Indianapolis – The Sweet 16. This is what Syracuse and West Virginia competed for on a brilliantly sunny afternoon here at the NCAA Tournament.
The US, the 11 selected, has the no. 3 mountain climbers faced in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Orange took a 35-29 lead in the locker room for halftime. Final, nail-biting score: Syracuse 75, West Virginia 72.
On the Sweet 16. The bubble life continues for the Orange, who repelled two teams with higher seeds.
This is what happened there:
Buddy Boeheim got hot. Stop me if you’ve heard it before. The Orange guard struggled a bit in the first half, but was (again) money when SU needed him.
He scored 22 points in the second half. A few times he somehow escaped the West Virginia investigation and has open eyes of 3. He also made tough shots with mountaineers in his face.
He also deducted 3-of-4 free throws to close the deal for SU. Boeheim finishes with 25 points in this one. The Buddy Mythology continues.
Syracuse led 28-14 at halftime. The Orange again confused an NCAA tournament team early with its zone. The Mountaineers turned it around (11 times in the first half). They missed shots (32% in half). They just looked a little uncomfortable.
Sean McNeil kept West Virginia within striking distance by making two insane deep 3-point shots.
The once robust lead of 14 points decreased to 35-29 at halftime. Syracuse led, but the advantage seemed small.
The problem for SU mostly arose in the second half when West Virginia turned the Orange around and utilized revenue. West Virginia surpassed SU 21-4 in points of turnover. One of the turnover came in the last minute when Marek Dolezaj made a wandering pass.
Joe Girard was really good in the first half. He scored 12 points at halftime and drained 4-out-6 from the 3-point line. He seemed confident in handling the ball against the constant pressure of Deuce McBride. And he helped make a tough start for Buddy Boeheim (1-for-6), who was so great in the post-season. (West Virginia noticed and protected him.)
Because the Orange in general and Girard in particular, under West Virginia, had so much pressure, they shrugged off to find other teammates. SU moved the ball well and looked nice against the mountaineers. But by the end of the half, relatively easy shots would not go down for Syracuse.
Later in the second half, when SU needed defensive points, he went to Kadary Richmond. Richmond was also solid with the ball. Against all the pressure of the mountaineers, he moves away from double teams and finds open floor space.
The Mountaineers put Girard on the free-throw line with 12.4 seconds left. He missed the front of a 1-and-1 that may have snatched the game ice and the SU fans.
Syracuse found faulty problems in the first half. West Virginia does this to teams. Marek Dolezaj collected three errors in the first half, the last in the final seconds before break. (One of the offenses was basically a deliberate bump to prevent a quick break, which was probably a good idea at the time.) Quincy Guerrier and Alan Griffin each made two mistakes in the first half.
It got worse in the second half. Dolezaj earned his fourth place with about 15 minutes of play left when he drove and a West Virginia defender battled in the lane to draw a charge. About two and a half minutes later, Dolezaj’s replacement, Jesse Edwards, got his fourth offense.
So Dolezaj came in again. With many minutes left. And he somehow managed to stay in the game until the last buzzer sounded.
Sean McNeil was a problem. The West Virginia guard found open spots in the Orange zone and made 3-point shots. Some of them were ridiculously deep. But some were catch-and-shoot options from good mountain movers ’ball movement.
He was West Virginia’s version of Buddy Boeheim and he really hurt US with his shooting. McNeil finished with 23 points. He was 7-out-13 from the 3-point line.
This and that: Bankers Life is home to the Indiana Pacers and it has a clear corporate feel. There are flashy luxury boxes, lots of wood paneling on the top floor. It’s nowhere near as collegial as Hinkle Fieldhouse, where US defeated San Diego State on Friday night. And because of the size of the arena and the small size of the socially-distant crowd, every cheer seemed muted. … It was a physical, tough game. Not for the weak or the weak of heart. … Robert Braswell played for SU for minutes and drained a corner 3 that gave SU a 68-59 lead and every Syracuse fan in the gym could exhale (sort of). … West Virginia dominated the glass and were the better setback team on Sunday. This has been a problem for Syracuse all season, although the Orange have been better in that division lately. … SU was less than great at the end of the game. The Orange struggled to get the ball inside and made every Syracuse fan (and the entire US bank) a little nervous until the last buzz.
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