Syracuse Gets Most Valuable Win With NBA's Most Valuable Player Courtside
As 2x NBA MVP, Giannis and NBA Champion Thannasis Antetokounmpo walked into the Carrier Dome, fans quickly followed. This was the largest crowd Syracuse basketball has seen this year, sitting over 23,000.
Quite frankly, it sounded like it, but fans still didn’t know what to expect. Coming into this game, Syracuse lost the last two on the road, and its last six of eight. So, having a 17-4 Wake Forest team come to Upstate New York made it look like more of the same was on the horizon.
But it was the exact opposite. It didn’t matter where it came from tonight, but it definitely came… In bunches.
Syracuse had some moments in the first half and went into the locker room only down three. Buddy Boeheim led the Orange with 11 points, and they were shooting both 50% from the field and three.
Wake Forest was able to halt any sort of momentum the Orange had, and Daivien Williamson was having his way offensively with 17 points.
Then came the second-half… You know when they say, ‘a tale of two halves?”
Yeah, it was epitomized tonight.
Fifty-five second-half points, highlighted by some of the best play Buddy and Cole Swider have had all season long.
Buddy had a season high in points (30), three-pointers made (6), five rebounds, seven assists, and three steals. He was having fun out there, and the crowd was feeding into it.
Syracuse fans are no stranger to him taking over a game, but the play of Swider was something that was welcoming to see for fans, and even Coach Boeheim.
“This was the way I feel he can play, the way he played tonight,” Boeheim said.
Swider finished the night with 18 points and four boards, but that signature moment where he threw down a ferocious dunk to force a Wake timeout, run to half court, stop, and let out a yell that the first two rows could hear. It was telling..
It felt like a weight was lifted off his shoulders, and Coach doesn’t think this performance was a one-off.
“I expect him to continue this and play better as the season progresses,” Boeheim said.
A dominant 94-72 win over one of the best teams in the ACC is definitely a momentum boost and even a potential resume builder, should they make a run. For Syracuse, that run continues on Wednesday, February 2, when they travel to NC State to take on the 10-12 Wolfpack.
Tip-off for that one is at 9 pm.
