Colgate Gets Hot, Shoots Syracuse Out of Own Building
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The last time Syracuse faced off against Colgate, the Raiders came out on top, defeating the Orange 100-85. On Tuesday night, Syracuse came out seeking revenge and is still pursuing it after falling 80-68.
Early on in the game, it was a close back-and-forth. However, as the first half went on, Colgate caught on fire from three and never looked back. At halftime, Colgate had made eleven threes on 50 percent shooting. The 11 made first-half threes tied the amount they had against the Orange last year at halftime. In contrast, the Orange only made five threes in the first half and only made 35 percent of their field goal attempts.
Despite multiple adjustments to defense, whether it was trying a zone defense or switching to man, the Orange simply didn't have an answer for Colgate and senior guard Tucker Richardson.
To say he was in the zone is an understatement; he was on fire. Tucker scored 19 points in the first half alone, which was his average coming into this game. On the night overall, Richardson had a career-high 27 points, including seven three-pointers, to go with six rebounds and four assists.
Also contributing to the three-point barrage was seniors Ryan Moffat and Oliver Lynch-Daniels, both hitting four threes for the game. As a team overall Colgate made an incredible 50 percent on 19 of 38 attempts.
Speaking to the media after the game, Coach Boeheim praised Richardson for his play while also describing his team's struggle defensively as a young team.
“He's the best player in there. He's always played well against us. I think that one of the things with younger players is they're playing in defense and I don't think they even realized where he was.” Said Boeheim ”Judah kind of looked at him then tried to go and it's too late. And I just think we didn't recognize where he was.”
Despite the loss, the Orange had some solid performances on offense by Judah Mintz and Benny Williams. With each game, Mintz looks more and more comfortable, and this seemed to be his best game so far. Mintz finished with 20 points on fifty percent shooting. Mintz got the crowd going in the second half when he had a filthy crossover breaking the ankles of a Colgate defender and then hitting the step back three. For Williams, he had 17 points ( career high) and eight rebounds.
Williams looked confident and vastly improved compared to last season. After the game, Williams spoke about how for the team to succeed, the defense needs to improve.
“It’s just being locked in every single possession.” Williams said, “ It doesn't matter if you're tired or not, just keep pushing. Defense wins championships.”
The Orange will look to be better come Saturday when they take on Northeastern. The game will be at 4 p.m at the Dome.
