Five Takeaways: Syracuse 78 Notre Dame 73

Syracuse rallied to erase a 12 point second half deficit and beat Notre Dame in the Dome Saturday night. Here are five takeaways from the win.

1. Chris Bell

For much of the season, Syracuse has been looking for a consistent outside shooting threat to pair with Joe Girard. Such a threat would take pressure off of Girard and open up the floor for the rest of the team. Chris Bell has become that threat. Bell is up to 40.3% from beyond the arc and is shooting 69% over the last four games. On top of that, over the last seven games, he is averaging nearly three rebounds per game. That may not seem like a lot and he certainly is still developing in that area, but it is an improvement from early in the season when he averaged just one per game through the first 11. Lastly, he is becoming more comfortable defensively. Bell is someone that could have a big impact over the last half of the season.

2. Maliq Brown

Another game, another career high for Brown. The power forward racked up a career high 15 points on 7-8 shooting to go along with six rebounds, two assists, two blocks and a steal in 29 minutes. Brown is earning more and more minutes as he is extremely steady on both ends and might be the best rebounder on the team not named Jesse Edwards. In his last three games, Brown is averaging 33 minutes, 12 points and 9 rebounds per game while shooting over 71% from the floor. If Benny Williams cannot have the same impact on the boards and/or defensively, he will continue to lose minutes to Brown.

3. Judah Mintz

Mintz did not have a great shooting game, finishing just 3-9 from the floor and 0-3 from beyond the arc. Still, Mintz found ways to score and have a significant impact on the game. In the second half, Mintz drove to the basket regularly, drawing contact and getting to the foul line. He made eight of 10 attempts from the stripe, which accounted for more than half of his 14 points. In addition, Mintz had eight assists to just one turnover. His vision and distribution was key to Syracuse's second half surge. Mintz continues to mature before our eyes.

4. Defense

This was not Syracuse's best defensive effort overall and for the first 28 minutes of the game, Notre Dame was getting any look it wanted from the outside. Over the last 12 minutes, however, Syracuse showed what it can be on the defensive end. The Orange held the Irish to 1-12 shooting from beyond the arc over the final 12 minutes of the game. This after Notre Dame was 14-25 (56%) before that. That is quite the difference. Syracuse may not have forced a lot of turnovers, but the zone rotated well, got out on shooters, contested shots and largely held Notre Dame to just one shot. A key element in that spurt was the press. It sped the Irish up, gave them less time in the half court and got them out of rhythm.

5. Avoiding Disaster

A loss to Notre Dame in this spot would have been a significant step back. Instead, a late rally pushed the Orange to victory and kept them on track to making a run at the NCAA Tournament. There is still a lot of work to do in order to get the resume where it needs to be, but not losing games like this is part of that. Syracuse can ill afford another bad loss as the Colgate and Bryant losses will hurt in the eyes of the committee. Still, regardless of how that shapes out, it is clear the Orange is rounding into shape. This team is drastically better than it was early in the season. It has won nine of its last 11 and now has opportunities to get quality wins. It starts Monday night at Miami.

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