Miami 75, Syracuse 72: Orange collapse late against Hurricanes

SYRACUSE, N.Y. — The second meeting between the Syracuse Orange and Miami Hurricanes ended rather similarly to the first meeting. Syracuse led by as many as 18 against the Hurricanes, but once again Orange failed to ward off a pressing Miami team and collapsed late, submitting to Miami 75-72.

Just prior to tip-off, Syracuse honored its senior team managers, walk-ons and players on Senior Day. Both Jimmy and Buddy Boeheim were honored alongside Bourama Sidibe and Cole Swider. Jim Boeheim utilized a new starting lineup with senior center Sidibe replacing Frank Anselem as starter. Symir Torrence and Jesse Edwards donned polos with Torrence having a bandage on his forehead after taking a hard fall against Duke on week ago. Benny Williams was not in attendance.

Miami started with the first five points of the game, but Syracuse responded with an 11-0 run as Buddy Boeheim ripped off eight straight points—two 3s and a layup—the first eight points for Syracuse. A Cole Swider three then made it 11-5.

Miami kept it close as Jimmy Boehiem and Joe Girard got to the line and each knocked down a pair. John Bol Ajak and Frank Anselem replaced Swider and Sidibe at the 12-minute mark. Syracuse led 17-13 at the under 12-minute media timeout.

Bol Ajak picked up two quicks fouls and Swider replaced him. Jimmy Boeheim scored on back to back buckets in the post and Syracuse led 24-16.

With Syracuse in a dry spell locked at 24 points, the 300 level of the Carrier Dome crowd starting chanting “Let’s go Orange” and Syracuse stepped up with a defensive stop and Buddy scored on a turnaround jumper to make it 26-20. Buddy found a little but of a groove as he got the line and made a pair. On the next possession, he brushed off a screen and created a little separation for a left-wing three. He buried it and gave Syracuse a 31-22 lead at the under four-minute media timeout.

Girard three made it 37-23. A three point play on Miami’s penultimate play of the half made it 37-26 and teams went into the half with that score after each missing shots on their final possession.

Syracuse was 6-12 from three in the first half whereas Miami was 1-11. The Orange owned a 21-12 edge on the glass. Buddy had 18 to lead all scorers.

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Sidibe started things off in the second half with an aggressive drive to the rim. Boeheim followed it up with a triple for his 20th point of the night giving Syracuse a 42-26 lead. Sidibe forced a steal and was rewarded for running the floor on the next play with a jumpstop and bucket.

But just like the first meeting, Miami showed pressure and although no turnovers were forced initially, the Hurricanes earned defensive stops in the half-court. Miami doubled Buddy Boeheim, and subsequently went on a 7-0 run, cutting Syracuse’s lead to nine. Jim Boeheim called timeout before the first media timeout.

Out of the timeout, Sidibe picked up his third foul at the 14:43 mark. Miami kept being physical with Syracuse and continued with the full court pressure, whittling Syracuse’s lead down to four. Jimmy Boeheim scored on a tip-in but the Hurricanes responded with a Jordan Miller bucket inside, making it 48-44 at the under-12 minute media timeout.

Girard knocked down a momentum-swinging triple to make it 56-48. But Miami still hung around but Jimmy Boeheim hauled in an important rebound in traffic (his ninth) and Swider rewarded that effort with a three the other way. Still, Miami cut it back to seven with a Kam Mcgusty score.

The Hurricanes kept pushing Syracuse late and brought the lead back down to five. A Girard pull up three in isolation pushed Syracuse’s lead back to eight with three minutes to play. Buddy Boeheim, doing his best Dirk Nowitzki step-back in the lane off one leg, earned a shooter’s bounce to lift Syracuse to 70 points. Still, that wouldn’t prove to be enough.

Miami refused to go quietly. A Charlie Moore three once again minimized Syracuse’s lead to just five. Late in the game, Buddy Boeheim was fouled and went to the line with 28 points for a chance to earn the scoring title.

Boehiem secured that to finish with 30 points, but things unraveled quickly for Syracuse from there.

A McGusty triple whittled the lead down to just three and Syracuse turned it over with 42.3 seconds remaining. A tip by Miller got it down to just one. Then he scored again inside to give the lead to Miami with 13 seconds to play.

Girard missed a jumper late and Syracuse was forced to foul. Two free throws went down for Miller and a last second shot by Jimmy Boeheim went awry as Syracuse collapsed late.

Next Up

Syracuse will head down to Brooklyn next week for the ACC Tournament. The Orange will face Florida State on noon on Wednesday as part of the 8/9 game. That game will air on ESPN/ESPN2.