In The Paint: San Diego State

SYRACUSE VS SAN DIEGO ST. MAR. 19, 2021

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NEXT MARCH LEGEND?

BUDDY BOEHEIM enters this year’s NCAA Tournament shooting the ball historically well and has an opportunity to join a group of Syracuse March legends beginning Friday.

courtesy of rich barnes usa today

By Danny Emerman senior staff writer

O

ne question may decide the fate of Syracuse’s season as it enters the NCAA Tournament: Can Buddy keep this up?

This March, Buddy Boeheim has averaged 25.3 points per game on 51.5% shooting from the field, 44.2% from 3 and 92.3% from the free throw line. His latest explosion, a career-high 31 points against Virginia’s stingy defense, nearly vaulted the Orange to a monumental upset and unprecedented ACC Tournament heights. The blazing Buddy became the first Syracuse player named to the All-ACC Tournament team.

Playing the best basketball of his college career in the four games leaving up to the NCAA Tournament, Buddy has the chance to etch his name alongside recent March stars like Gerry McNamara, Jonny Flynn and Tyus Battle. And the No. 11-seed Orange (16-9, 9-7 Atlantic Coast), who are 7-2 in games when Buddy scores at least 20 points, need him to if they want to make a long tournament run. “(Buddy) made some of the toughest shots that I’ve seen him make all year,” Jim Boeheim said after SU’s loss to Virginia. “He was going in the lane against 6-foot-4, 6-foot-5, 6-foot-6 guys. He was getting shots up. It was incredible what he did today.”

Buddy’s lived through Syracuse’s recent runs through March. He watched from home when Carmelo Anthony led Syracuse past Kansas in the 2003 National Championship. He revisited that run several times over on cassette tapes because he was too young to soak it in at the time. He was in Madison Square Garden for the six-overtime game and said he loved watching Michael Carter-Williams in 2013 The 2016 and 2018 runs stick out to him, though.

He was close with the team both years, especially the latter group, which he was set to join the next year.

“It’s just crazy how it comes full circle, and they’re texting me after games and this stuff, saying they love

Buddy Boeheim is on historic scoring pace entering this NCAA Tournament as he looks to etch his legacy among SU’s March legends watching me play,” Buddy, a junior, said after Selection Sunday. “I just never dreamed of it because those were guys that were my heroes as a kid.”

Now Buddy’s recreating the kind of March performance he grew up in awe of. Three of Buddy’s highest-scoring outputs this year have come in the last two weeks — 31 against Virginia, 26 and 27 in wins over North Carolina and North Carolina State.

“Buddy just put us on his back,” Boeheim said of the NC State win. “NC State was playing great the first half. He just broke their spirit.”

Elite shooters aim to make half their field goals, at least 40% of their 3s and 90% of their foul shots.

Since the 1992-93 season, when Sports-Reference started tracking 3-point percentage, only 10 college basketball players have joined the 50-40-90 club. Buddy is clearing every benchmark in March to join the club.

It’s not just efficient shooting. Buddy is playing under control, making great reads off dribble-handoffs and pick-and-rolls. The playmaking burden on him has never been higher as defenses key in.

“A shooter like Buddy Boeheim, it’s contagious,”

NC State guard Braxton Beverly said on March 10. “It can even be contagious for the other team sometimes.

That’s how good of a shooter he is … Seeing him, two or three shots and just seeing the energy that he had, the other players are definitely going to feed off of him.”

Buddy’s gone on scoring tears before, too. “All junior year,” Buddy’s Jamesville-Dewitt coach Jeff Ike said with a chuckle. In the 2017 Class A regional final, Buddy scored 40 points — including seven 3-pointers — in Jamesville-Dewitt’s 65-62 win over Lansingburgh. He preceded that game with explosions of 33 and 28 points, while adding 25 in J-D’s season-ending loss to Irondequoit in the NYSPHSAA Class A Quarterfinals.

But that’s central New York high school basketball, and this is the ACC. He’s also yet to carry it over into the NCAA Tournament. In his one March Madness game as a freshman, Buddy went 0-for-6 from the floor in 39 minutes. He knows as well as anyone that true Syracuse stars perform in the Big Dance When SU scratched and clawed its way to the 2018 Sweet Sixteen, Battle averaged 15.4 points per game, albeit on an inefficient 32.1% from the floor. Flynn averaged 17.6 points per game in the Orange’s 10 games in March 2009, including four Big East Tournament and three NCAA Tournament contests. McNamara had several signature moments and individual runs, but none finer than his 2004 NCAA Tournament surge, when he scored 26.6 points per game and shot over 50% from 3 on an Anthony-less team.

“March is the best time of the year and we’ve had some really good runs in the past,” Buddy said. “I’m just lucky I’ve been able to be there every game and every step of the way.”

This NCAA Tournament, Buddy could join — or even surpass — some of these legendary individual March performances he saw firsthand. If he can keep this up. dremerma@syr.edu @DannyEmerman

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1 GONZAGA 16 NORFOLK

ST./APP ST.

8 OKLAHOMA 9 MISSOURI 5 CREIGHTON 12 UCSB 4 VIRGINIA 13 OHIO

WEST

6 USC 11 WICHITA

ST./DRAKE

3 KANSAS 14 EASTERN

WASH.

7 OREGON 10 VCU 2 IOWA 15 GRAND

CANYON

1 MICHIGAN 16 MT. ST. MARY’S/TEXAS SO. 8 LSU 9 ST. BONAVENTURE 5 COLORADO 12 GEORGETOWN 4 FLORIDA 13 UNC

ST.

GREENSBORO

6 BYU 11 MICHIGAN

ST./UCLA

3 TEXAS 14 ABILENE

CHRISTIAN

7 UCONN 10 MARYLAND 2 ALABAMA 15 IONA

EAST

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1 BAYLOR 16 HARTFORD 8 NORTH

CAROLINA

9 WISCONSIN 5 VILLANOVA 12 WINTHROP 4 PURDUE

SOUTH

13 NORTH

TEXAS

6 TEXAS

TECH

11 UTAH

ST.

3 ARKANSAS 14 COLGATE 7 FLORIDA 10 VIRGINIA

TECH

2 OHIO

ST.

15 ORAL

ROBERTS

1

ILLINOIS

16 DREXEL 8 LOYOLA

CHICAGO

9 GEORGIA

TECH

5 TENNESSEE

MIDWEST

12 OREGON

ST.

4 OKLAHOMA

ST.

13 LIBERTY 6 SAN

DIEGO ST.

11 SYRACUSE 3 WEST

VIRGINIA

14 MOREHEAD

ST.

7 CLEMSON 10 RUTGERS 2 HOUSTON 15 CLEVELAND

ST.

6 in the paint

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PRESSING ON Quincy Guerrier’s gradual improvement in Syracuse’s 2-3 zone helps fuel the Orange’s defensive evolution

QUINCY GUERRIER’S defensive development during his sophomore season has helped improve the 2-3 zone ahead of SU’s potential tournament run.

rich barnes usa today sports

By Andrew Crane

senior staff writer

Q

uincy Guerrier jutted out toward the 3-point line as Virginia’s Sam Hauser drove on the opposite side, inching toward the Greensboro Coliseum’s 3-point arc. Two of Guerrier’s teammates had collapsed on Hauser, forcing him to pick up his dribble and glance at Trey Murphy III — standing unguarded behind the arc, hands set for a pass and, eventually, a shot.

The ball from Hauser reached Murphy, and he rose into his shooting form. But Guerrier had anticipated that kick-out pass. With the Orange down by two points and needing a stop with 40 seconds left in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament quarterfinal, Guerrier deflected the shot as it left Murphy’s hands. It never reached the rim, resulted in a shot clock violation for the Cavaliers and gifted SU another possession, allowing two free throws from Buddy Boeheim to tie it.

Despite the loss, which eliminated Syracuse from the conference tournament, sequences like that deflected shot against Murphy reflected Guerrier’s growth in Syracuse’s defense throughout his second year. Head coach Jim Boeheim said after a loss to Duke on Feb. 22 that Guerrier wasn’t playing good defense and he didn’t know why. Two weeks later, Boeheim said that mistakes Guerrier makes in the zone are “normal.”

Guerrier is still Syracuse’s top rebounder, but has also lifted his block and steal numbers from last season from 25 and 15 to 26 and 22, respectively. His presence in the zone has grown, and continues to grow, in his first full season as a starter.

He’s served at the head of Syracuse’s press, the one that Boeheim said earlier in the season couldn’t “press a pair of pants.” But he still keyed comebacks in games against Notre Dame on Feb. 20 and Virginia last week — complementing his 14.4 points per game with more of a defensive presence than he did his first year at SU (16-9, 9-7 ACC) heading into his first NCAA Tournament game on Friday.

“His rotation has gotten better,” said Ibrahim Appiah, Guerrier’s coach at Thetford Academy. “I felt like he’s more instinctive now versus in the past where I felt like he was still thinking. Now, it’s like it’s pretty automatic.”

Last year, Appiah said, it was easy to diagnose Guerrier’s weaknesses.

Offenses could set up on his side of the zone, eventually initiate a backdoor cut and have an easy lane to the basket. But that was Guerrier’s first year in the Syracuse zone, and it didn’t resemble anything close to what he would’ve played in high school — unless Thetford needed rest or was blowing an opponent out.

Guerrier’s defensive upbringing was shaped through man-defense prin-

ciples at Thetford and with the Canadian national team. His off-ball defense needed work, head coach David DeAveiro said, but on the ball, he was strong.

That was normal, DeAveiro said. Most defenders that came through the Canadian national team as 16- and 17-year-olds were just “OK” — not much better and not much worse. Guerrier occasionally guarded an opponent’s top offensive threat at Thetford and served as their last line of defense in the press, tasked with halting transition opportunities that stemmed from breakdowns.

When Guerrier arrived at Syracuse, Appiah said he was initially surprised at how much rotation Boeheim’s defense required. The 2-3 sometimes extended to the point where it more closely resembled a 3-2 or 4-1, with the forwards on the blocks chipping in with the guards to pinch opposing 3-point shooters back.

“We need to know where (shooters) are all the time,” Guerrier said after SU’s season-opening win against Bryant. “Don’t lose them and all that.”

Guerrier spent last season learning his role in the zone while serving as Syracuse’s sixth man — tasked with coming in, grabbing rebounds, providing a spark off the bench or serving as a foul-trouble replacement.

But even with the extra year in the zone, mishaps still followed. He crept too high up on the wing in the early minutes against Duke on Feb. 22, and Matthew Hurt cycled the ball once more to create an open 3 for the Blue Devils — beating Marek Dolezaj’s sprint from the middle of the paint to close out and cover for Guerrier.

Mixed in with those errors, though, were signs that Guerrier had started to complement his offensive game. Against Pitt on Jan. 6, his closeout with three minutes left in the first half forced an airball — and left Jeff Capel on the sidelines with his hands on his hips, standing on the floor shaking his head. Then, last week against Virginia, his tight closeout on Hauser, who was fading back as the shot clock ticked down into its final seconds, forced another UVA violation in the first half as SU built an early lead.

“A lot of people think playing zone is lazy, but you work way harder than man-to-man,” Appiah said.

With just under 90 seconds remaining against the Cavaliers and Syracuse trailing by two, Guerrier sprinted to the baseline after he made a basket. He thrusted his hands in the air before pivoting to the corner to trap Hauser with Robert Braswell and nearly forcing a turnover on UVA’s pass back into the middle of the court.

It took time for Guerrier to learn that, to piece everything together about a different defense — and a different role in the press — than he was used to. But then deflections and disruptions like those started to emerge, the evidence that Guerrier’s growth had started to do the same. arcrane@syr.edu @CraneAndrew

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men’s basketball

Opponent preview: What to know about San Diego State

By Anthony Dabbundo senior staff writer

Syracuse opens its NCAA Tournament run against San Diego State on Friday night in the opening round of the tournament at Hinkle Fieldhouse in Indianapolis Here’s what to know about the No. 6 seed San Diego State (23-4, 14-3 Mountain West) before tipoff against No. 11 seed Syracuse (169, 9-7 Atlantic Coast) at 9:40 p.m. on Friday.

All-time series Syracuse leads 2-0

Last time they played

Syracuse and San Diego State opened the 2012-2013 season on the USS Midway aircraft carrier off the shore of the San Diego coast. Due to high winds, bright sun and the outdoor game, San Diego State made 1-of18 from 3 and scored 49 points in a 62-49 defeat. The Orange only attempted four 3s and made one. The Aztecs made 14-of-33 from the free-throw line, and the Orange made 11-of-19. Michael Carter-Williams, C.J. Fair and Brandon Triche combined for 49 points in the Syracuse victory.

The San Diego State report

SDSU was one of the nation’s top teams at 30-2 last season prior to the pandemic. The Aztecs were headed to a one or two seed and were the last remaining unbeaten team in the entire country in 2019-20.

The Aztecs aren’t quite as elite this season as they are replacing three top-tier players from that team, including Malachi Flynn, who was second team All-American.

But San Diego State is returning elite jump shooter Jordan Schakel, who makes 46.7% of his 3s. As a team, the Aztecs are an elite defense with excellent shooting abilities. Forward Matt Mitchell can score at all three levels and is the primary scorer for the Aztecs. He’ll operate with his back to the basket sometimes, but he’s also a capable shooter and able to get to the rim off the dribble.

San Diego State Offense vs Syracuse Defense

While the SDSU defense forces teams to play in the halfcourt, the SDSU offense loves to run. The Aztecs offense is 11th-best in the country in potential points from breakaway steals, per Haslametrics. Their offense relies on long range shooting more than post, as the Aztecs get near-rim shots — which are

layups, dunks and tip-ins — at the 259thhighest rate.

The Syracuse defense struggles against teams who get multiple shots per possession and have high second chance conversion rates, which the Aztecs do. SDSU is 51st in second chance conversion rate on offense, which it may be able to exploit on the inside.

Usually, teams have to sacrifice offensive rebounding for transition defense, but SDSU finds the balance for both. They’re 109th in offensive rebounding rate but still manage to keep opposition out of transition. The Aztecs rank 12th in defensive steal rate, too, so ball security will be of utmost importance for Syracuse.

Syracuse Offense vs. San Diego State Defense

No team in the country allows fewer shots at the rim than SDSU. But Syracuse ranks 350th out of 357 in near-rim shots — shots at the rim are just not a big part of the Orange’s offense.

When they do get to the rim, they convert at the eighth-highest rate in the nation, but they don’t get there very often.

According to Haslametrics, San Diego State is typically worse against teams that are able to get out and run against them. When they

play teams with a high potential point rate off steals to capitalize on breakaway opportunities, they’ve been less efficient overall.

Syracuse isn’t elite in this category offensively, but it is above average at 107th.

Player to watch: Matt Mitchell, Forward, No. 11

Mitchell said early in the week that he idolized Carmelo Anthony and Syracuse growing up. Like Anthony, Mitchell can score from anywhere on the court. He’s able to go back to the basket and find shooters from there or score himself. He’s solid from 3 at 36% and gets to the line at the 41sthighest rate in the country. Mitchell averages 15.4 points and 5.5 rebounds per game this season.

Stat to know: 23

San Diego State allows less than a quarter of its shots at the rim, per HoopMath. That is the lowest rate in the country. They play a version of the pack-line defense which prevents penetration into the lane and forces teams to shoot it from the outside. SDSU will not sell out on shooters and protect the paint, which could work to SU’s advantage if the shots are falling. amdabbun@syr.edu @AnthonyDabbundo

men’s basketball

Beat writers predict SU’s NCAA Tournament game vs SDSU

By The Daily Orange Sports Staff

After earning a No. 11 seed in the NCAA Tournament and avoiding a play-in game, Syracuse opens with a game against No. 6 seed San Diego State (23-4, 14-3 Mountain West) on Friday. The Aztecs won 14 straight games en route to the MWC title and are led

by Matt Mitchell and Jordan Schakel — the latter of whom is the 19th-best 3-point shooter in the country, at 46.7%.

SU’s run in the Atlantic Coast Conference Tournament ended when Reece Beekman’s buzzer-beater lifted Virginia over the Orange, but wins over NC State, North Carolina and Clemson before the UVA loss helped Syracuse sneak off the bubble and narrowly make the tournament’s field.

Here’s what The Daily Orange’s beat writers think will happen when Syracuse (16-9, 9-7 ACC) and San Diego State meet for the third time.

Andrew Crane (16-9)

Zoned in Syracuse 71, San Diego State 67 SDSU head coach Brian Dutcher admitted in his press conference after Selection Sunday that Syracuse posed a difficult challenge because the Aztecs haven’t played a 2-3 zone this season. Air Force was the only team to play any zone against them — everything else, through nonconference play and the MWC, was man defense. The Orange’s defensive improvements throughout the season make them an intriguing upset pick in the first round, as long as they contain San Diego State’s

shooters and Buddy Boeheim continues his run on offense.

Look for the zone to shake up SDSU’s rhythm and provide just enough of an advantage after some late Syracuse baskets help it pull away for its first tournament win since 2018. The 2-3 zone has carried the Orange before in March, and it’ll do just that again on Friday.

Anthony Dabbundo (19-6) Zoned out San Diego State 75, Syracuse 73

I have gone back and forth on my pick for this game multiple times. But after examining both teams, this game is sure to come down to who makes more 3s. Both teams like to shoot 3s, neither team gets to the rim that much, and both defenses are set up to force opponents to take jumpers. The Orange’s offense has really improved in recent weeks and deserves credit for that. But SDSU can frustrate the Orange and contest every jump shot. On the other end, SDSU hasn’t seen a zone, but the Aztecs are experienced and well-coached.

Schakel has a big game and makes enough 3s to keep SDSU in this early before the Aztecs win the game in the final minutes.

The Aztecs offense will be better at generating quality looks than the Orange’s, especially with the game on the line in the final two minutes. And in a tight game, I have more faith in SDSU’s defense than the Orange’s, which has been inconsistent at best. In a true toss-up game, experience and Mitchell wins it for SDSU.

Danny Emerman (16-9)

It ends tonight San Diego State 75, Syracuse 70 What scares me if I’m Syracuse is SDSU’s combination of physical frontcourt and lethal outside shooters. That’s a rare mix, one that SU has seldom seen in 2021. Syracuse absolutely could shock the Aztecs with a zone they haven’t seen all year. Buddy could continue his

heroic scoring stretch. Kadary Richmond could punish the smaller Terrell Gomez in switches.

But it all comes back to that combination of interior presence and perimeter marksmen.

That can be fatal for an SU defense that’s struggled all year. SDSU is a very stout No. 6 seed, and it’s ranked 20th in KenPom for a reason.

The Orange’s stay in Indiana will be cut short. sports@dailyorange.com @DOSports

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