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Jim Boeheim stood with his arms crossed and paced back and forth along his bench. Not a sliver of emotion escaped his stone-cold look with half a minute remaining in Saturday night’s game.
As Boeheim made his way back into the locker room a roaring Syracuse fan held a sign reading ‘1101 wins.’ Another right next to him had one with the number ‘1000’ crossed out, replaced by ‘1101.’
In Syracuse’s win over Northeastern, Boeheim officially hit 1,000 career wins for a second time after NCAA’s decision to vacate 101 wins from his coaching record on March 6, 2015. He joins former Duke head coach Mike Krzyzewski, Stanford women’s basketball head coach Tara VanDerveer and former Tennessee women’s basketball head coach Pat Summitt as the only college basketball coaches to pass the mark.
After jumping out to a 9-0 lead with less than three minutes gone in the game, Syracuse (2-1, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) defeated Northeastern (0-4, 0-0 Colonial Athletic) 76-47 by using aggressive drives to the basket and a dominant inside presence.
Boeheim’s second time reaching 1,000 wins had to wait earlier this week as the Orange fell to Colgate 80-68. SU looked depleted on defense and struggled to find any sort of offensive flow. So, Boeheim had to wait for the Northeastern game.
Against the Huskies, Syracuse’s 2-3 zone was far from perfect, but it was enough to contain a trigger-happy Northeastern squad. After the first half, 19 of the Huskies’ 32 shots were attempted from behind the arc.
SU’s guards at the top of the zone successfully forced the Husky offense into a corner where a guard and forward tandem would attempt to trap. Flustered and unable to get a clean look for many of its possessions, Northeastern would run deep into their shot clock before an attempt at the basket.
Throughout the entirety of the first half, Syracuse looked comfortable. SU’s offense flowed both in transition and in their half-court set up. In the paint, the Orange dominated, totaling 22 points in the paint while also producing 23 rebounds, eight more than Northeastern’s total.
The last play of the half couldn’t have gone better for Syracuse. Judah Mintz brought the ball up the floor, waiting for the clock to tick down before heading toward the right wing. He passed to Joe Girard III who immediately attacked and spun, looking for an opening. He couldn’t find one. Girard retreated and gave the ball back to Mintz who had now relocated to the right corner.
Mintz caught the pass and drove hard at his defender, beating him and forcing Northeastern’s help defense to shift over. This left Edwards wide open under the basket. Mintz found Edwards and all the big man had to do was lay the ball up, uncontested. Edwards rose and dunked the ball with authority to give Syracuse a 39-25 lead going into the half.
After 20 minutes of play, efficient offensive execution saw the Orange produce three players in double-digit scoring — Mintz, Girard, and Jesse Edwards. After a hot start, Girard ended the first half with 11 points while Mintz and Edwards added 13 and 15, respectively.
With about 13 minutes left in the second half, Mintz drove down the middle of the lane and dumped it off at the last second to Edwards. Catching the ball, Edwards kept it high above his head, laying it up and over three Northeastern players that had converged on him in the paint.
The ensuing offensive possession for Syracuse began with a Maliq Brown rebound. Brown then delivered a quick outlet pass to Girard who pushed down the court. Glen McClintock was the only player in front of him, and Edwards trailed behind him.
Girard opted to take it to the hoop himself this time, gathering the ball a step inside the free throw line creating contact with McClintock as he put up the layup. Girard’s attempt dropped through the basket as the referee whistled for a foul.
Finishing the game with 19 points and a game-high seven rebounds, it seemed like whatever Edwards wanted around the basket, he got. Shooting 80% from the field and going perfect from the charity stripe, his 6-foot-11 frame created enough space to operate with ease and proved to be too much for the Northeastern players to handle.
With 11:28 remaining in the second half, Edwards caught the ball near the free-throw line and took a dribble toward the hoop. Northeastern’s tallest player, 6-foot-9 Collin Metcalf, stood between Edwards and the basket. Edwards rose, shifting his body toward the hoop and tossed up a floater. His attempt flew high above the outstretched arm of Metcalf and nestled into the net for his final points of the game.
Benny Williams had only one basket as the ball trickled toward him. Syracuse had forced yet another steal and as Williams picked it up, only one defender stood in front of him. Williams drove and entered the paint, closing the distance between him and his opponent.
However, instead of settling for a floater or a pull-up jumper, Williams executed a pound dribble and kept the ball low, leaning into his defender, not afraid of making contact. Starting the possession on the right side of the floor, Williams finished on the left for an easy, yet aggressive two points.
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