BLACKSBURG, VA — Syracuse (11-7, 4-3 Atlantic Coast) beat Virginia Tech (13-5, 4-3), 71-69 in a game that nearly fell out of control. The Orange controlled the game in the first half, yet the Hokies cut the lead to three points once and then to just a point with less than two minutes remaining in the game. Despite a game-icing shot misfiring from Elijah Hughes, the Orange held on.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

In the doghouse

After an early timeout and Virginia Tech’s second-straight 3-pointer to jump out to a seven-point lead, Bourama Sidibe waltzed to the bench when he was immediately met by a furious Jim Boeheim who wagged his finger in Sidibe’s face. For nearly a minute, Boeheim hollered at Sidibe, who shook his head and slouched his shoulders. Since he had been in the game, a part of a season-long struggle, Sidibe committed fouls, allowed offensive rebounds against smaller players and failed to rotate properly on defense.

Sidibe was replaced by Quincy Guerrier, who the Orange found success with. When Sidibe returned, his clear height advantage sometimes showed. Sidibe finished inside when he was open and pulled down an offensive board, but another over-the-back foul caused Boeheim to approach him again.

Cool it, Buddy 

During a first-half stretch when Hughes went dormant, Buddy Boeheim erupted for 18 points on 7-13 shooting from the field. Over and over again, Buddy was the first person Syracuse looked for at the beginning of the possession and the last one to watch it fall through the net.

Buddy’s first shot was an air-ball that caused the crowd to chant playful jeers, and from that moment the sophomore looked for his shot on every possession. He tried tough step-backs, spot-up 3-pointers and looked to shoot every time of the catch. After Guerrier pulled down an offensive rebound, he dumped the ball out to Buddy to start a new possession, but Buddy fired right away. The shot started an eight-point stretch for Buddy alone, including a tough layup finish and a deep pull-up 3-pointer in transition.

SU head coach Jim Boeheim called him “the best shooter on the team” two games prior in a win over Virginia, and Buddy played like it. He took the shots the best shooter takes and made many of them seemingly with ease.

A near-collapse 

Though the shots were not falling, Hughes continued to put his head down and drive into the rim. His first step wasn’t quick enough, so he turned his back to the rim and muscled his way inside. His turnaround floater fell, and Hughes trailed the referee down the court, begging him to look closer at the contact that had caused him so much trouble earlier. The shot was Hughes’ second make in nine attempts. The ball came to him often, but the Orange’s best player didn’t deliver.

Buddy had cooled off from an electric first-half, and the Orange searched for alternative options. They still looked to get Buddy shots, but most of the time SU was cut off by a Virginia Tech team that tightened its man defense to deny Buddy the ball. And when the Orange lost its scoring touch, the Hokies gained theirs. The Hokies hit multiple 3-pointers in a row and cut the lead to three. The stretch provided flashbacks to Syracuse’s collapse in the Carrier Dome earlier in the year. Even when it seemed like the Orange inched closer away, a 3-pointer quickly changed the game. In the end, the Orange hung on just enough to get the win.

Published on January 18, 2020 at 2:07 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary