Five Takeaways: Syracuse 79 Boston College 65

Syracuse basketball beat Boston College 79-65 inside the JMA Wireless Dome on Saturday. Here are five takeaways from the win.

1. Benny Williams

This was a very encouraging performance from Benny Williams. He finished with 16 points, 11 rebounds, three blocks and two steals. Williams was energetic, active and aggressive on both ends of the floor. That is what Williams need to be night in and night out. Not necessarily from a scoring perspective, but he can impact the game on the boards and defensively regardless of whether or not he is scoring. It is also encouraging to see the improvement in his shot. He is getting more arc on his jumper and he seems much more confident. All good signs. The key moving forward is to keep up that level of effort and aggressiveness.

2. Jesse Edwards

Edwards continues to battle foul trouble. He was limited to 25 minutes in this game after picking up cheap fouls. When he is in there, he has a huge impact on the game. Edwards scored 10 points and grabbed eight rebounds in those 25 minutes. He has to get better at limiting fouls because as competition continues to improve, Syracuse needs him on the floor.

3. Justin Taylor

Taylor played 19 minutes and only made two shots, but they were extremely important shots. With the game close in the second half, Taylor hit two big shots to get Syracuse the lead back and then create some distance from Boston College. Taylor can really shoot it and that shooting ability will be important as the season progresses. He minutes may be up and down depending on the matchup, but it is clear Taylor has a tremendous future. He is also physical and willing to crash the boards. As he gets more comfortable putting the ball on the floor and attacking the basket, he will become a really good player for Syracuse.

4. Rebounding

Once again Syracuse struggled giving up offensive rebounds. Boston College did not shoot particularly well, making just 40% of its shots and 33% of its three pointers. However, the Eagles recorded 13 offensive rebounds which led to 13 second chance points. Nine of those offensive boards and all 13 second chance points came in the second half. That allowed BC to get back into the game and stay close to the Orange for a while. Against better teams, that would have really hurt Syracuse. A better effort on the boards would have put the game away much sooner. Still an area of concern moving forward.

5. Still a Lot to Improve

There some very positive moments against Boston College. The most important thing was getting the win. Then, Benny Williams' strong performance, Judah Mintz with seven assists, Mounir Hima with four blocks, Justin Taylor with clutch shots, strong defensive stretches, etc. However, there was a lot of sloppy play as well on both ends. I think the keys for Syracuse moving forward are two fold. First, the Orange needs to be intense and aggressive on the defensive end for 40 minutes. Syracuse has the potential to be really, really good there. Second, being better on the defensive glass to limit teams to one possession. Syracuse can beat a lot of teams with more consistency in those areas.

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