Syracuse - Notre Dame Postgame Reactions OR Road Woes
0 Comments Published on 1.25.2017 by John Brennan
 |
| "Ew, there's a spider, get it away!" |
After nearly a week of after its Big Monday tilt against North Carolina, the Syracuse Orange traveled to South Bend last Saturday to take some of its moderate road improvement up against Notre Dame. I don't necessarily think many people expected Syracuse to win, but the better road play at UNC, coupled with Orange success over the Fighting Irish recently, certainly left that door wide open. Which is why not only the end result -- but the manner of defeat -- was so hard for many Orange fans to take. Notre Dame beats Syracuse 84-66.
- Tyler Lydon had a hell of a game: double double via 24 points (7-13 shooting, 2-4 from three, 8-8 from the line) along with ten rebounds in 40 minutes.
- Also playing all 40 minutes was Tyus Battle, Syracuse's 2nd leading scorer, with 17 points on 6-14 from the floor.
- Just behind him in scoring was Andrew White, who had 16 points.
- You can do the math there. The other nine points came from DaJuan Coleman (five) and Frank Howard (four).
- DaJuan Coleman! Not only did he get playing time, he got meaningful minutes -- 23! He had some rust to shake off, and it looked clear that his knee is not 100%, but he was able to contribute in a way this team hasn't seen in almost a month. With Tyler Roberson being a virtual non-factor because of foul trouble, Coleman was able to fill the rebounding void, with seven of his own.
- Those 23 minutes from Coleman allowed Lydon to slip back over to the forward position so he could focus on offense and be in better position to rebound -- both areas where he filled up the box score. Plus, Syracuse gains size at the center position with Coleman over Lydon. A healthy (enough) and active Coleman helps cover up the minutes that Taurean Thompson will have to spend at center. ND still exploited Coleman, but a lot of that can be rust.
- The Irish didn't exactly kill Syracuse from three -- always a big concern against a team like this -- but they were able to build a solid halftime lead and then just never allow Syracuse to even think about getting back in the game in the second half. It got pretty frustrating to continue to watch, honestly.
So that's basically all I wanna say about that. If Syracuse can't figure out how to play well enough on the road to even be competitive, then what are we even doing this for? A 9-9 conference record from sweeping the home games might get you a decent position in the ACC Tournament, but that's not played in the Carrier Dome -- it's played in a building where Syracuse is 0-1 this season. So, don't count on that to be the golden ticket at this point.
Labels: ACC, Basketball, Recap
0 Responses to “Syracuse - Notre Dame Postgame Reactions OR Road Woes”
Post a Comment