Well that was something…
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – The Syracuse Orange escaped with a 74-72 win over Colgate after Nicolas Louis-Jaques slipped and fell, losing the ball out of bounds as time expired, unable to get off a shot.
Let’s look at some takeaways from another close win:
You won’t close out games if you don’t make free throws
Syracuse is extremely lucky that it didn’t lose this game, considering it gave Colgate multiple chances to tie or take the lead in the final minute.
The initial chance, coming immediately after the go-ahead bucket, was a wide-open missed three by Louis-Jacques after two defenders followed Parker Jones into the paint as the screener, NLJ, went to the wing.
SU grabbed the rebound, but Jyare Davis missed the front end with about 20 seconds to play, and Colgate brought the ball down the floor. Jalen Cox snaked around a Woodward ball screen to get a paint touch, but had his potential game-tying bucket clank off the rim.
Davis once again was there for the rebound, but once again missed the front end of his one-and-one. Lucas Taylor saved the day, snagging a key offensive rebound, but then he missed his first free throw.
Colgate couldn’t capitalize, as Louis-Jacques watched the ball trickle out of his hands and into the night while the basket went red.
Lampkin has a decisive advantage over Woodward
Eddie Lampkin and Jeff Woodward are both 6 foot 11, 270 pounds, but it was clear on Tuesday night why one of them is at Syracuse and the other at Colgate.
Woodward is a great player, able to initiate Colgate’s offense from the top of the key with decisive passes and barreling drives from the high post, but he struggled down low. He didn’t score a single point with Lampkin on the floor until the final six minutes of the game, finishing with just 4 points on the night.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the floor, Lampkin consistently took Woodward to the woodshed.
In the first half, he caught the ball about 12 feet from the basket with his back turned, then faced up the senior before backing him down with a few steps right into the paint for an easy finish. He got Woodward in foul trouble early, picking up two fouls in the first eight minutes.
Then, quickly after Woodward subbed out, Lampkin grabbed a one-handed offensive rebound for a putback against backup big man Sam Wright.
Early in the second half, he rolled right into Woodward’s chest like an 18-wheeler, pushing him back a few feet, and easily stepping through for the finish.
After Woodward tied the game at 72, Lampkin sealed Woodward in the low post, caught the bounce pass from Bell, and dropped in the eventual game-winning points off the glass.
The big man led Syracuse with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and 5 assists.
Rich Barnes-Imagn Images
I don’t want to hear about KenPom in March
When this team inevitably, like all Syracuse teams, somehow finds its way to win 18 or more games, and Orange fans are clamoring for NCAA Tournament action, nobody should be pointing at low KenPom numbers and sneering about it. I’m being harsh, but this team will sleep in the bed that it makes.
SU opened the season ranked 68th in the metric, but after just two games, it has fallen to 101.
This matters. Great teams win these games convincingly, don’t leave anything to doubt. Youngstown State on Saturday is another buy game against a mid-major that Syracuse will expect to win by double digits, and if it can’t it will drop in the metrics once again.
Autry said what?
“We are playing at a higher pace than people have seen in a long time. 20 more possessions than what we’ve normally played,” SU head coach Adrian Autry said after the game.
This game was 70 possessions. That’s the exact pace of the average college basketball game this season..
The difference between the fastest and slowest teams in the country are about 15 possessions, give or take.
With all due respect to the coach, who knows a lot more about basketball than me, I’m not sure what he’s talking about.
Too many lapses in concentration on defense
Late in the second half, when Syracuse badly needed stops, Raiders guard Jalen Cox danced right past SU defenders into the lane possession after possession. He finished with a game-high 21 points, scoring most of them on drives to the basket.
Whether it was Jaquan Carlos or anybody else guarding him, he barely even needed the screen from Jeff Woodward to get going downhill, attacking the basket and scoring at will.
In other moments, the Orange went under Colgate’s ball screens, allowing them to free up their shooters for open looks. Line no. 1 in the Raiders scouting report is typically to deny them the ability to get open threes at all costs, and Syracuse straight up didn’t do that tonight.
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What were your takeaways from this one?