BROOKLYN — After a play he wished he’d get back, Buddy Boeheim stretched the ball overhead, pounded it to the ground and tossed it to the referee. A chaotic scene began with a Brycen Goodine turnover after the freshman tried to break the Penn State press with his dribble. But hand-fighting knocked the ball loose, and when the ball rolled to Elijah Hughes in the paint, he spotted three Penn State defenders out of position. So, he sprinted. 

Hughes passed the ball up the court and into the hands of Buddy who found the shot he wanted. “I got a little excited to shoot it,” Buddy said after the game. He leapt before he gathered, and the ball slipped from his hands and then right back into them. A play to continue the momentum was wasted with a travel.

“I don’t know how that happened,” Buddy said.

The play was just one of SU’s (4-3, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) several mishaps in a transition game that for much of the night was lopsided. Penn State (6-1) scored 19 points in transition and took advantage of SU’s poor positioning off misses to outnumber the Orange running down the floor. When spots opened up for Syracuse to speed up the pace on its own, sloppy play stopped runs before they occurred and hampered the Orange toward a second-straight double-digit loss. This time, it was an 85-64 defeat to the Nittany Lions in the NIT Season Tip-Off at the Barclays Center.

Early in the season, Syracuse thrived when it could control the pace and set up its offense to run plays in the half-court. Buddy converted frequently off screens, but when he caught the ball in stride after sprinting from the backcourt, his misses fired long. At the time, Buddy prescribed transition play as one of SU’s earliest issues. It was minimized by Syracuse’s ability to set the pace of early nonconference games, but something that would weigh far more when it couldn’t.

The Nittany Lions tempted the Orange into quick cuts and runs from the opposite end of the court. They employed a full court press — like Oklahoma State two days prior — so SU tried to break it with quick passes up the court, which sometimes led to open shots. Though the press didn’t lead to any quick turnovers, it caused an imbalance for shooters already trying to claw their way back from a quick 15-point deficit.

Early in the first half, Syracuse swiftly passed the ball up the floor and Hughes sprinted out in front of PSU defenders. Needing a big play, Hughes floated to the corner and quickly fired while his momentum faded him toward the baseline. When the shot rimmed out, Syracuse’s quick movement ahead had left multiple Penn State players lagging behind, now open in SU’s backcourt. 

“If you can’t convert in transition,” Hughes said, “you got to sprint back.”

The shooting struggles for Syracuse continued, and the Nittany Lions utilized a 29-rebound advantage to continually push forward. The Orange struggled to keep up with Penn State’s speed down the floor, and when it did get back, SU often fouled. 

Transition play briefly erupted the Orange, who tied the game on quick plays up the floor out of halftime. Marek Dolezaj began to push the ball up the floor off rebounds, and Syracuse made quick cuts to the rim that ended in quick buckets or quick fouls. To complete a seven-point comeback after halftime, Joe Girard III found Hughes for a breakaway dunk. 

“I mean, it felt (within) six points for like 10 minutes there,” Buddy said.

But the good fortune didn’t last, and Syracuse got lost within its own speed. With the game still in reach, Girard dove to the floor and knocked away a bounce pass. He popped up, caught an outlet and burst up the floor. Quincy Guerrier arced out to the wing. He pointed his finger in the air. “Up,” Guerrier yelled.

Girard waited, but as Guerrier cut in, he tossed a line drive behind Guerrier and out of bounds. Girard clapped his hands together. Guerrier turned toward the freshman point guard and pointed his finger in the air once more, but Girard looked down. Another chance halted, Girard gingerly strolled to the bench.

Published on November 29, 2019 at 11:47 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary