Syracuse, NY – Syracuse had a surprising 75-67 victory over Notre Dame on Saturday afternoon at the Carrier Dome.
Syracuse lost 46-32 in the interval, fell behind by 20 points at the start of the second half and still faced a 58-41 disadvantage with just over 13 minutes remaining.
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But Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim went to his field press and introduced Kadary Richmond and Robert Braswell to the team.
The moves seemed to start Orange.
Buddy Boeheim and Quincy Guerrier hit 3 consecutive points with SU narrowing the margin to 60-59 with 8:26 remaining. Boeheim drained 3 more to give Syracuse his first 62-60 game advantage.
Marek Dolezaj’s two free throws gave Syracuse a 64-60 lead at the end of a 23-2 run.
Notre Dame went more than five minutes without scoring a basket during the Syracuse rally.
Boeheim ended the game with 29 points, the best of his career, at six points out of 3. His previous record was 26 points, which he recorded against Virginia Tech and Georgia Tech last season.
Dolezaj contributed 18 points and four assists.
Syracuse’s record improved to 13-6 overall and 7-5 ACC.
The victory was important for Syracuse, as it was a game that Orange could not lose.
Notre Dame dropped to 9-11 in the season and 6-8 at the conference. Notre Dame entered the game in 64th place in the NCAA NET ranking, which means that this was a Quad 2 game for Syracuse.
In the first half, Notre Dame’s efficient attack was too much for zone 2-3 of Syracuse.
After leading by up to 19 points, the Irish had a 46-32 lead at halftime, after making 18 of the 33 (54 percent) goal attempts in the first half. Notre Dame connected in seven of 14 shots from a 3-point strip.
Notre Dame started the game by looking in to center Juwan Durham. In a series of lob passes, Durham scored 10 of the Irishman’s first 17 points. After Durham forced Syracuse to think inside, Notre Dame began to explore its multiple shooting options outside. Trey Wertz, Cormac Ryan and Prentiss Hubb scored at least two points out of 3 in the first half.
Across the court, Syracuse’s attack looked like a series of one-on-one moves. There was little movement. Syracuse’s two top scorers, Alan Griffin and Quincy Guerrier, added just seven points in 2-in-10 shots.
While Notre Dame provided 15 assists in its 18 pitches, Syracuse made just six in their 13 pitches at halftime.
But Syracuse adjusted in half. In the second half, Notre Dame managed to add just 21 points.
Syracuse is scheduled to play at Duke on Monday, the first of two straight games that will fall in quadrant 1. Orange is at Georgia Tech next Saturday.
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