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Sunday night’s matchup with North Carolina State lost a bit of luster when it was announced that the Wolfpack’s top two scorers were inactive. Still, it was the type of game Syracuse had to take care of to build a Tournament resume.

And though NC State took advantage of a porous defensive effort in the first half, Syracuse made just enough defensive adjustments to prevent NC State (7-6, 3-5 Atlantic Coast) from keeping up with an Orange offense that entered as the 33rd most efficient in the nation.

Syracuse (10-5, 4-4) returns to .500 in conference play with the 76-73 win and picks up another Quadrant 3 win. Here are three takeaways:

Defensive woes: Could it really be this bad?

Allowing 47 first-half points to a team down its top two scorers is not something an NCAA Tournament team does. Either the Orange didn’t show up ready to play, or their defense is worse than anyone could’ve imagined.

Everything was either at the rim or behind the arc for NC State in the first half. The Wolfpack repeatedly entered the ball into Jericole Hellems at the free-throw line, where he could either find Manny Bates for a dunk or a shooter in the corner.

It was far too easy for the Wolfpack. NC State had 20 points in the paint and shot 56.7% in the first half. It also scored 10 points in transition in the first half, taking advantage of an Orange team uninterested in hustling back on D.

It appeared the Orange made a point to rotate faster to Manny Bates when Jericole Hellems got the ball to the free throw line. The Wolfpack went cold, starting 0-for-4 from deep and 31.6% overall when Syracuse led 62-61 with 7:43 remaining. SU’s defensive adjustments worked.

But Syracuse can’t rely on second-half adjustments to bail it out. It won’t be able to spot teams like Florida State nearly 50 points in a half. Syracuse is clearly capable of playing sound defense, but it’s unclear whether doing it for 40 straight minutes is possible.

The point guard question lingers

To end the first half, Syracuse called Kadary Richmond’s number five straight times. The freshman leads the ACC in steals per game but isn’t known for his offensive prowess – though his offensive rating is higher than that of Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III.

He backed his defender into the paint for a flip shot. He beat his man, drew help and found Marek Dolezaj for a layup – then, another spinning layup. He toasted his defender and earned two free throws. Finally, he beat the buzzer with another layup after taking Shakeel Moore off the dribble.

Richmond was cooking offensively while being SU’s best top-of-the-zone defender. He didn’t check back into the game until 9:45 into the second half. During that span, Girard bricked a 3-pointer off the backboard and had a baseline jumper blocked.

The Orange’s biggest issue this season has been on defense, and Richmond helps patch that up while providing a slash-and-kick option.

“He’s huge for us,” Dolezaj said of Richmond after the Virginia Tech win. “He’s probably the true point guard for us, and he can pass the ball really well. But his defense is tremendous, and we need him to play like this until the end of the year.”

When Richmond continued to best smaller defenders, the Wolfpack were forced to try the 6-foot-6 Dereon Seabron on him. Seabron bottled him up once, forcing a wild floater attempt. But with Syracuse up one with 1:17 left, Richmond beat Seabron off the first step, spun from right to left and finished at the rim with his left, using the iron to fend off Bates (17 points, 14 rebounds, four blocks), the ACC’s leading shot-blocker.

When Girard’s shots aren’t falling — he hasn’t scored in double-digits in the last three games — and Richmond’s playing aggressively on offense, riding with the freshman seems like a no-brainer.

The Alan Griffin experience

Although Griffin’s been one of Syracuse’s most consistent players statistically — he’s now scored at least 15 points in 10 of 15 games — he can play a frenetic brand of basketball.

The result is Griffin often playing in spurts. Early on against NC State, he made a beautiful pocket pass to a slipping Dolezaj for a layup, rotated to poke away a steal and hit a catch-and-shoot 3 all in succession.

But there’s also some unintended drawbacks. Griffin’s an outstanding shot-blocker for his position, but he often gets greedy and goes for swats when he could just challenge without fouling. He picked up his second foul just eight minutes into the game in the paint when he fell for a pump-fake.

Jim Boeheim has also chided Griffin for dribbling through traps when teams press, and that repeated itself Sunday. He appeared lackadaisical as he crossed halfcourt with SU up three points and under a minute remaining. He coughed up a turnover, keeping the Wolfpack in it.

Aside from the late mental mistake, he seemed to settle in more after his second personal — especially on defense. He jumped passing lanes and tipped jump shots, playing opportunistically but with purpose. Griffin finished with 19 points, six rebounds, four steals and three blocks.

The right combination for Griffin is to expend the bulk of his energy on defense and play under control on offense. Griffin needs to dial it back occasionally, but he’s largely found that mix, and he’s only going to improve as the season wears on. Cutting down on reckless plays is crucial.

Published on January 31, 2021 at 8:28 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman