Five Takeaways: Florida State 76 Syracuse 71
Syracuse fell 76-71 to Florida State on Saturday, dropping the record to 8-9 (2-4) on the season. Here are five takeaways from the game.
1. End of Game Sequence
Syracuse played strong defense and got a stop trailing by one with 34 seconds left. The Orange called timeout with 30 seconds left with a chance for a go ahead score. Syracuse had not led for seven minutes of game action, but rallied to have a shot. The ball was inbounded to Cole Swider, who gave it to Joe Girard. Girard drove the lane and was doubled at the free throw line. Defenders stayed at home on Swider and Buddy along the perimeter, so Girard passed it to Edwards. At that point, I thought Edwards had a chance to take a dribble and a shot. Instead, he dribbled away from the basket and delivered a bounce pass to a posting up Jimmy Boeheim in the lane. Jimmy missed his shot and the rebound bounced towards the sideline opposite the Syracuse bench. Jimmy ran after it, and this is where everything goes from bad to worse. RayQuan Evans chases it down. Jimmy has him pinned against the sideline, but there is only nine seconds left when Evans collects the ball. Instead of immediately fouling (even two made free throws keep it at a one score game of three points), Jimmy lets Evans throw the ball down court for an open basket. Now Syracuse is down three with 3.9 seconds left. Joe Girard inexplicably throws the ball the length of the floor, Florida State intercepts it and that essentially ended the game. It was a complete meltdown. From Jesse not going to the basket, to Jimmy leaning into a defender that was straight up instead of going straight up himself, to Jimmy not fouling right away, to Girard's heave. Syracuse did everything wrong in the final 30 seconds.
Good teams find ways to win close games. Teams that are not good find ways to lose close games. Syracuse has lost four of its last five. Each of the four losses was by five points or less. One could argue that Syracuse should have won each of them, yet did not win any. During late game situations, Syracuse does not perform well. There is sloppy play, missed shots, turnovers, strange decisions, etc. Perhaps it is Syracuse lacking that alpha leader type player to take control in those situations. Whatever the reason, if Syracuse is going to preserve the winning seasons streak, it has to figure that out.
2. Perimeter Defense
Another game, another poor shooting team shooting well against Syracuse. The games against Wake Forest and Pittsburgh were encouraging from a defensive standpoint. This was a giant step backwards. Florida State came in as one of the worst three point shooting teams in the ACC. FSU was 12-20 (60%) from beyond the arc against the Orange, and 7-10 (70%) in the second half. Too many wide open looks, especially at inopportune times. You cannot win games like that. Think about this, if Florida State shot 50% from three, which suggests poor defense as well, Syracuse wins.
3. Bench Minutes
Symir Torrence gave Syracuse some great minutes in this one. He played 16 minutes, had four points, dished out four assists and played solid defense. Based on his play in games, I think he has earned 15-20 minutes in most games at this point. Especially if Girard is going to turn it over five times. Now we do not see practice, but coach Boeheim did say after the Florida State game that Torrence has been playing really well in practice. That is good for Syracuse. Frank Anselem gave Syracuse a few good minutes in the first half, but was largely absent other than that. Too many fouls in a short period of time. Three fouls in six minutes is not great. Benny Williams did not play at all. I was a little surprised by that. It is one thing to not play a lot of minutes, but another to not play at all. Again, we do not see practice. Coach Boeheim has always played guys based on their efforts and performances at practice. But given that Williams was starting to see more minutes, and then to just get four and zero the last two games was certainly surprising. Notably, after the game was over, Benny went out to the Dome floor and took a bunch of shots. Let's see if he plays against Clemson.
4. Jesse Edwards
Here is the positive. Edwards had 15 points, seven rebounds and three blocks. He played 34 minutes and did not foul out for the first time in six games. All good things. However, Syracuse could have gotten him the ball more. Florida State was switching every time Edwards set a screen. That regularly put smaller defenders on him inside. Syracuse did a good job getting him the ball in those situations early, but went away from that late. I thought that hurt Syracuse's offensive efficiency, especially in the second half when Syracuse shot 40% instead of 54%.
5. Rebounding
Syracuse outrebounded Florida State 29 to 25. Earlier this season, rebounding was a huge measuring stick on whether or not Syracuse won. The Orange was not rebounding well and it was a significant disadvantage. Syracuse has taken major strides in that area, however, outrebounding the last five opponents. Syracuse is just 1-4 in those games, though. That tells how much the struggles in other areas have impacted this team.
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