Five Takeaways: Georgetown 79 Syracuse 75
Syracuse lost at Georgetown 79-75 despite holding a 10 point halftime lead. Here are my five takeaways from the game.
1. Bench Play
In the first half, Syracuse received contributions from Symir Torrence, Frank Anselem and Benny Williams off the bench. The three combined for nine points in the first half. They provided a spark. There were also defensive lapses. The corners were more open than they had been the entire half. That said, those three allowed the starters to rest and stemmed the tide. Then, when the starters came back in, the Orange went on a run to close out the half. In the second half, only Frank Anselem played when Jesse Edwards was in foul trouble. No Torrence. No Williams. Color me confused. In five first half minutes, Torrence scored two points and dished out two assists without a turnover. He couldn't have given the Orange a few minutes? I do not know more than Jim Boeheim about basketball, nor am I at practice assessing the players and their ability to help Syracuse win. But given how tired the team seems to be with the rigorous nonconference schedule, but not giving Torrence and Williams a few second half minutes is not something I understand.
2. Second Half Defense
All that said, none of it matters if Syracuse plays better defense. Especially early in the first half, that was not related to fatigue. Georgetown scored nine points in the first 3:12 of the second half to trim Syracuse's lead to just four. That gave Georgetown life. It only got worse from there. While the perimeter defense was not great, it was really the interior that failed Syracuse in the second half. The Hoyas shot 56% overall in the second half, including 75% inside the three point line. Aminu Mohammed was fantastic at the high post, and Georgetown was able to get great looks in the lane all half. They did make a couple of tough ones as well, but that tends to happen when you're confident. This is not a new thing for the Orange either. Teams are shooting 47.2% against Syracuse overall and 45.1% from beyond the arc in the second halves of games. Compare that to 37.6% overall and 30.5% from beyond the arc in the first halves. Syracuse has a second half problem it needs to figure out.
3. Offensive Efficiency
Syracuse has struggled to finish the last couple of games. That does not mean making plays down the stretch necessarily, but rather missing too many open shots. Largely, Syracuse is getting good looks. They did against Georgetown, they did at times against Villanova. But the Orange is not capitalizing consistently enough. Against Villanova, Buddy Boeheim was the culprit with missed open threes and shots attacking the rim. Against Georgetown, Jimmy Boeheim was the one who struggled the most. He finished just 5-14 from the floor with most of his shots coming in the lane. Syracuse is supposed to be a team known for its offense. It has not come close to hitting its peak on that end of the floor. In order to turn this season around, it was to find it sooner rather than later.
4. Rebounding
Once again, Syracuse's old nemesis, rebounding, reared its ugly head. Not in the first half, where the Orange was really good on the boards. But in the second when Syracuse was dominated. Syracuse was +3 on the glass in the first half and led by 10. Syracuse was -10 in the second half and was outscored by 14. The math is pretty self explanatory there.
5. What Does 5-5 Mean?
Big picture here. What exactly does 5-5 mean? Is this season over? I will start by saying no, the season is not over. 5-5 is disappointing, even with a difficult schedule. Is the path to the NCAA Tournament much more difficult at 5-5 than say 7-3 or even 6-4? Absolutely it is. Especially with losses against Colgate and Georgetown, who are ranked very poorly in NET. The hope, for Syracuse, is that Colgate wins its league and Georgetown continues to improve with some young talented players so that by the end of the season those losses do not look as bad. That, combined with improvement from Syracuse and winning enough games, gives the Orange a shot. Again, the season is not over. The path is just more difficult. There are three more games before the calendar flips to 2022. Home matchups with Lehigh, Cornell and Georgia Tech. Win those three, gain some momentum, and go from there.
I remember the 2015-16 campaign when "the season was over" following three losses in four games in December or four straight losses in January. That team made a run to the Final Four. Or in 2017-18 when four straight January losses again meant the season was over. The Orange ended up in the Sweet-16 that season. Even last year when "the season is over" after back to back losses in February. Syracuse was in the Sweet-16 last year as well. The point is not to say this team will do the same thing. It is to say things change, teams improve, and there is still a lot of basketball left to be played.
