Syracuse zone, size stymie Notre Dame men's basketball
SOUTH BEND – It seemed like almost a gift to Notre Dame any time Syracuse failed to get the ball in the hands of 6-foot-11 center Jesse Edwards in the lane.
Until it didn’t.
On a sideline play in the final 26 seconds, Edwards came away from the bucket to take the inbounds pass, then shuffled it to 6-3 freshman Judah Mintz who got an angle on defender Marcus Hammond for a baseline drive to the hoop and a 62-61 lead with 14 seconds to play.
The Syracuse zone, effective Saturday but less vaunted than in years past, held up well in ND’s final bid that produced only a deep, well-defended corner attempt from Dane Goodwin that fell off the rim in the first Atlantic Coast Conference game of the season for both teams.
ND head coach Mike Brey admitted afterward he’ll wrestle with the decision to stay in a man-to-man defense at the finish rather than a zone, but the man had worked on the previous possession when Hammond, playing his first game of the season following a knee injury, stopped Mintz in the lane with one minute to go.
“We had a couple of options there,” said Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim of the final possession. “... (Mintz) wants to take those big shots.”
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The start of the year has been a struggle for the Orange, 4-4, with losses to Colgate, Bryant, St. John’s and Illinois, the latter by a 73-44 count.
They started the day 225th in the country at 70.4 points a game and 253rd with a 43.6% shooting percentage.
It’s why the 6-2 Irish, coming off a convincing victory over No. 20 Michigan State on Wednesday, were a favorite coming in.
But through the first half, Syracuse was shooting 50% from the field as Edwards dominated the paint with an easy 7-for-9 shooting, mostly from point-blank range, for 16 points along with six rebounds.
He was a concern all day and led an 18-6 edge in points in the paint in the first half and 34-18 advantage for the game.
It was a little different last February when former Irish Paul Atkinson Jr. had 20 points and 17 rebounds against the Orange.
“They don’t really have a low-post threat and that was a big factor,” Boeheim said.
Notre Dame’s 6-10 forward Nate Laszewski, averaging 17 points a game coming in, never found space in the zone and had just two points on 1-for-6 shooting in 34 minutes.
“Where does he find stuff?” Brey said of Laszewski against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone. “That's always kind of been the case. Do we have him in a corner? Now he had a couple over the top that he just couldn't grab and finish. It's different for him versus zone. And I felt for him because he just couldn't find it. Yet the guy always defends and he's rebounding, putting his chest on dudes and trying to help us win.”
Where did it leave the Irish?
With no action inside, they actually shot more threes (11-33, 33.3%) than twos (12-27, 44.4%).
Some of those threes, in a game that featured eight ties and ND’s biggest lead at five points, came on desperate shots before a shot-clock violation.
ND’s plight against the zone could be summed up on Goodwin’s day. He went 3-for-3 on threes in the first half when he had 13 of ND’s points in a 35-35 first half. The Irish were 8-18 from 3 (44.4%) in the first 20 minutes.
It wasn’t sustainable when Boeheim tweaked the zone at the half, pushing it farther out on the perimeter.
That changed Notre Dame’s range and forced a 3-for-15 performance from 3-point range in the second half. Some openings in the middle in the first half were missing in the second and a portion of ND’s 10 turnovers (Syracuse had only four) came from forcing it inside.
“We just couldn't really get it into the middle (in the second half),” Goodwin said. “We kind of just passed it around up top and then the clock got down and we weren’t really sure what to do. … But credit to them, they made some changes and we couldn't figure it out.”
Goodwin wound up with 16 to lead the Irish, followed by Cormac Ryan’s 14 and Ven-Allen Lubin’s 10.
It was another tough outing from 3-point range for freshman guard JJ Starling (13.0 points per game), who came into the game at 26.9% from the 3-point line and was just 1-for-6. He was locked out of the paint, the area where he does his best work, by the zone and had just seven points.
And point guard Trey Wertz struggled with a 2-for-9 3-point performance – 1-for-6 in the second half.
Despite the issues, the Irish stayed in it by getting some double teams on Edwards, who played all 40 minutes, to limit his touches in his 6-point second half.
Joseph Girard III, averaging 13, went 9-for-18 and finished with 20, but was the only other Orange in double figures.
The Irish actually did have an answer to the zone. They just didn’t deliver on the execution.
As Syracuse pushed its zone out, the Irish found space along the baseline. They went over the top often in the second half, but bad passes, bad timing or just misses by Lubin and Laszewski didn’t force Syracuse to make any adjustments in the zone.
“The ones that stick in my mind is they creep up, they push you out (with their zone), we throw over the top and I think we were like 2-for-7 on those,” Brey said. “And they’re just pushing you out farther because you haven't made them pay over the top.”
Hammond played 19 minutes in his first game back and had the half-filled arena at its loudest with 30 seconds left.
He got free in the lane, took a sharp pass from Goodwin and put up a 15-footer that rolled around and in. He was fouled on the play by Girard and hit the free throw, giving the Irish a brief 61-60 lead.
It was Notre Dame’s second straight loss in a day game (St. Bonaventure last week) in which it was favored.
The Irish will play their eighth home game on Wednesday against Boston University (5-4) at 7 p.m. EST.
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