Syracuse Defense Shows Improvement in Second Half
The first half was about as bad as Syracuse could have played. Nothing was going right on either end. The Orange were missing good looks, could not finish around the rim, and to make matters worse, were executing poorly on defense. The vaunted zone looked terrible with slow rotations, open looks from the outside and easy buckets at the basket.
Poor defense was a big reason why Bryant jumped out to a 13 point lead in the first half, and took a seven point advantage into the locker room. The Bulldogs shot 52.8% overall and 9-19 (47.4%) from beyond the arc on their way to 51 first half points.
"We gave up too many points in the last 10 minutes of the first half," head coach Jim Boeheim said. "They were moving it and shooting it well. Our defense was a little bit better in the second half. We guarded the shooter. We didn't let 30 (Chris Childs) shoot. We gave him six shots and he made five of them in the first half. We did a better job with him. Did a better job of containing the little kid (Michael Green). The little guy's really good. When he gets in the lane, he makes plays."
Both Childs and Green hurt Syracuse in the first half. Childs was 5-6 from beyond the arc in the first half, while Green routinely got into the lane and found open teammates.
The second half was a different story, however. Whatever the adjustments the Syracuse coaching staff made at halftime, they worked. Rotations were quicker, outside shots were contested, and attempts to penetrate the zone were met with more resistance. The results speak for themselves.
The Bulldogs scored just 33 second half points on 34.3% shooting overall and 22.2% from beyond the arc. Bryant turned it over 10 times with just five assists after intermission. Childs was 0-3 from beyond the arc in the second half, while Green finished the game with five turnovers.
This was a game where Syracuse looked lethargic for much of the first half, seemingly a result a not practicing for two weeks after the program paused all team activities due to positive COVID-19 tests. After halftime, however, the defense seemed to round into form.
That provides hope going forward, as Syracuse is back to a normal practice schedule. Syracuse's next game is on Thursday, December 3rd against Niagara and tips at 7:00 p.m. Eastern.
