Five Takeaways: Syracuse 62 Notre Dame 61
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Syracuse basketball topped Notre Dame 62-61 to pick up a big road win on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the victory.
1. Defense
The Syracuse defense was really good once again. Over the first portion of the first half, the Orange failed to identify open shooters and Notre Dame shot 6-9 from three point range. However, Syracuse corrected that issue for the rest of the game, and the Irish went five for its last 24. Syracuse forced 10 turnovers, held Notre Dame 11 points below its scoring average (72), nearly 10 percentage points below its shooting percentage on the season (47.6% on the season, 38.3% vs Syracuse) and below its three point percentage (36% on the season, 33% vs Syracuse). The Irish's best player, Nate Laszewski was held to just two points on 1-6 shooting. He was averaging nearly 17 points per game coming in. This team has potential to be a very good defensive one and showed evidence of that on Saturday.
2. Joe Girard
No player in recent Syracuse history has taken more criticism, many of which is far too extreme, than Joe Girard. His recent 2-25 shooting slump only enhance that criticism exponentially. On Saturday, he bounced back amidst all of that to give the Orange exactly what it needed offensively. Girard scored 20 points on 9-18 shooting, including some difficult shots, made a pair of three pointers and even was active defensively with two steals. Both of those steals led to transition layups. That is the Joe Girard Syracuse needs. Hopefully, for the Orange, that slump was just a blip and is now well behind him.
3. Judah Mintz
Mintz may have only scored nine points, but I actually loved his approach in this game. He did not force things, played under control offensively, deferred to others who were making shots at a higher clip and got Syracuse into its offense. He had zero turnovers, two assists and got three steals defensively. Despite only having three points entering the last eight minutes of the game, Mintz was aggressive offensively when Syracuse needed them the most. He made three shots in the last seven plus minutes, scoring six of the Orange's final eight points including the game winner. Mintz showed the clutch gene and was a big reason for Syracuse's win. An encouraging sign of maturity and patience for the true freshman.
4. Rebounding
Jesse Edwards was fantastic on the boards once again. He great all around period on Saturday, scoring a game high 22 points while grabbing a game high 14 rebounds. But the Orange needs more effort on the boards than just Edwards. Girard and Justin Taylor combined for nine rebounds, while forwards Benny Williams, Chris Bell and John Bol Ajak combined for two. That cannot happen moving forward. Those three need to give Syracuse something on the boards to support Edwards. Despite Jesse's efforts, Syracuse was outrebounded 37-30 by a Notre Dame team that is very big or physical inside.
5. Much Needed
Syracuse needed this win for a variety of reasons. Snap the losing streak, get some confidence back, bring some positivity back to the program. Beating a team on the road that just blew out a top 20 team, and likely would have been ranked in the next polls with a win, is impressive. There are certainly things to work on, such as rebounding as noted above or adjusting to teams doubling Edwards like Notre Dame did in the second half, but this an overwhelmingly positive day for Syracuse basketball. With the schedule coming up, Syracuse has a chance to get on a roll here and rack up some wins. Crazy how quickly things can change.
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