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It wasn’t supposed to come down to this, with Marek Dolezaj pressing his hands together for a timeout after not finding a slot to inbound the ball. With Jim Boeheim screaming from the sidelines after Quincy Guerrier’s foul gave NC State three free throws and an opportunity to trim SU’s lead to one with six seconds left.

The Wolfpack were without their top two scorers all night, one due to injury and another due to university policy, but they built a double-digit lead anyway. Syracuse had just cruised by one ranked opponent last week and had its zone dismantled by another, then allowed NC State to dominate before reversing its fate in the second half.

So it did come down to that. To Dolezaj finding Alan Griffin after the timeout to draw the foul. To SU’s junior sinking his free throws. And everything — the 47-point first half by the Wolfpack, the 11-point comeback by Syracuse — ending when a desperation heave from NC State clanked off the side of the backboard.

Behind Griffin’s 19 points, Buddy Boeheim’s 17 points and Guerrier’s seventh double-double this year, Syracuse (10-5, 4-4 Atlantic Coast) escaped with a 76-73 win over NC State (7-6, 3-5). A tightened 2-3 zone and an interior-based offense in the second half helped the Orange win for the third time in their last four games and get back to .500 in conference play. With nine games left, any NCAA Tournament chances depend on stringing together necessary wins and claiming more résumé-boosting ones like SU did last week. Sunday night, as ugly as it was, reflected one small step toward that point.

“Considering the way we started and played in the beginning, this was a really good win, and we’ll take it and try to get ready for Wednesday,” Boeheim said.

The problem that keeps appearing for Syracuse this season — as it did against NC State — is its defense. The defense that helped the Orange blow out Virginia Tech. The defense that surrendered 81 points against Virginia, blew double-digit first-half leads twice and has a throbbing issue defending the high post. 

Part of why Syracuse is in this spot is the absence of Bourama Sidibe, who jogged around during warmups and participated in post-player drills but didn’t play for the 14th consecutive game due to injury.

But the problems stem far beyond that, and they shone through once more in the opening minutes against the Wolfpack. NC State relied on a combination of Braxton Beverly and Manny Bates to pierce the Orange’s 2-3 zone. The high-post opening resulted in open 3s for Beverly and allowed Bates to finish dunks down low. Bates started posting up underneath the basket and creating opportunities for other high-post flashers. 

The same formula that so many other teams used against the Orange this season worked again for the Wolfpack, allowing them to pull away heading into halftime.

“We just let them get either inside and dunks, or we gave them wide-open looks from the 3-point line,” Boeheim said postgame. “It was probably as bad as defense as we could play.”

Manny Bates was 7-of-9 from the field for 17 points and led all players with 14 rebounds in NC State’s loss to Syracuse. Courtesy of Mark Konezny | USA TODAY Sports

On screens, the Wolfpack switched Beverly, a 6-foot guard, onto Guerrier, a 6-foot-7 forward, but Guerrier couldn’t take advantage. He shot just 1-for-5 in the first 20 minutes, and Syracuse’s offense couldn’t revolve around him like it had in nearly every other game this season.

Instead, Kadary Richmond (14 points in 16 minutes) was there. Near the end of the first half, he drove twice and scored four points off a field goal and a pair of free throws. But after his free throws, Syracuse set up in man-press and nearly recorded a steal when Dolezaj poked the ball away at mid-court. Neither Dolezaj, nor Griffin, could fall on it before the Wolfpack recovered and swung the ball up to Bates under the SU basket. Bates took two steps before rising for a dunk that Joe Girard III fouled on, and NC State’s lead became 11.

Still, Syracuse managed to catch the Wolfpack without Devon Daniels, who had a season-ending ACL injury against Wake Forest on Jan. 27.

The Orange made their adjustments — keeping the forwards tucked in to defend Bates, having the guards creep out more to limit the shooters — but didn’t have to account for the redshirt sophomore who attempted 26.6% of NC State shots and was the catalyst in NC State’s early-season win against then-No. 17 North Carolina. On the other side of halftime, the 13-minute break in which Boeheim said his defense has actually gotten worse this season, the Orange started to close the gap. 

After hitting six 3-pointers in the first half, including three by Beverly, the Wolfpack hit none in the final 20 minutes. Syracuse forced four turnovers and scored 12 points off of them, and it allowed just 26 points in the second half. Syracuse matched Dolezaj up with Jericole Hellems, who led all scorers with 24 points, to limit him inside, but the key to that working was help on defense from Guerrier and Griffin. But that didn’t happen, Boeheim said.

“Marek’s fighting a war out there by himself,” Boeheim said. “And we’ve got to help him on the defensive end if we’re going to have any success the rest of the way.”

Those lapses kept the game close. Beverly still fought Guerrier’s post-up attempts, but this time SU’s forward found success, with two baskets in the opening 90 seconds cutting the deficit to seven. Griffin then hit a catch-and-shoot 3 and made a deep 2 to tie the game at 54 with 12 minutes left. 

“We knew it was just all defense from that point on,” Buddy said. “Getting stops, can’t give up 47 points in a half.”

Possessions later, Buddy pumped his fist after his fourth 3-pointer put the Orange up five — bringing NC State to the point where it needed to foul late. Dereon Seabron did that with six seconds left on the shot clock, though, and gave SU another 20 to work with. It ran the clock down and let the Wolfpack continue to foul, and Dolezaj hit two free throws that let the Orange survive.

Boeheim said postgame that Sidibe could potentially return Wednesday, but that won’t immediately lift SU’s season off the bubble. That’ll take wins, one after another, and ensuring that Sidibe meshes back into the defensive role he previously held.

But Sidibe’s return does give the Orange another piece to work into the complex, never-ending puzzle of the 2020-21 season. Another chance to fix the defense that hasn’t played like it’s found a solution for 40 complete minutes this season — something Sunday’s two halves reiterated.

Another chance that, with the ACC as wide open as it is this year, could end being the exact spark Syracuse needs.

Published on January 31, 2021 at 8:36 pm

Contact Andrew: arcrane@syr.edu | @CraneAndrew