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The Orange Open ACC Play with a Dominant Performance

Cuse.com

The Orange entered ACC play in dominant fashion. Syracuse traveled to Boston College and defeated the Eagles 101-63. This wasn’t only a commanding victory; it was a balanced one. Five of the players for the Orange finished with double digits in points, and a total of eight put points on the board. SU also had another prolific shooting day from behind the arc. For the second time this season, the Cuse made 15 three-pointers, tying a single-game program record. The team also did this against Rider last Saturday. The offensive success could be due to one major piece that was missing the last three games, Buddy Boeheim.

The junior returned from quarantine, after being in close contact with a teammate who had tested positive for COVID-19. His father, Head Coach Jim Boeheim, said Buddy had been practicing while in quarantine at the family’s regulation basketball court in their basement. As a result, Buddy Boeheim didn’t seem to miss a beat scoring 17 points, nine of which were from three-point range. He also surpassed Jim Boeheim on the all-time career scoring list with 745 points. Buddy now has more career points out of the two Boeheims.  In addition to the record breaking, the guard also went seven of 13 on field goal attempts. Boeheim’s scoring presence seemed to elevate the play of his teammates, specifically Joe Girard III.

It’s no secret that Girard has been struggling to get into a groove to start this season. Prior to this matchup, Girard was shooting just under 10 points per game, and that was largely inflated due to his solid game against Rider for 21 points. Today facing off against BC, Girard was shooting lights out. The guard only missed one from three the entire game, finishing with five of six. He also added a six of seven-field goal performance to bring his total to 17 points. Along with a resurgent offensive game, Girard clean things up on the defensive end of the court with five rebounds off the defensive glass.

The starting five deserve a lot of credit and recognition after this game. The group averaged over 15 points and each member played to its strengths. The three that haven’t been talked about yet are Alan Griffin, Marek Dolezaj, and Quincy Guerrier. Griffin continued to shoot well from three, tying Girard with most triples made in this contest with five. The junior combined a team-leading 19-point performance with a team-leading 10 rebounds. Complete and consistent production for Syracuse. Another standout, Marek Dolezaj, was dealing this afternoon. The game-leading seven assists and 10 points were quiet, but deadly. Finally, sophomore Quincy Guerrier found his way into the starting lineup and played a solid game. The forward finished with 14 points, but even more impressive the big man got to the line by being aggressive on second opportunities.

The only real positive for the Eagles was the play of James Karnik. Coming off the bench, the senior had a game-leading 20 points along with eight rebounds.

Syracuse is now 4-1 as Boston College falls to 1-5. The Orange face off against Buffalo next Saturday, but Jim Boeheim, in his postgame interview, said that they are trying to schedule one more game in the meantime.