Taylor corner 3, after he had gone 1-for-4 from deep earlier.

Washed away were the nightmares of its two initial losses in the Allstate Maui Invitational as Syracuse (5-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) handily beat LSU (4-3, 0-0 Southeastern Conference) 80-57 in the inaugural ACC/SEC Challenge. A close affair throughout the opening 20 minutes changed drastically to favor the Orange in the final half. SU shot 52.4% from range compared to the Tigers’ 9.1%. It also won the assists (16-8) and rebounding (43-36) battles.

But most importantly, the victory was a statement displaying Syracuse’s ability to improve and grow.

“I thought the way we played today, we got the message of what we need to do, to compete with really really good teams,” SU head coach Adrian Autry said.

Across the opening five minutes, Syracuse center Naheem McLeod started aggressively. He registered a block on LSU’s star forward Will Baker before cleaning up a Bell miss with a comfortable dunk. Then, at the 15:30 mark, after Bell passed ahead to McLeod off of a Tigers’ turnover, McLeod flushed a lefty dunk.

Seemingly encouraged by the urgency McLeod played with in the early going, the tempo picked up. Mintz absorbed heavy contact on a couple of middle drives to finish. Brown skied for a thunderous rejection after LSU’s Carlos Stewart penetrated down the left baseline.

But creeping into the final 10 minutes of the first half, SU’s offense fell stagnant — displaying flashes of a team that struggled during its two losses at the Maui Invitational. On one play, a Kyle Cuffe Jr. floater fell well short despite the guard making serious headway into the paint. On another, careless passing around the perimeter, amid a dwindling shot clock, forced J.J. Starling into a heavily contested pull-up jumper over Jalen Reed, which missed.

Yet, despite SU’s struggles to score the ball on the open floor, it tallied several trips to the charity stripe. Mintz was the primary recipient of those free throws, going 10-for-11 in the first half.

“He has a great ability to change direction at the drop of a dime. He can move his body, he can contort and do all these things and hang, but he’s just a crafty guy,” Autry said about Mintz’s keen eye for drawing contact. “I haven’t seen a lot of guys that can move like that.”

Defensively, Syracuse held strong to force a few shot clock violations. And though it was helped by LSU’s lowly 10% shooting from 3-point range through 15 minutes, McLeod had his way with Baker — the Tigers’ top scorer so far this season, who averaged a team-best 16.3 points entering the contest.

For the remainder of the opening half, Syracuse extended its dominance to take a 33-28 lead at the break. The highlight of the contest arrived with under a minute left on a fast break. Following a Tigers’ airball from the right corner, Mintz cocked back on a ferocious poster dunk over LSU’s Mwani Wilkinson for his 17th point of the night.

By the 18:37 mark in the second half, Mintz came within one of his career-high in scoring — reached earlier in the season when he notched 26 to help down Canisius 89-77 on Nov. 1. Erupting by way of consecutive and-one finishes, and a left corner 3, Mintz’s personal run built a 43-34 advantage for Syracuse.

“I mean he (Mintz) is a killer,” Bell said. “What else should I say?”

Postgame, Autry praised his point guard’s play on both sides of the court. He said Mintz’s aggressive attacking play kept SU in the game throughout the first half and praised his ability to stay disciplined and not gamble on defense. Mintz recorded two steals.

“This is by far his best game,” Autry said of Mintz. “I just thought he was really good today.”

Then Bell took over, a continuation of his hot shooting over the Orange’s last four games. Canning 3-pointers on three straight possessions, the forward reached double digit scoring off of a right corner 3. Trailing 56-40, LSU opted to call a timeout as Bell, who still wore a stern expression despite his shooting successes, backpedaled toward midcourt.

As LSU’s frustration grew, Syracuse’s willingness to play freely and without pressure, blossomed. It felt like no one could blame an ill-advised Bell 3 in transition because he was thriving off of momentum. Directly after, Benny Williams inked his first points of the game with 2:41 left in the game, becoming the squad’s eighth scorer.

Pleased with the commanding victory, the Syracuse faithful piled out of the Dome with Starling shooting free throws up 80-57. Mintz received a standing ovation from many after his 33-point performance and Autry put in Peter Carey during the waning seconds of the matchup.

And Bell, who finished with 20 points, just five away from his career-high, raised up a lone hand as time expired, signaling a wave goodbye to the visiting Tigers.

“Overall, this is the best team victory we’ve had so far this year,” Autry said.

Published on November 28, 2023 at 9:27 pm

Contact Tyler: [email protected] | @theTylerSchiff