Marquette 76 - Syracuse 70: Ah, Poop
by Sean Keeley on Jan 29, 2011 10:01 PM EST
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PrintLate in the game Saturday, Syracuse has a chance to steal a win from Marquette and get off the schnide. All they seemed to need was one Eagle possession that ended with a score. If they could get that and then make something happen on their end of the floor, they stood a chance.
In those two key possessions, Marquette’s Jimmy Butler hit three-pointers. One was a shot-clock beater and the other was a circus shot from far beyond the arc. Marquette won 76-70.
That sums up what's going on with Syracuse basketball. Not to absolve them of blame, but the Basketball God simply do not want SU to win basketball games right now. Opponents are hitting three-pointers at absurd levels and at any given crucial moment, way beyond what's explainable by bad defense.
We have lost the favor of the Gods. I'm not entirely sure why and I don't know how to fix it. But we better figure it out ASAP cause the season is starting to slip away.
Unlike the Seton Hall game, effort was not an issue in this game. Mistakes, however, were a-plenty.
After trailing by 11 points at halftime, Syracuse steadily closed the gap in the second half. Joseph trimmed Marquette’s margin to 55-52 with a 3-pointer at the 10-minute mark. After Marquette scored on a free throw, Brandon Triche hit a short jumper in the lane to cut it to 56-54. Triche then stole the ball from Marquette guard Junior Cadougan and fed Jardine for a transition layup to tie the game at 56 with 8:17 left.
Syracuse had two chances to take the lead earlier in the second half. The Orange had two possessions while Marquette led 58-57, but Syracuse turned the ball over on an inbounds pass and then Crowder stole the ball from Jardine out of a double-team.
Kris Joseph is really starting to prove his worth as far as what he can do on the scoreboard and how he can keep the Orange in a game.
Almost every time Marquette looked like they were going to put the score at an unreachable level in the first half, Joseph made a play to stop the bleeding.
He is not quite the consistent game-breaker people have been looking for, but did enough to add to this game and shake off the bad vibes from Seton Hall.
Scoop, Scoop, Scoop. Jardine actually set a career-best with 13 assists but you'd never know it from the post-game reaction by fans. Once again Scoop also committed plenty of turnovers (5) and made some strange mistakes late in the game. Enough to make Syracuse fans walk away from the game unchanged in their opinion that Scoop is not the answer at point. Which is more impressive than all those assists.
Brandon Triche, meanwhile, "only" had 9 points but seemed to be much more of a game-flow manager than Scoop. Especially when it mattered. Toward the end of the second half, it seemed like every time Scoop touched the ball, something bad happened and every time Triche touched the ball, something good happened. Maybe that's not entirely true, but that was the perception.
Baye Moussa Keita reinvigorated himself in the game, playing 18 minutes, scoring five points and grabbing seven boards before fouling out. On a night when the line-up was small and someone needed to step up, he did.
And C.J. Fair quietly did well, scoring ten points and making three blocks in 14 minutes of time.
As for Waiters and Southerland, well, first we'll deal with Waiters. He sat out the entire game. And let there be no mistake, that was not because he has been playing poorly, like Boeheim said.
"Yeah, he’s shooting 30 percent from the field, 30 percent from the 3-point line and not playing good defense,’’ Boeheim said when asked why Waiters didn’t play. "Other than that, I can’t think of any.’’
The Orange needed Waiters tonight, if for no other reason than to provide relief for Triche & Scoop. He sat out because he's on some kind of double-secret suspension, which was, one of the rumors floated around this week. The same rumor that Boeheim seemed to downplay but never outright denied on the radio Thursday. (Kudos to Danny Parkins for sticking to his guns on that).
The question now is whether or not Dion's double-secret suspension lasts another game or not.
As for James Southerland...I don't think we have any answer yet on how he went from starter to DNP. I'm sure we'll hear more about it soon. Weird.
Arinze Onuaku doesn't play for the Orange anymore, yet free throws seem to be more of a damaging issue this year than they were in the last two.
SU, a team that strives to create off the dribble, has struggled to get to the line these past couple games. Every opponent in SU’s current four-game losing streak has outscored the Orange from the line.
"Free throws were out of whack," SU coach Jim Boeheim said. "But that’s just the way it is."
A bunch of folks said this game was a "must-win." Well, what happened when you don't win a must-win? Do you pack it in? As I saw one person put it, are we destined for the NIT now? That seems crazy in spite of the losing streak. Especially when there are so many other Big East teams struggling right now.
Still...we gotta win a ballgame. The next one would be nice. So let's shoot for that.
- Syracuse Basketball vs Marquette The Sunny Side: Effort Not an Issue This Time...Brent Axe
- Syracuse Basketball vs Marquette The Dark Side: First Four-Game Losing Streak in Five Years for SU...Brent Axe
- Syracuse Basketball vs Marquette: This, That, and the Other Thing...Brent Axe
- Waiters sits out Syracuse's loss to Marquette...Mike Waters
- FOURTH KIND: SU falls at Marquette for 1st 4-game losing skid in 5 seasons..Daily Orange
- Orange lose fourth straight against Marquette...The Juice
- SU/Marquette: My Uninformed, Ill-Thought Out Post Game Musings...Otto's Army
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Maybe we need to sacrifice a live chicken.
Hey, it worked for Pedro Cerrano.
"The free throws were out of whack"
I guess when you’ve been in the game as long as Jimmy B, you learn to just shrug off a nineteen free throw differential. Nineteen. The number defies explanation. Does anybody else think there was a meeting amongst Big East officials at the end of last season, where they agreed that they gave Kris Joseph way to many calls on his drives, so to balance it out he will get hit with more offensive fouls than shooting fouls? What does the poor guy have to do? He’s already been given a concussion when he was raped on a drive. Apparently nothing less than a mild paralysis will do.
I’m tired of people saying the defense is the issue. It’s really not. Sean nailed it on the head. We have been hit with the best shooting games for three teams in a row. Anyone who saw Villanova against Providence and Georgetown realizes that they cannot shoot 3’s like they did against Syracuse consistently. Seton Hall is obvious. That game was an aberration that could have happened any time during the year. It looks worse because it was the third game in a losing streak. I’m just sick of losing to junk shots. I’m tired of it. Pitt beat us with good shots. Villanova had some good offense, and some fluky shooting by Wayns. Seton Hall made junk threes in the first half and ran away when Syracuse couldn’t answer. Marquette played with alot of hustle, but they won by six with a nineteen FT advantage. They also had two junk threes from Butler, that junk running fade-away in the paint, and Crowder throwing at least two shots up while falling down that went in. Don’t get me wrong, he was a beast. But he hit a couple of junk shots after fouls that go in about 30% of the time. I’m tired of being on the receiving end of team’s finding some magical shooting elixir that they can’t carry to another game. Maybe Marquette will prove differently, but I doubt it.
Your First Ever Pinstripe Bowl Champions- The Syracuse Orange
by bigbluethruandthru on Jan 29, 2011 10:16 PM EST reply actions
well said
I couldn’t agree more. Even if we do suck at the line the last 3 games I can’t believe the no calls on us. Its almost as if they’re getting paid off. I feel like they can hold our arms down when we shoot and no call… and its not just joseph. Ricky twice kieta at least once… and the intentional on melo that was just embarassing. Didn’t even touch the guy.
GO ORANGE
by rjofee on Jan 29, 2011 11:11 PM EST via mobile up reply actions
True ... but Boeheim has said that even he can hit open looks from 3
The zone has been lazy at the perimeter at times and guys are getting wide open looks. But what sucks is that when Syracuse tightens it up and getting hands in shooters’ faces … they’re still hitting 3s.
The zone doesn’t look nearly as impenetrable as it did early on. They seem to be overpursuing at times leaving guys open in the corners. They adjust and adapt and still are getting beat. And now, more out of frustration than anything else I think, they’re getting more physical and chippy leading to the insane foul differential for a zone defense.
I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But you make more money as a leader.
I think they're somewhat in shock after the barrage of 3's they've suffered through
so if a guy looks like he’s got an open look they close on him like a mom who’s baby is walking on the edge of a cliff. And you’re right, it completely leaves them open to a pump fake or a pass to a more open shooter. The effort was there against Marquette, but not effort combined with brains.
Your First Ever Pinstripe Bowl Champions- The Syracuse Orange
by bigbluethruandthru on Jan 30, 2011 10:10 AM EST up reply actions
thank you, i thought i was the only one.
everyone says dont blame the refs… 19 freethrow differential. it was way out of hand and has been on a couple games.
Go Orange!
I've tried everything
through this slump. I’ve stopped drinking. I’ve started drinking. Today I actually quit watching after the 1st half to go visit my wife’s great aunt who is in the hospital with a brain tumor. Since she is a former nun, my thought was that God would have mercy on the Orange today. Apparently he saw through my ulterior motives. Next time she goes by herself and I keep drinking.
Scoop
Down 1 in the latter part of the second half and in a four possession span, Scoop turns it over three times. Once on a charge, once on a lazy inbounds pass and once on a dribble into a double team. Just totally unacceptable from your point guard.
My frustration with Scoop is that he's either/or
There’s little middle ground where he doesn’t hurt the team when he doesn’t help. Part of that is that he handles the ball so much that, by law of averages, he’s going to be involved in some part of the play. But it seems he either makes a great pass, hits a 3, or he’s bricking shots without help, throwing the ball in the stands, or getting stripped in the lane.
I've been involved in a number of cults, both as a leader and a follower. You have more fun as a follower. But you make more money as a leader.
Man oh man.....
Less than 2 weeks ago we were looking at a #1 seed . And now? 4 losses in a row, To recap: a great comeback at Pitt that fell short – proved the team has heart. A loss at home to a hot shooting Nova team. An unimaginable debacle against a very hot shooting SHU. Today? Even though we went down in the first half they battled tooth and nail (and played exceptional defense) to get back to a tie. Butler’s shots doomed us, as did terribly timed TO’s by Scoop. (And one under the basket off a great pass from CJ that Kris and Rick both went for and it went out of bounds). The verdict? 4 losses is 4 losses IN A ROW regardless of the positives. Boeheim, regardless of what he says publically, has to be infuriated by the losses. And the disrespect from Dion. All the talk of effort aside, 4 losses in a row after going 18 and 0 is unfathomable. This team CAN win Wednesday. If they lose it will be 5 in a row FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER while Boeheim is the coach. Is the BE tough? Yes, of course. Can anyone beat anyone? Yes. But so what? We need a W now. Time for a gut check from Scoop, who considers himself the leader of this team. Time for Dion to accept responsibilty and act like a man. Time for Brandon to assert himself in the first half and play like he’s capable of. It’s a topsy turvy league and all that – but, c’mon, this is Syracuse basketball. Not St. John’s, not DePaul, not Providence. Time to step up and win. My fear is they lose Wednesday and then the wheels really come off. It could get ugly.
It's the big east.
And we could potentially lose every game. Especially when teams shoot this well. Su dropped a road game to a mature big east team. They were motivated and we were slumping. Oh well
by ryanwk628 on Jan 30, 2011 9:20 AM EST via mobile reply actions 1 recs
Agreed.
I’d be worried much worse (proper grammar?) if the team had folded up the tent at halftime and gotten blown away. But, they didn’t. I think they’ll be fine. However, call it what you will; rough patch, down cycle, valley, slump. They need to play better for 40 minutes to dig out of it.
SHASHASHAA!!!
by RustyShackleford on Jan 30, 2011 10:23 AM EST up reply actions
I miss arinze
Yesterday was more frustrating that the Seton Hall game. Just when it looks like we are going to take over the game Scoop either A) sloppily dribbles the ball into the paint and gets it stolen, B) makes a wild ally oop pass that goes out of bounds, C) tries to force the ball down low and it gets stolen or D) takes a contested 3-pt shot from 21 ft and makes it 50% of the time. Despite his stat line yesterday, he hurt more than he helped. This team does not shoot the ball well enough to rely on our backcourt. We really are missing the presence inside that we had last year with Onuaku. Rick has arguably been our MVP this season, but Marquette took him out of the game by doubling him on most possessions yesterday. With no other inside presence that hurts us big time. Plus Fab Melo is a 7 foot liability that looks like an awkward middle school center out there.
Chipotle on Marshall Street
’nuff said
"(BARF)" - Donovan McNabb, during his game winning drive against Virginia Tech in 1998
I really liked the play of BMK in this game. He’s a big part of what allowed Syracuse to tie the game up late in the second half. He’s getting more and more physical, and brings an energy that the rest of the team is having trouble finding. He’s compensating for the lackluster debut of Fab Melo.
Granted, he’s going to foul out a good number of games. It was interesting to watch Boeheim keep Keita in the game even as the fouls were piling up. I think it was definitely the right coaching move, though. Just ride that energy until he gets himself kicked out of the game.
More Bad Motha Keita, please.
Go, fight, and win.
With St. John's whooping Duke
I feel that my much flamed 24+ statement has been squashed.
Peace to the TheRenegadePumpkin haters everywhere, you beat me.
by TheRenegadePumpkin on Jan 30, 2011 6:32 PM EST reply actions
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