By BILLY HEYEN
Syracuse players sat in the Carrier Dome locker room after last season’s home loss to Georgia Tech and, when asked, couldn’t agree on what defense the Yellowjackets had played. “Weird looking,” Oshae Brissett called it. A 1-3-1 that worked like a 1-1-3, Frank Howard suggested. Jim Boeheim insisted it was a matchup, 2-3 zone.
“It’s the same zone the whole game,” Boeheim said that Jan. 12 evening.
For Syracuse (4-4, 0-1 Atlantic Coast) to snap a three-game skid Saturday, there’ll need to be less confusion. The Orange have already dealt with offensive issues when they know what defense the opponent is playing. Georgia Tech (4-2, 1-0) still uses many of the same aspects of what GT head coach Josh Pastner called a “mix and match” defense. The first step for the Orange turning their season around is to solve that defense.
“(Defense is) our only way of survivability,” GT head coach Josh Pastner said after last season’s matchup. “Because we have a lot of limitations, so the thing that we can control is our defense. And that’s what we do, and that’s who we are.”
Georgia Tech didn’t try to hide that it was playing multiple defenses. As its players ran back to defend, a coach on the sideline would either hold up a small, laminated card or raise fingers on his hand.
The Yellowjackets threw it all at the Orange. There was the matchup, 2-3 zone that Boeheim pointed out and the 1-3-1 that Howard mentioned. There was also some man-to-man and some three-quarter court zone pressure. Rarely did GT go two possessions in a row playing the same defense.
The constant shifts meant that each time Howard brought the ball up the floor, there were multiple seconds spent trying to figure out where players should be positioned or what play to run. That caused a stagnant offense to be even more disjointed than usual.
Looking ahead to Saturday on KenPom.
— Billy Heyen (@BillyHeyen) December 5, 2019
These are Georgia Tech's numbers — the GT defense is very strong nationally, including third in effective field goal percentage allowed in the country. pic.twitter.com/scIYy8AJOo
Of course, this year’s Syracuse team is different, and maybe that provides reason for optimism. The additional shooting abilities usually on the floor provide a potential counter to varying zone defenses. But there’s also the matter of a freshman point guard and sophomore shooting guard — if four-year point guard Howard and three-year shooting guard Tyus Battle couldn’t work it out, what’s to suggest Joe Girard III and Buddy Boeheim will?
“We’re going to keep working,” Jim Boeheim told reporters after Tuesday’s loss to Iowa. “We’ll get better. But right now we’re not ready for these games. We’re trying to play our best offensive players and right now they’re not able to score enough.”
Last year’s loss to Georgia Tech was quickly forgotten when Syracuse went to Cameron Indoor Stadium and upset No. 1 Duke two days later. In the ACC, there will be ways to save a season for a couple months, still. But SU’s 0-4 record against high-major teams suggest it won’t be in position where just one fantastic win means an NCAA Tournament berth. The Orange will need two or three or four, and the 2016-17 season showed that three top-10 wins at home don’t even always equal dancing.
Syracuse has a lot of big picture warts that are easy to pick apart from afar. But for a basketball team reeling from three-straight losses, it truly is about the next game and the next game only. A blistering offensive showing in Atlanta won’t suddenly mean everything is OK. But solving the Yellowjackets’ defense and flying home with a road conference win would be a step in the right direction.
Otherwise, a Howard quote from after last season’s GT loss, one that would’ve defined that season if not for the monumental upset at Duke, could come to sum up this one.
“We literally hate losing,” Howard said. “It messes up our mood. This is not something we’re gonna drag on. In this league, if you do that, that’s how you end up in an NIT game.”
Leave a Reply