Inside The Box Score: Michael Carter-Williams Finds Consistency

The No. 3-ranked Syracuse Orange were able to grind their way to another close Big East Conference victory, 57-55, on Monday, this time over the visiting Cincinnati Bearcats.

In the aftermath of the Orange's eighth straight victory I did some box score digging, like I usually do for post-game article, and found some interesting stuff.

-- Syracuse trailed 36-29 in the second half, but rallied to tie the game at 36 thanks to C.J. Fair, who collected three defensive rebounds in as many defensive possessions, and Michael Carter-Williams, who netted all seven of the points.

-- Fair finished the contest with 13 points on 5-for-11 shooting and collected six rebounds. The junior tallied eight points on 3-for-5 shooting, four rebounds and one steal in the game's final 13 minutes, 13 seconds.

-- One aspect we're getting used to is MCW's streaky play. Against Cincinnati, however, the sophomore was pretty consistent - I mean, besides his 14 second-half points. Here's a breakdown of his performance.

• 13:08 (1st half): Carter-Williams - zero points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one turnover
• At halftime: two points, four rebounds, five assists, one steal, two turnovers
• Entire second half: 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, two assists, a rebound and one turnover.
• Totals: 16 points, seven assists, five rebounds, one steal, three turnovers

-- In the final five minutes Syracuse went 6-for-7 from the floor and committed zero turnovers. On the flip side, Cincinnati went 1-for-6 from the floor (all attempts were 3-pointers) and committed two turnovers.

-- All four of Trevor Cooney's steals came in the first half.

-- Via TNIAAM commenter krackatoan (I assume this is correct).

In Big East play MCW has played 225 out of 240 minutes, Fair has played 229, and Triche has played 209, but Triche’s numbers are skewed by being forced to sit in the Nova game for 10 minutes when he had 4 fouls.

-- After the victory this comment was made by TNIAAM commenter BuddyTheGoon:

Teams might be catching on

To the fact that Triche may not be the best clutch FT shooter. Correct me if I’m wrong, but he seems to miss more often when the clock is under ~1:30 in the 2nd half than he does throughout the rest of the game.

Maybe it’s just me seeing things idk. But it’s not the first or second time that’s happened.

So, I did some digging and found this season Brandon Triche is 7-for-9 (78-percent) from the free-throw line in the final two minutes of games. In the last minute of games, he's 2-for-4.

Because the sample size was a bit small, I looked up his career percentage.

Over his four-year career, Triche is 73.8-percent in the final two minutes of games, which is nearly identical to his career average of 75-percent, however, he makes just 68-percent (26-for-38) in the final minute of games.

If you're curious about Fair's clutchness at the free-throw line. Well, the forward is 6-for-6 this season in the final minute of games, while over his three-year career he's 78-percent (14-for-18).

In the final two minutes, Fair is 77-percent (23-for-30) over his career.

MCW is 14-for-20 (70-percent) in the final 2 minutes. He’s 12-for-16 (75%) in the final minute of a game.

If you'd like to have this as a running post-game piece let me know. If you have any questions about the box score or statistically inquires ask, I'd be happy to try and answer any questions.