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Syracuse lost 73-56 Monday to No. 7 Tennessee in the first round of the Allstate Maui Invitational. But that box score was deceiving as the Orange and Volunteers were within single digits of each other throughout the entire game until the Volunteers concluded the contest on a 12-0 run.

This was not the case on day two of the tournament against No. 11 Gonzaga. The Bulldogs were in control for the vast majority of the morning, dominating the paint on both ends of the floor. SU also struggled to shoot, finishing 23-of-64 and shooting an abysmal 12.5% from beyond the arc.

Although Judah Mintz started to drive to the hoop more in the second half, the Bulldogs immediately responded with 3-pointers from starters like Nolan Hickman, who finished with a team-high 19 points. The Orange now wait to play the loser of UCLA and Chaminade for their final consolation contest.

Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (3-2, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) 76-57 loss to No. 11 Gonzaga (3-1, 0-0 West Coast Conference) on the second day of the Maui Invitational:

Bueller?… Bueller?… Bueller?

Benny Williams had some of his first true impact minutes of the season in the loss to No. 7 Tennessee. On his first shot, Williams nailed a contested jumper to give the Orange a 10-9 lead. One possession later, Williams made a 3-pointer to increase the lead to four points. The forward finished eight points in his second game following his suspension.

But against the Bulldogs, sat on the bench for the entire game. It was certainly odd due to the fact that Syracuse rotated in various players who weren’t getting playing time all year like backup center Mounir Hima. From the sidelines, he was in all blue unlike his teammates who all wore orange uniforms.

Judah Mintz improves paint performance

By halftime, Gonzaga was outscoring 30-10 in points within the paint. Forward Graham Ike dominated with a double double after 20 minutes.

But SU relied on its star to do what he does best — finish at the rim. The Orange had 12 more points in the paints than the Bulldogs in the second half, and that all came off of Mintz.

The point guard started the second half by making a layup from the right side to cut the deficit to 12 points. He scored on both side of the paint, showing off more of his aggressiveness and nearly matching his first half point total (10) in the first four minutes of the second half. But he also distributed well, finishing with two assists in the second half alone.

With 9:38 left in the game, Mintz fired a slick bounce pass to Maliq Brown, who finished with a thunderous dunk off to make the score 51-45. Mintz finished his day with a team-high 22 points on 9-of-14 shooting and though the Orange couldn’t comeback, he proved he can slice through any defense.

Chris Bell flounders

Syracuse’s early shooting woes (5-for-19 overall and 1-for-7 from 3 through the first 12 minutes) was symbolized by the team’s highest volume shooter — Chris Bell. In that same stretch of time, Bell went 2-for-9 and 1-for-5 from 3.

Bell has a penchant for shooting 3-pointers from the corners and wings, and that’s exactly what he did against Gonzaga. But unlike against Colgate when he scored a career-high 25 points, he failed to get anything going. The Bulldogs contested many of Bell’s 3-point shots.

On his last 3-point attempt of the first half, Dusty Stromer blocked the shot which led a Ben Gregg layup off a Ryan Nembhard bounce pass on the other end to increase the lead to 14. On other shots, though, Bell bricked the corner 3s entirely. His attempts to draw fouls also weren’t successful, eliciting frustration while he laid on the court.

In the second half, Bell shot much less, finishing with only five attempts (all misses) and letting Mintz take over. He finished with a horrific overall shooting line of 2-of-18.

The frustration boiled over with three minutes remaining. Back on the transition, Bell lightly bumped into his head coach before being called for a technical foul. Justin Taylor came in for Bell, who got chewed out by Adrian Autry on the sidelines. Afterward, Quadir Copeland put his arm over the distraught Bell.

Graham Ike cooks Syracuse

Immediately from the tip-off, where Ike beat Naheem McLeod to give Gonzaga the opening possession, the forward became a consistent thorn in the side of the Orange but more specifically their 7-foot-4 center. Though Ike slowed down in the second half and was seven inches shorter than McLeod, he finished with 16 points and 14 rebounds in his second double-double of the season.

McLeod looked lost against Ike. When the center blocked Ike, the forward responded with two defensive rebounds that aided Anton Watson drove in for the layup to make the score 13-5. Ike also drew McLeod into two early fouls to quickly bench him for most of the first half.

SU tried to adjust in the second half in guarding Ike, but he made it pay for that. Not even three minutes into the half, Ike faced double teams from Bell and McLeod. As a result, J.J. Starling stole the pressured pass from Ike. But Ike bumped Starling on the other end to deny a bucket.

To his credit, McLeod did reject Ike twice in the second half, but it never phased the opposing forward.

Ike fully slammed the door shut with 4:16 remaining in the game when he tipped the ball away from Mintz to start a transition. From halfcourt, he chucked a pass to Nembhard, who finished with a dunk to force Autry to call another timeout with Gonzaga up by 17 late in the game. Out of the timeout, as Mintz and Copeland waited for the go ahead to complete the inbound pass, they both crouched down in exhaustion.

Published on November 21, 2023 at 4:48 pm

Contact Henry: henrywobrien1123@gmail.com