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Message: [QUOTE="Niastri, post: 5632896, member: 722"] The Orange's quixotic quest for 100 points again missed. Barely this time. I thought that the increased pace Florida State likes to play at, and the terrible defense they pair it with would give us our best chance for 100 in the conference season. I was worried that Syracuse might lay an egg in a late game mid week against a bad opponent. The team didn't play poorly, per se, with a decent shooting night from everywhere. They started out very slowly, giving FSU a nice 8 point cushion before rallying quickly to eventually end the half with a lead. Syracuse gave up a bunch of open threes, and allowed a FSU team that averaged 35.3 3PA/game at a bad percentage (.317, 297th in the country) to shoot 37% from three, though only on 27 attempts. They also let FSU take and make more 2pt shots and free throws than their season averages. I would suggest the defense wasn't a strength yesterday. Since Freeman returned, the Orange is averaging +2 rebounding margin against four conference opponents. On the season, we are still a slight negative in total rebounding, but have reduced the crushing repetitive offensive rebound possessions we suffered at times this season. In spite of this, Freeman is actually underperforming on the boards, relative to his baseline. Last season he was a truly elite 31% defensive rebounder, this season a good, but pedestrian 20.8%. I suspect, his block% going up from 1.5% to 4.5% is partially responsible. It is hard to go all out to block the shot and still get the rebound. If you can find anything to complain about Freeman, it is that he has settled in since his injury as a merely "excellent" and not "elite" defensive rebounder. On a related note, Syracuse is 2nd in the country in blocks, averaging 6.7 per game. Syracuse is 18th in 2pt FG% allowed, an elite defensive percentage. But we allow 12.6 offensive rebounds per game, 339th in the country. Watching games, I sometimes wonder if blocking out is more important to victory than blocking shots... We are solidly in the middle in shots allowed (180th), and 66th in average points allowed, so it seems to be working. Even if it is a bit frustrating to watch. We blocked 7 shots yesterday, less than normal if you adjust for pace of the game. Kyle had a block off the backboard where I just couldn't believe how high he got. Even having watched him in 17 games, he still manages to amaze me with this athleticism. Speaking of frustrating, when you lose count of how many times your team fouled a shooter in the act of shooting a 3, and have to go look it up, it is a bad day. (I didn't go look it up, but it was way more than 1). Starling is on a little roll offensively, having another good day shooting, 7-10, and passing for 3 assists vs. only 1 turnover. Still don't really want him at the line, but overall very efficient. George had a great offensive game, getting 13 assists to 4 turnovers on low usage. A whopping 54.5 AST%. He has his flaws as a player, but he can really find the right pass. Body language alert, but this game it really looked like he was having fun and not thinking too much out there. Yesterday Betsey was like "Good Chris Bell" out there. 6-8 from three, zero rebounds, zero assists, 2 turnovers, bad defense. Overall a big net positive when hitting 6 threes, but needs to do more defensively and rebounding. He's too big to be doing nothing on the boards. On the season, he is much better than the Chris Bell we saw last season. We need fewer games where he does nothing but shoot. Freeman being Freeman. His average game since returning from injury against conference opponents 23ppg, 7.8 rpg, 1.3 assists, steals and blocks, on .639 2pt%, .444 3pt% and .815 FT%. First team AA stuff... No big deal. We could have whiffed on any of the bad conference opponents we have played since Clemson, but we came through GT, Pitt and now FSU undefeated, and even took FSU's best shot and walked away with a (mostly) comfortable victory. BC is next, and then we run a serious gauntlet that will (hopefully) demonstrate how good the team is with a healthy team. On to the next thing. [/QUOTE]

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