Syracuse men’s basketball: three takeaways from the win over Boston College

It wasn’t pretty but the Syracuse Orange actually finished strong over the final minutes to take a 77-68 win over the Boston College Eagles.

The Orange are now 7-6 in ACC play so what did we take away from last night’s performance:

Dominant Dutch

Playing against his friend from Amsterdam, Jesse Edwards showed he was the best Post on the floor last night. Edwards had a career-high 27 points to go along with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks. He was only credited with one steal but it came in a critical point helping the Orange take the lead for good. On a night when the other Syracuse stars struggled to make shots, Edwards went 12 for 15 from the floor and kept the Orange from an embarrassing loss.

Justin Taylor provides a lift

The Orange picked a bad game to go cold from 3. With no one helping Jesse out in the first half, Justin Taylor provided strong minutes off the bench in this one. He made all three of his three-point attempts and they kept Syracuse within reach of the Eagles and didn’t allow the home crowd to get too energized.

Mintz closes it out

Judah Mintz came back into the game with 9:53 to play. In that final stretch he scored 8 of his 15 points, handed out 3 of his 5 assists and chipped in 2 of his 4 steals. He drew an offensive foul with active defensive movement and also set up his teammates with passes that led to free throws. He took control of the Syracuse offense and brought this game home like he was the college basketball version of Mariano Rivera quieting the Boston crowd.

What were your takeaways from last night’s game?