Syracuse Humbles Georgia Tech
The Orange D Squeezes Low Energy Jackets ….Who Have No Juice To Respond
Jim Boeheim’s Syracuse team came to Atlanta looking to gain a league win and stop a 3 game slide vs Georgia Tech. Done. Emphatically.
Jim Boeheim offered this assessment of his Orange, “When we shoot it well we’re tough to stop.”
Syracuse is now 5-4 on the year, 1-1 in the ACC. They had endured a rocky start to the young season and expected another tough time against Tech (4-3,1-1), what with the Jackets tenacious defense. That defense, however, failed to show up on Saturday and the Orange rode 2 hot shooters to a dominating. 93-63 win at McCamish Pavilion. That 34 point margin was Tech’s biggest in a home loss since 1981.
Elijah Hughes hit his first 4 shots, all 3’s, to turn a momentary 2-0 Tech lead into a double-digit deficit. Hughes stayed hot the entire half, scoring 26 in the first 20 minutes. Tech, meanwhile, could not generate much of an answer, as the Orange clamped down hard on Michael Devoe, the ACC’s leading scorer coming into the game at 23 ppg. “We wanted to be there every time he caught the ball. We didn’t want to give him any space or driving lanes”, said Boeheim after the game.
It worked. Devoe got off only 4 first half shots, hitting none and managing a single free throw for his first half scoring total. That largely explained the 48-28 halftime deficit Tech faced. Simply put, Devoe’s teammates couldn’t pick up the offensive slack, with the notable exception of Moses Wright who had a 10 point half on 5 of 10 shooting, missing his only free throw.
For the 2nd half, Tech came out determined to hold down Hughes. They did, relatively speaking, as he added only 7 points. But Buddy Boeheim caught fire and struck for 20 2nd half points, effectively staving off any comeback hopes the Jackets may have harbored.
For the game, Hughes and Boeheim combined for 59 points , hitting a ridiculous 18 of 30 from the field, including 12 of 24 from distance. Tech’s plan coming in was to attack the Orange inside, working Wright and Banks to that effect. Pastner noted post-game that “we needed Moses and Janes to dominate the red zone and we didn’t get that done today”. Pastner said he had wanted 25 or 30 (points) and 15 (rebounds) from Wright, who was able to produce 17 points and 9 boards. Banks’ contribution was minimal, pulling down only 3 boards to go with 7 points and no blocks in 24 minutes of play.
Josh Pastner had hoped to generate big offense from the red zone.
Tech guard Bubba Parham was able to add 11 points including 3 of 9 from distance, but the Jackets were never able to mount a serious 2nd half challenge due to Boeheim’s hot shooting. Tech turned to a press at the 12 minute mark, gaining a fleeting burst of offense but then yielding a big dunk on a rebound to help Syracuse maintain their large lead.
Syracuse’ dominance on the boards at 40-30 was somewhat surprising. Referencing that rebounding advantage, Jim Boeheim summed it up by noting that Tech has “2 guys (Banks and Wright) but they don’t have another guy. Their other guys are small.”
Tech forward Moses Wright had 17 points and 9 rebounds, but Pastner had hoped for more.
Moses Wright had no ready explanations for his teams’ overall lackluster performance. “There’s no excuse for the way we played…We’ve got to take it as a learning opportunity.” said Tech’s junior forward.
Tech certainly mussed Jose Alvarado, who is out indefinitely with an ankle sprain. Alvarado’s ball-handling and distribution skills are unique on the Tech roster and in this game particularly, Pastner cited Alvarado’s “feel” for attacking a zone defense that would have helped Tech’s offense vs Syracuse.
Georgia Tech’s next game is a big date against SEC blueblood Kentucky at Lexington next Saturday Dec 14. The next home date for Tech is against Ball State on Weds. Dec 18.
Patrick Conarro