On Jim Boeheim Day, @Cuse_MBB snuck by @NDmbb 88-85 despite a 56-point second half by the Irish.@francescosim16 and @JackGordonJG had the call for the Orange's second straight win. pic.twitter.com/5IerLFID1l
— WAER Sports (@WAERSports) February 24, 2024
Syracuse men’s basketball (18-10, 9-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) had a very special guest in attendance for Saturday's 88-85 win over Notre Dame (10-17, 5-11 ACC). Jim Boeheim, Syracuse’s longtime head coach, was greeted with rapturous applause as he took the podium to give a speech about his time coaching the ‘Cuse.
But as if he were still the head coach, Boeheim gave his thoughts on the game before his postgame address.
Coach Boeheim gives his thoughts on today's game and this season... pic.twitter.com/yKHmgZcbF6
— Syracuse Men’s Basketball (@Cuse_MBB) February 24, 2024
The “boring” aspect of the game Boeheim referred to was the first half. The Orange scored on nearly every possession to give them a 49-29 lead at the halftime break. SU led by as much as 29 at points in the first half. Following his performance at NC State in which he scored eight three-pointers, Forward Chris Bell got the Orange’s juices flowing with an early triple.
Bell explained how he went about following up his monster day in Raleigh.
“Just being aggressive,” Bell said. “I know a lot of people now are just going to run me off the line, so just getting back into regular things that I do normally.”
Bell converted both of his triples in the first and finished the game with four. The Orange as a team scored 55% of their threes and 61% from the field. All seemed well for Syracuse, but the cracks in the foundation began to show down the stretch of the first half. A buzzer-beating, bank shot three from Notre Dame guard Julian Roper II capped off a 9-0 Irish scoring run to end the first half.
That was just the beginning. In the second half Notre Dame could not be stopped from the three point line thanks to guard Braeden Shrewsberry. The coach’s son had six of his team’s second half threes. The Fighting Irish scored 56 second half points thanks to a near 70% shooting clip.
SU head coach Adrian Autry thinks his team gave the Fighting Irish too many open looks in the final 20 minutes.
“The shots that they got in the second half, they didn’t get in the first half,” Autry said. “A lot of that was us. I just thought we lost our focus, I thought we let up a little bit…A lot.”
That focus came back on the final 30 seconds of the game. Up by three, the Orange forced Shrewsberry and guard Markus Burton to take tough, long three-pointers. Both of them missed and Syracuse closed out the game at the free-throw line.
The win propelled SU to its first 18-win season in three years. Even still, guard JJ Starling acknowledged that the team did not play up to its potential.
“We’re not playing our best. We still have a lot to improve on, but we’re in a good spot mentally and we’re connected as a team on the court,” Starling said. “But we still can do even better.”
The next opportunity to get better comes Tuesday when Syracuse takes on Virginia Tech (15-12, 7-9 ACC) in the home finale. Senior night tips off at 7 p.m. with WAER’s coverage beginning at 6:30 with McClurg Remodeling Countdown to Tipoff.