Dion Waiters had 15 points and two steals off the bench, as the No. 3 Syracuse Orange stayed perfect with a sloppy 62-56 victory over the Marshall Thundering Herd.
Kris Joseph added 11 points and eight rebounds for the Orange (9-0), who are off to a 9-0 start for a fourth straight season. Scoop Jardine donated 10 points, seven boards, four assists and three steals in another stat-stuffing performance.
Marshall turned the ball over 19 times, leading to 20 Syracuse points.
Ahead 37-26 five minutes into the second half, the Orange ripped off six straight points for their largest lead of the game. Joseph's layup made it a 43-26 contest with 11:42 to play.
Marshall got hot from beyond the arc late in the game to get within six, 62-56, but that was with five seconds remaining.
Of course, if anyone can make a 9-0 basketball team sound horrible, it's James Arthur Boeheim:
"We have not played well offensively, by any stretch of the imagination, by any interpretation of good offense, at all," said Boeheim, talking about his offense that turned the ball over 12 times and shot 41.5-percent from the field. "Turnovers on fast-break situations where you should score not turn it over. It's not like you were being trapped and you turned it over. Just some offensive errors that, you know, would think coming into these two games that if you played this way you would lose one or both. So, I think we got to feel fortunate that we won both, and we got to also get better on the offensive end."
Up next is George Washington on Sat., Dec. 10, before the Orange travel to North Carolina State the following Sat., Dec. 17.
- Syracuse Vs. Marshall Final Score: Orange Defeat Thundering Herd, 62-56...SB Nation NY
- Thundering Herd makes an impression on the backboards...Syracuse.com
- Syracuse's Scoop Jardine calls Marshall game "harder than Florida''...Syracuse.com
- Syracuse overcomes offensive woes to beat Marshall...Syracuse.com
- Syracuse thrives on thievery: Orange ranked No. 1 nationally in steals...Syracuse.com
- Syracuse struggles offensively in win over Marshall...The Juice
- Syracuse defense keys fast break, generates offense in victory over Marshall...Daily Orange