Looking to rebound from back to back losses to Boston College and Virginia, the Canes welcomed the Syracuse Orange and their three-headed monster of Tyus Battle, Oshae Brissett, and Frank Howard to the Watsco Center. What ensued was a 62-55 slugfest that saw the Canes fall short for the third time in as many games.
Early on the plan was clear. The Canes were going to rely on their shooters to shoot over Syracuse's infamous 2-3 zone. In the first 10+ minutes of the first half shots were being chucked up from the edge of the U, from the Watsco Center logo and everywhere in between. For a team that looked lost against Virginia's vaunted defense on Tuesday, Canes fans were hoping for a more aggressive, cohesive looking offense. Instead, Saturday was more of the same, as the Canes struggled to consistently get anything going offensively.
The first possession of the game was perfect. The Canes passed the ball around the perimeter, Chris Lykes drove to the hoop, dished it to DJ and DJ knocked down the open 3. The dribble drive and kick out looked like it was going to be the plan of attack, but the Canes went away from it, and their offense suffered for it. After that first possession it was a 3 point shooting contest. One the Canes lost. The next three shots for the Canes were deep 3s. Way too deep. And when the Canes did try to get the ball inside, they struggled to do anything with it. Amp missed an easy jumper in the paint and turned it over twice early while trying to lob the ball to the bigs down low. To put into perspective how ugly it was, the Canes didn't score a two point bucket until 7:34 remaining when Walker made a heavily contested layup on a designed inbounds play that wasn't simply "chuck the ball down the court".
But then something changed for the Canes, and a spark ignited. Down 20-14 the Canes decided to force the action, getting inside the arc no matter what it took. Chris Lykes forced the pace, and open men around the perimeter started to appear. A 9-1 run gave the Canes the lead for a brief moment, before Cuse took it back. Heading into the half the score was 25-25, which felt like a victory for a Canes team that was offensively dreadful for the first 10+ minutes of the game.
Look at some of the first half numbers for the Canes:
32.0% from the field including 3-15 (20%) from deep. The Canes got to the stripe 10 times but only knocked down 6. They also gave up 6 offensive boards to Syracuse which led to second chance points, while recording 6 turnovers, including a very ugly one at the end of the first half, when the Canes could have settled for the last shot, but Newton lost control of the dribble and gave the Orange a chance to take the lead. And yet despite all of this the game was tied. For as ugly as the first half was, things were looking positive.
The second half plan was different. The goal was to attack the zone and win that way. The first possession was great. A missed shot and offensive board which led to an easy 3 for Walker.
But then the Canes went cold and the defense, which was so solid in the 1st half, looked tired coming out of the break. The Orange came out hot knocking down their first 5 shots which sparked a 15-0 run in just over 5 minutes. The Canes found themselves down by 12 before Chris Lykes stopped the run with a huge 3 pointer. This was followed by a 3 from Lonnie Walker which had one of the best bounces the Canes have probably ever gotten, and the lead was cut in half going into the under 12 timeout. The run continued to 15-3, when Ebuka Izundu knocked down a layup to tie the game at 43. Like the first half, the Canes first two point basket came late, when Anthony Lawrence knocked down his first basket of the game with 10:45 remaining. After the tie, Cuse answered with a 9-2 run to open up a 52-45 lead.
Despite a huge dunk from Lonnie Walker that halted the run and brought the crowd to their feet, the Canes weren't able to get any closer than 3 for the rest of the game. Up 3 with 1:27 remaining, Battle put the final nail in the Canes coffin with a 3 that extended the lead to 6. Battle would finish the game with 13 points on just 4-14 shooting.
Frank Howard led the game with 18 points, while Oshae Brisett added 16 to go along with 12 boards. Down the stretch, Freshman Marek Dolezaj was huge for the Orange. He was able to hit a clutch two and then step to the line as just a 69% free throw shooter on the season, and knock down a pair with under 30 seconds left. He finished the game with 11.
Chris Lykes led the way for the Canes with 14 points, but shot just 2-10 from beyond the arc. As a team the Canes were 7-31 from deep (22.6%) and shot just 33.9% from the field. This compared to Syracuse's 48.1% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc, tells you how many more opportunities the Canes had, but how unable they were to capitalize.
What does this all mean for a Canes team that is getting dangerously close to the bubble? Frankly, it's bad. A complete meltdown against BC, followed by two home losses where the offense couldn't get anything going, doesn't exactly inspire hope in a team that looked determined to prove themselves after the loss of Bruce Brown. There are only 4 games left in the season and the Canes now sit at .500 in ACC play. With a trip to South Bend looming on Monday night, the Canes need to solve their problems quickly or find themselves slipping further and further out of legitimate contention.
Early on the plan was clear. The Canes were going to rely on their shooters to shoot over Syracuse's infamous 2-3 zone. In the first 10+ minutes of the first half shots were being chucked up from the edge of the U, from the Watsco Center logo and everywhere in between. For a team that looked lost against Virginia's vaunted defense on Tuesday, Canes fans were hoping for a more aggressive, cohesive looking offense. Instead, Saturday was more of the same, as the Canes struggled to consistently get anything going offensively.
The first possession of the game was perfect. The Canes passed the ball around the perimeter, Chris Lykes drove to the hoop, dished it to DJ and DJ knocked down the open 3. The dribble drive and kick out looked like it was going to be the plan of attack, but the Canes went away from it, and their offense suffered for it. After that first possession it was a 3 point shooting contest. One the Canes lost. The next three shots for the Canes were deep 3s. Way too deep. And when the Canes did try to get the ball inside, they struggled to do anything with it. Amp missed an easy jumper in the paint and turned it over twice early while trying to lob the ball to the bigs down low. To put into perspective how ugly it was, the Canes didn't score a two point bucket until 7:34 remaining when Walker made a heavily contested layup on a designed inbounds play that wasn't simply "chuck the ball down the court".
But then something changed for the Canes, and a spark ignited. Down 20-14 the Canes decided to force the action, getting inside the arc no matter what it took. Chris Lykes forced the pace, and open men around the perimeter started to appear. A 9-1 run gave the Canes the lead for a brief moment, before Cuse took it back. Heading into the half the score was 25-25, which felt like a victory for a Canes team that was offensively dreadful for the first 10+ minutes of the game.
Look at some of the first half numbers for the Canes:
32.0% from the field including 3-15 (20%) from deep. The Canes got to the stripe 10 times but only knocked down 6. They also gave up 6 offensive boards to Syracuse which led to second chance points, while recording 6 turnovers, including a very ugly one at the end of the first half, when the Canes could have settled for the last shot, but Newton lost control of the dribble and gave the Orange a chance to take the lead. And yet despite all of this the game was tied. For as ugly as the first half was, things were looking positive.
The second half plan was different. The goal was to attack the zone and win that way. The first possession was great. A missed shot and offensive board which led to an easy 3 for Walker.
But then the Canes went cold and the defense, which was so solid in the 1st half, looked tired coming out of the break. The Orange came out hot knocking down their first 5 shots which sparked a 15-0 run in just over 5 minutes. The Canes found themselves down by 12 before Chris Lykes stopped the run with a huge 3 pointer. This was followed by a 3 from Lonnie Walker which had one of the best bounces the Canes have probably ever gotten, and the lead was cut in half going into the under 12 timeout. The run continued to 15-3, when Ebuka Izundu knocked down a layup to tie the game at 43. Like the first half, the Canes first two point basket came late, when Anthony Lawrence knocked down his first basket of the game with 10:45 remaining. After the tie, Cuse answered with a 9-2 run to open up a 52-45 lead.
Despite a huge dunk from Lonnie Walker that halted the run and brought the crowd to their feet, the Canes weren't able to get any closer than 3 for the rest of the game. Up 3 with 1:27 remaining, Battle put the final nail in the Canes coffin with a 3 that extended the lead to 6. Battle would finish the game with 13 points on just 4-14 shooting.
Frank Howard led the game with 18 points, while Oshae Brisett added 16 to go along with 12 boards. Down the stretch, Freshman Marek Dolezaj was huge for the Orange. He was able to hit a clutch two and then step to the line as just a 69% free throw shooter on the season, and knock down a pair with under 30 seconds left. He finished the game with 11.
Chris Lykes led the way for the Canes with 14 points, but shot just 2-10 from beyond the arc. As a team the Canes were 7-31 from deep (22.6%) and shot just 33.9% from the field. This compared to Syracuse's 48.1% from the field and 31.3% from beyond the arc, tells you how many more opportunities the Canes had, but how unable they were to capitalize.
What does this all mean for a Canes team that is getting dangerously close to the bubble? Frankly, it's bad. A complete meltdown against BC, followed by two home losses where the offense couldn't get anything going, doesn't exactly inspire hope in a team that looked determined to prove themselves after the loss of Bruce Brown. There are only 4 games left in the season and the Canes now sit at .500 in ACC play. With a trip to South Bend looming on Monday night, the Canes need to solve their problems quickly or find themselves slipping further and further out of legitimate contention.
