Five Takeaways: Miami 82 Syracuse 78
Syracuse fell at #17 Miami 82-78 Monday night. Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. Judah Mintz
The star freshman point guard had his worst game in a Syracuse uniform. He finished 1-7 shooting, 1-3 from the free throw line with five turnovers to go along with six assists. It was a struggle all night for Mintz, who tried to force the issue too many times and committed more than half of the team's turnovers. Often in critical moments. Mintz has been superb all season, so this is more the exception than the rule and can happen with true freshmen. The worst moment was when Syracuse was trailing by two with the ball with under a minute to go. It appeared as if the play was supposed to go Joe Girard, but instead Mintz drove into traffic and threw up a shot that had no chance. He will learn from this. He will grow from this. But even a below average performance from Mintz and Syracuse wins this game
2. Rebounding
Syracuse controlled the boards for most of the night. Over the final seven minutes, Miami out-rebounded Syracuse 11 to two. Seven of those rebounds were offensive, which led to seven Hurricanes' points. That cost the Orange the game as much as anything. Overall Syracuse lost the battle 40 to 36, but prior to the last seven minutes held a 34-29 lead and held Miami to just nine offensive boards. Down the stretch, Syracuse could not get a rebound especially on the defensive end.
3. What is it With Miami?
Syracuse has now lost three straight to Miami. In each of those games, the Orange held a double digit lead. Twice an 18 point edge last season and then the 11 point second half lead in this one. I'm not sure what the issue with Miami is, but Syracuse does not seem to be able to close them out. In games it controls for 75% or more of the action, it's lost three times in a row against this team. That is almost impossible to explain but it not a good trend.
4. Jesse Edwards
Edwards was dominant most of the night. He scored a career high 25 points and grabbed 11 rebounds for his ninth double double of the season. However, Edwards was in the game during those final seven minutes when Miami dominated the offensive glass. He needed to be better during that stretch to help Syracuse secure the win. In addition, he was not the same rim protector in this game and finished with zero blocks. But it was encouraging to see him play like that offensively, as that had been missing from his game in the last several outings.
5. Missed Opportunity
Syracuse was already against it in terms of getting onto the NCAA Tournament bubble. While it had racked up wins of late (won nine of 11 coming into the Miami game), none of those victories did much for the resume. A win at Miami, a definitive quad one win, would have been a big boost. While there are still several opportunities left on the schedule (Virginia, North Carolina could move into that group, Duke, at Clemson, at Pittsburgh), it makes the margin for error almost none. Syracuse probably needs to win at least three of those games in order to get back into the conversation. That is a very tough task and why losing this game in which you were up 11 in the second half and had control throughout is such a gut punch. Syracuse is playing much better than it had early in the season. It is a much better team. If Syracuse played Colgate or Bryant now, I think they win both games. That, however, does not matter in the eyes of the selection committee.
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