Five Takeaways: Clemson 77 Syracuse 68
Syracuse basketball fell 77-68 to Clemson in the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. Depth is Gone
It is plainly obvious that the depth Syracuse had to start the season is gone. The Orange entered the season with four centers. Three have gotten hurt (McLeod out for the season, Hima battling injuries all season, Carey is out for an undetermined amount of time per coach Autry after the game) and one is redshirting. Now you have a power forward playing center 35+ minutes per game. In addition, Benny Williams is off the team which hurts forward depth that was already thin. Chance Westry has not been available all season. The rotation was supposed to nine or ten deep, but seems to have shrunk to six or seven at best given those situations. However, I wonder why Kyle Cuffe cannot get a few minutes to help keep Starling and Mintz fresh. Mintz played all 40 against Clemson, Starling 37. Could those be backed down to 35 and Cuffe get 5-10 minutes? Coach Autry said after the game it was coach's decision based on his feel as to why Cuffe has not played in the last two games. Perhaps he is seeing something at practice we are all not privy to.
2. Rebounding
With the depth issues and how undersized Syracuse is as a result, rebounding is going to be tough. Especially against bigger, more physical teams. But Syracuse cannot lose the rebounding battle by 17, as it did against Clemson, and expect to win. The issue was primarily in the first half when the Tigers outrebounded the Orange by 16. In the second half, Syracuse held its own. That is the type of effort Syracuse needs throughout, not just for a half. Everyone has to help out and players need to play bigger than they are. Not easy by any means, but that is the situation Syracuse is in.
3. Not Riding the Hot Hand
JJ Starling was playing fantastic basketball in the second half. He scored all 16 of his points after halftime, but Syracuse went away from him after he tied the game at 60 with an off balance jumper with 3:37 left. He did not take a single shot the rest of the way. That is poor recognition by the Syracuse players. Starling was the hot hand and needed to have the ball in his hands down the stretch. I get that Judah Mintz is the best player and in most instances he is the guy in crunch time. There are exceptions, however, and a player having the hot hand is one of them. Starling was 7-9 shooting in the second half but did not get a shot in the final minutes.
4. Chris Bell
Bell had a decent shooting day at 4-10 from three, but missed all three of his two pointers. He scored 16 points, but I was most impressed by his effort and physicality on defense. Even when shots were not falling, he played with a different level of energy on that end. Given some of the plays he made against Louisville, hopefully this means a switch has flipped into how much he can impact the game outside of scoring. Bell only had three rebounds, and I would like to see more from him in that area. He did have two blocks and gave maximum effort defensively most of the game. Encouraging.
5. Flashes
This game was kind of a microcosm of Syracuse's season to date. Inconsistency. Looking really good on both ends one game and poor the next. In the first half, Syracuse looked like a disjointed, incompetent offensive team. In the second half, until the final few minutes, the Orange looked like a well balanced, potent offensive team. Syracuse scored 44 points in the second half on 50% shooting. In the first, however, 24 points on 29% shooting. The swings cannot be that wild. Defensively, Syracuse forced 21 turnovers but gave up 61% shooting. It is the third time in the last four games SU has allowed a team to shoot 60% from the field. While the turnovers are great, even allowing teams to shoot 50% instead of 60% means more wins. So we see flashes of what this team can be, but they are unable to maintain it for a full 40 minutes.
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