Five Takeaways: North Carolina 103 Syracuse 67
Syracuse basketball was dominated by #7 North Carolina on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the loss.
1. Defense
Syracuse losing at #7 North Carolina is not shocking. What was shocking was the complete lack of any semblance of a defense for most of the game. When Syracuse has played well, it has been fueled by an aggressive defense that forces turnovers and contests shots. In this one, it was the opposite. North Carolina shot 48% from the field, scored 103 points, dominated points in the paint, and got almost whatever it wanted offensively. It was easily the worst defensive performance of the season.
2. Forwards
This has been an ongoing issue for most of the season, but Syracuse needs more from its forwards. When Chris Bell is not hitting shots, there is almost nothing from those two spots throughout many games. In this one, Justin Taylor scored zero points on 0-3 shooting in 26 minutes. Benny Williams had one point on 0-5 shooting in 14 minutes. Bell had 13 points on 3-5 shooting, including making all three from beyond the arc, in 22 minutes. Bell's scoring production was fine, but he struggled defensively and on the boards. Those three combined for six rebounds in 62 minutes of action. Syracuse needs more from the forwards to take the next step as a team.
3. Half-Court Offense
Once again, Syracuse's achilles heel reared its ugly head against a ranked opponent. When Syracuse cannot get out in transition, it struggles to score. The half-court is so condensed because the Orange really only has one shooter that teams have to be cognizant of in Chris Bell. That limits driving lanes for Mintz, Starling and Copeland as well as allows teams to bring multiple defenders when Maliq Brown has the ball in the paint. I am not sure what the solution is, but it has to be better to beat good teams.
4. Judah Mintz
Mintz ended up with 21 points, but it was about as quiet as a 20 point outing can be. He got a lot of his points when the game was out of hand. He needs to be the special, superstar player against opponents like this in order for Syracuse to be competitive. He has not really done that this year. He had a good game against Gonzaga, but Syracuse was not in that for most of it. Mintz struggled mightily against Tennessee, Virginia and Duke. Syracuse needs Mintz to step up, not just as a scorer, but also as a facilitator, and dominate a game against a quality opponent.
5. Short Memory
Listen, this game was ugly. Really ugly. One of the most lopsided losses in Syracuse history (sixth worst loss all for the program all-time and worst since a 39 point loss at DePaul in 2006). What cannot happen is this loss beats you twice. Meaning there cannot be a carryover to the game at Pittsburgh on Tuesday. It needs to be thrown away, forgotten about and the team needs to mentally move on from it. Now that is easier said than done, as losing in such fashion can linger because players are human. But that is the test going into the next game. Come out with much greater energy and focus on both ends to try to get back in the win column.
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