Kadary Richmond shines in first career start at Syracuse (quick shots from Donna Ditota)



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Syracuse, New York – The largest observation of Thursday’s game was made about two hours before the Syracuse-Niagara game in the Carrier Dome.

SU announced a positive Covid-19 test in their men’s basketball program. The announcement had an impact on who could play Thursday night and juggled the Orange rotation, especially at guard posts.

The game? Syracuse led by 14 at the half and won a 75-45 victory.

Here is what happened:

Syracuse University announced, at 6:18 p.m., that someone from his men’s basketball program tested positive for Covid-19 in tests last week. Basketball players and Orange staff are tested three times a week, using the most accurate coronavirus tests – a PCR nasal swab. The person who has tested positive must self-isolate for 10 days; anyone considered close contact should be quarantined for 14 days.

The university will not identify people in its sports programs who test positive. Buddy Boeheim was not in the Carrier Dome on Thursday night and did not play in the game. He had started 36 previous games for the Orange and scored 21 points in the SU opener in the Dome last week.

Either way, SU had 10 players at their disposal against Niagara. He modified his starting lineup to look like: Joe Girard, Kadary Richmond, Alan Griffin, Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj. Bourama Sidibe was not available; he had surgery earlier in the week to repair a torn meniscus and is expected to miss about a month. Dolezaj started for himself and Guerrier moved into Dolezaj’s traditional attacking position. Richmond, the first-year point guard, took over from Buddy Boeheim in the starting lineup.

The bench looked like this: John Bol Ajak, Woody Newton, Frank Anselem, Jesse Edwards, Robert Braswell.

Kadary Richmond, the 6-foot-5 point guard, made his first career debut in Syracuse.

He struggled a bit early. He looked a little hesitant in the face of a small guard (5ft 10in) tasked with covering him. But then he got better. Much better. Joe Girard took care of most of the early ball handling and playmaking tasks early in the game, but as the half progressed Richmond had more of the ball in his hands to play or take shots. . And he became more confident as his minutes went up.

He was good in this first half. He showed great hesitation and a change of gears with his dribble that got him into the lane. He completed a lob pass from Girard. He was 3 of 5 in that half with four rebounds, a blocked shot (he crushed a 3-point attempt from the top) and an assist. What about when Niagara was attempting a 3-point shot? They did it from the Girard zone of the zone.

He remained good in the second half. At the start of this shutdown, he flew a bullet through the air of the Dome and converted at the other end. He fed Quincy Warrior in transition. He tipped a ball for himself that a Niagara player had tried to save the limits, then picked it up and scored. He found Woody Newton with a lob which Newton threw.

In the end, Richmond scored 16 points on 6 of 10 shots. He had seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, three blocks and three turnovers.

Quincy Warrior was just too powerful, too active on the backboards and ultimately too good-looking for Niagara, who had no real answer for him.

Guerrier scored 12 points in the first period. He didn’t miss any of his five shooting attempts. And he had eight rebounds. It all happened within 15 minutes of the first half. With more than 16 minutes to play in the match, he had already achieved a double-double (14 points, 10 targets).

Warrior keeps talking this season about how much he focuses on working around the basket, on the rebound of the ball. He clearly understands that these are his best basketball attributes.

He did, for good measure, sink a 3-point shot in the first half. But it was his work around the basket that made him so impressive. He finished with a high of 23 points in 25 minutes. He was 9 out of 10 overall and 1 to 1 on the 3-point line.

Niagara, which recently resumed basketball practices after their own break for Covid-19, looked like a team that had just returned to basketball.

The Purple Eagles struggled to shoot the ball and struggled to score. They shot 29 percent in the first half. They missed 19 of their 24 attempts by 3 points. They were worse than that in the second half.

Attribute some of that to the SU defense, which felt a bit tighter than in Game 1 against Bryant. But as Syracuse players and coaches will attest, it’s hard to take a break for a few weeks and then get back to basketball. Thursday’s game was the season opener for Niagara.

We talked a lot about the strangeness to play in the Carrier Dome without fans. SU plays music during breaks. The people in the goalscoring office all wear plastic masks and screens. For me, after watching so much basketball on TV since last March, one of Covid’s most interesting concessions came during downtime, when Jim Boeheim sat in a chair surrounded by the five guys currently in the match; all of these guys had their own seats. Players who were not in the game stood at a distance back wearing gaiters to cover their faces.

Joe Girard continued to struggle with his touch of shooting Thursday. Girard, who was 2 for 14 overall and 2 for 9 on the 3-point line when the season opened against Bryant, finished 3 of 11 overall and 1 of 6 from the 3-point line against Niagara. He scored eight points.

He’s had a few unusual assists and four turnovers.

He had company on the set. SU as a team shot 22% from the 3-point line (5 of 23). Buddy Boeheim’s absence didn’t help. This is an area that Orange needs to improve in order to move forward.

This and that: There was never much doubt who would win Thursday after the opening minutes. SU is just a better team. The Orange, however, was still showing signs of rust. There were some weird twists and some shots that didn’t look so comfortable. Orange missed its 12 attempts by 3 points in the second half. SU still has a lot of work to do. … without Bourama Sidibe, who will be sidelined for up to a month after the meniscus operation, Marek Dolezaj played most of the minutes in the middle. Jim Boeheim tried Jesse Edwards for a brief period (1 minute) in the first half. He inserted John Bol Ajak there in the second half, then moved Ajak forward and put Frank Anselem in. Boeheim has said Dolezaj will be his main center until Sidibe is ready to return. … Freshman forward Woody Newton was one of the first subs (along with Robert Braswell) on Thursday. Newton, a lean and elastic athlete, landed a 3-point shot on his first attempt and had a good time. Newton played at the top of the SU zone in the second half; he finished with nine points and five rebounds in 15 minutes of playing action. … Ajak, who wore a red shirt last season, played his first minutes of 2020-2021 against Niagara.

More basketball from Syracuse:

You notice the Orange after defeating Niagara

Syracuse Men’s Basketball Reports Positive Covid-19 Test In Their Schedule; will impact the game of Niagara

Syracuse University: Water on Carrier Dome floor was not the result of a leak in a new roof

Triple double-double, calendar strength, Jim Boeheim tenure: Mike’s mailbox

Donna Ditota is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Do you have a comment or a story idea? Reach her at [email protected].

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