MIAMI – Syracuse (10-5, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) dropped its first game of 2016 and its second of the ACC season. Its 64-51 loss to Miami (12-1, 1-0) was the first time in 17 years that Syracuse started the conference slate with two defeats.

Michael Gbinije played the worst game of his season while Malachi Richardson played his best. The Orange limited Miami to just 3-of-25 shooting from long range, but was called for 11 more fouls which led to 17 more made Miami free throws.

A slew of late turnovers led to anther late loss for Syracuse, similar to its second-half collapse to Pittsburgh on Wednesday night.

Here are three things we learned from the Orange’s loss to Miami.

Gbinije struggles to score on smaller guards

Miami head coach Jim Larranaga said that he used to be a bigger guard, much like Gbinije. And he reminisced after his team’s win that it was always harder to score against the smaller, peskier guards.

On Saturday, Gbinije had a lot of trouble with Miami guard Angel Rodriguez, who held Gbinije to a season-low 10 points on 14 shots. He didn’t make a 3-pointer in seven attempts.

The Syracuse point guard said he thought the referees should have called fouls more evenly, but he was inept to score regardless. Interim SU head coach Mike Hopkins said in a perfect world, he could get Gbinije off the ball. But he needed Gbinije out on the floor, he said, and with backup point guard Frank Howard out with an illness, he was out there struggling.

Bad offense hurts more than good defense helps

Syracuse held Miami to just 12 percent shooting from 3, including 16 misses in its first 16 tries. It rebounded on the defensive end as many times as Miami did — a feat that’s been difficult for SU this season. Hopkins said that Syracuse executed its defensive game plan.

But on offense is where Syracuse dug itself a hole. It had four turnovers in a 2:06 span late in the second half that led to three different scores and too great a deficit to overcome. When the Hurricanes failed to hit a field goal for an 11:38 stretch of the first half, the Orange hardly capitalized on it.

Syracuse had just seven assists and everyone not named Richardson was a combined 2-of-16 from 3. SU was a potent defensive team on Saturday. The fact that it allowed 47 points in the second half is a reflection of poor offense leading to UM scores. The Hurricanes had 20 points on the fast break and 20 points off turnovers.

“There’s two different types of turnovers,” Hopkins said. “There’s a turnover where they get the ball out of bounds and you can go and set your defense. And then there’s a turnover where you get picked at half court and they go and make a basket.”

 

 

Richardson can be an antidote to pressure on Gbinije and Cooney

Hopkins said that on Saturday, he went to Richardson to bring the ball up to help alleviate the pressure that was being placed on Cooney and Gbinije.

Syracuse had difficulty spacing the floor with Dajuan Coleman in foul trouble and Roberson struggling on offense. So Cooney and Gbinije were being hounded. Cooney said it was clearly a part of the Miami game plan and is a consistent theme among SU opponents.

But Richardson has the skills to help change that dynamic, which played into Hopkins’ thinking late in the loss.

“I’ll do whatever I have to do for our team,” Richardson said. “Mike was exhausted. He needed help. They were pressuring him the whole game. I just wanted to help my teammates out.”

Published on January 2, 2016 at 7:26 pm