SWC75
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- And with our 17th win, Syracuse University has now had 48 winning seasons in a row. The longest streak in the country. It’s a streak that unites SU players, coaches and fans from Bill Smith, who will turn 69 on Wednesday when we play NC State to 19 year old Oshae Brissett. Every major college team you can name- Duke, North Carolina, Louisville, Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan State, Kansas, UCLA, has had at least tone year where they failed to get past .500 in that time. It’s not only the longest current streak in the country. It’s the second best of all time: UCLA had 54 winning seasons in a row from 1949-2002. If we can continue the streak through 2024-25, we’ll have the all-time record. The next longest current streaks are owned by Kansas (35) and Arizona (34), who continued their streaks in late January. We don’t have as many Final Fours and national championships as some other schools. But we’ve got “the Streak”!
- We won by the skin of our teeth but that’s only because Wake was throwing long, often well-defended three pointers in like they were free throws while we were shooting free throws like they were three pointers. Possession by possession, we played one of our best games of the season and should have won this game easily.
- Tyus Battle had a poor game the first time against Wake missing 8 of 12 shots and 6 of 7 three pointers with 5 turnovers. He came out like a house afire, obviously determined to make up for that win a game we really need to win. He scored our first seven points. He then missed five shots in a row, (and two free throws)> He appeared to be pressing. Then he hit a big three to give us our first substantial lead at 22-13. He was unstoppable after that. He had a spectacular second half, hitting 6 of 8 shoots, (only 1 a three pointer) and going 11 for 11 from the line. Tyus never let them tie us.
- I’m not a huge fan of our isolation, pick and roll offense. But I think we did the best job of spacing we have all year. Our drives to the basket netted us 39 trips to the line. We missed 13 of them but still outscored Wake from the line by 14 points. That’s how many more fouls were called on Wake than on us. Nobody fouled out but 4 deacons were about to when the game ended, having 4 fouls.
- Paschal Chukwu had an ineffective start, (and could never solve those lobs to Doral Moore). JB pulled him in favor of Bourama Sidibie, who played well and looked good doing it, with a spring in his step, (although he did hit the ground on one rebound: he got back up and looked OK). Chukwu came back into the game played with passion, scoring 7 points, (he didn’t pull the ball down when he got it as much), pulling down a team-leading 11 rebounds and getting three blocked shots, including the dramatic one that became a pass to Battle for the clincher.
- Oshae Brissett had a hard time getting the ball in the hoop, (3 for 11), but he hit a three and 8 of 10 free throws and had his 9th double-double of the year, (one more and he’ll have double double doubles), with 15 points and 10 rebounds. I read the Sunday paper before the game and at halftime and it said “Syracuse can’t get out-rebounded” if we expect to win. Thanks to Chukwu and Brissett, we won the boards, 35-32.
- Frank Howard also shot poorly, (3 of 12) but had 9 assists and 1 turnover. If you subtract the turnovers form the assists, this was easily his best game of the year in that regard. (He was 10-4 vs. Maryland and 6-0 vs. Boston College). Frank also had five steals, including some big ones down the stretch.
- Marek Dolezaj didn’t have a spectacular game but he scored 6 points, had 3 rebounds and just seemed less intimidated by the big bad men of the ACC.
- So did Braedon Bayer, who played hard and got a couple of rebounds. I’d still like to see him shoot it when he’s wide open, though.
- You know it’s been an exciting game when JB winds up in his shirt.
17-8 (6-6) with 7+ to go
LET’S GO ORANGE!
- We won by the skin of our teeth but that’s only because Wake was throwing long, often well-defended three pointers in like they were free throws while we were shooting free throws like they were three pointers. Possession by possession, we played one of our best games of the season and should have won this game easily.
- Tyus Battle had a poor game the first time against Wake missing 8 of 12 shots and 6 of 7 three pointers with 5 turnovers. He came out like a house afire, obviously determined to make up for that win a game we really need to win. He scored our first seven points. He then missed five shots in a row, (and two free throws)> He appeared to be pressing. Then he hit a big three to give us our first substantial lead at 22-13. He was unstoppable after that. He had a spectacular second half, hitting 6 of 8 shoots, (only 1 a three pointer) and going 11 for 11 from the line. Tyus never let them tie us.
- I’m not a huge fan of our isolation, pick and roll offense. But I think we did the best job of spacing we have all year. Our drives to the basket netted us 39 trips to the line. We missed 13 of them but still outscored Wake from the line by 14 points. That’s how many more fouls were called on Wake than on us. Nobody fouled out but 4 deacons were about to when the game ended, having 4 fouls.
- Paschal Chukwu had an ineffective start, (and could never solve those lobs to Doral Moore). JB pulled him in favor of Bourama Sidibie, who played well and looked good doing it, with a spring in his step, (although he did hit the ground on one rebound: he got back up and looked OK). Chukwu came back into the game played with passion, scoring 7 points, (he didn’t pull the ball down when he got it as much), pulling down a team-leading 11 rebounds and getting three blocked shots, including the dramatic one that became a pass to Battle for the clincher.
- Oshae Brissett had a hard time getting the ball in the hoop, (3 for 11), but he hit a three and 8 of 10 free throws and had his 9th double-double of the year, (one more and he’ll have double double doubles), with 15 points and 10 rebounds. I read the Sunday paper before the game and at halftime and it said “Syracuse can’t get out-rebounded” if we expect to win. Thanks to Chukwu and Brissett, we won the boards, 35-32.
- Frank Howard also shot poorly, (3 of 12) but had 9 assists and 1 turnover. If you subtract the turnovers form the assists, this was easily his best game of the year in that regard. (He was 10-4 vs. Maryland and 6-0 vs. Boston College). Frank also had five steals, including some big ones down the stretch.
- Marek Dolezaj didn’t have a spectacular game but he scored 6 points, had 3 rebounds and just seemed less intimidated by the big bad men of the ACC.
- So did Braedon Bayer, who played hard and got a couple of rebounds. I’d still like to see him shoot it when he’s wide open, though.
- You know it’s been an exciting game when JB winds up in his shirt.
17-8 (6-6) with 7+ to go
LET’S GO ORANGE!
