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Indianapolis – The Sweet 16. That’s what Syracuse and West Virginia were playing on a brilliantly sunny afternoon here at the NCAA tournament.
SU, the 11th seed, faced the No.3 Mountaineers in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Orange took a 35-29 advantage in the locker room at halftime. Breathtaking Final Score: Syracuse 75, West Virginia 72.
On the Sweet 16. Bubble Life continues for Orange, who eliminated two teams with higher seeds.
Here is what happened:
Buddy Boeheim was hot. Stop me if you’ve heard this before. The Orange Guard struggled a bit in the first half, but he was money (again) when SU needed him.
He scored 22 points in the second half. On a few occasions he kind of escaped West Virginia’s scrutiny and got very open looks of 3. He also did some tough shots with mountaineers in the face.
He also drained 3 of 4 free throws to help seal the deal for SU. Boeheim finished with 25 points in this one. The boyfriend mythology continues.
Syracuse took a 28-14 halftime lead. The Orange, once again, early mistook an NCAA tournament team for their zone. The Mountaineers returned him (11 times in the first half). They missed shots (32% at halftime). They just looked a little uncomfortable.
Sean McNeil kept West Virginia close at hand with two incredibly deep 3-point shots.
The once robust 14-point advantage fell to 35-29 at the break. Syracuse led, but the advantage seemed slim.
The problem for SU mainly arose in the second half of the year when West Virginia divested the Orange and capitalized on those sales. West Virginia had beaten SU 21-4 in turnover points. One of those turnovers happened in the last minute when Marek Dolezaj made a wrong pass.
Joe Girard was really good in the first half. He scored 12 points at halftime and drained 4 of 6 from the 3-point line. He looked confident as he handled the ball against the constant pressure from Deuce McBride. And he helped make up for a rough start for Buddy Boeheim (1 in 6), who has been so magnificent in the playoffs. (West Virginia noticed it and kept it appropriately.)
Because West Virginia was pushing so hard, the Orange in general and Girard in particular scrambled to find other teammates. SU moved the ball well, looked good against the Mountaineers. But towards the end of the half, relatively easy shots would not have come down for Syracuse.
Later in the second half, when SU needed defensive saves, it went to Kadary Richmond. Richmond, too, was solid with the ball. Against all the pressure from the mountaineers, he moved away from the double teams and found free space on the ground.
The Mountaineers put Girard on the free throw line 12.4 seconds from time. He missed the front of a 1 and 1 that could have frozen the game and SU fans gasped.
Syracuse found a fault problem in the first half. West Virginia does this to teams. Marek Dolezaj collected three faults in the first half, the last in the final seconds before the intermission. (One of those fouls was essentially an intentional bump to prevent a quick break, which probably seemed like a good idea at the time.) Quincy Guerrier and Alan Griffin each made two fouls in the first half.
It got worse in the second half. Dolezaj took his fourth with about 15 minutes left in the game as he drove and a West Virginia defenseman pitched down the lane to shoot a charge. About two and a half minutes later, Dolezaj’s replacement Jesse Edwards picked up his fourth foul.
So Dolezaj came home. With a lot of minutes. And he managed to stay in the game until the last buzzer sounded.
Sean McNeil was a problem. The West Virginia guard found open spots in the orange zone and took 3-point shots. Some of them were ridiculously deep. But some were catching and shooting options thanks to good ball movement from the mountaineers.
He was the West Virginia version of Buddy Boeheim and he really hurt SU with his marksmanship. McNeil finished with 23 points. He was 7 of 13 from the 3 point line.
This and that: Bankers Life is the home of the Indiana Pacers and it has a distinct corporate feel. There are chic luxury boxes, lots of woodwork on the upper levels. It’s not as collegiate as Hinkle Fieldhouse, where SU beat San Diego State on Friday night. And due to the size of the arena and the small size of the socially distant crowd, every cheer seemed muffled. … It was a physical and difficult match. Not for the weak or the faint of heart. … Robert Braswell played significant minutes for SU and drained a 3 corner that put SU 68-59 and allowed all the Syracuse fans in the gym to exhale (sort of). … West Virginia dominated the glass and was the best rebounding team on Sunday. It has been a problem all season for Syracuse, although the Orange have been better lately in that department. … SU was far from great at the end of the game. The Orange struggled to get the ball in and made every Syracuse fan (and the entire SU bench) a little nervous until the last buzzer sounded.
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