Against Louisville, Syracuse played best when desperate — the story of its season
Syracuse played solid in a few spurts during its 77-62 loss to Louisville, but those moments came while it was in desperation mode. Adam Mouchrani | The Louisville Cardinal
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LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Diving for loose balls, boxing out with authority, scrambling to contest shots from the perimeter: these were sights Syracuse didn’t put on tape last Saturday against Wake Forest when Adrian Autry blasted his players’ lack of toughness. But, don’t worry. Versus Louisville Tuesday night, that all changed. Autry’s postgame rant resonated with his players.
“Today, we guarded,” point guard Naithan George said, affirming the team’s positive response to Autry’s message. “We guarded our butts off and just worked super hard.”
Most of that grit, though, came when SU trailed by a fairly insurmountable deficit.
Against the Cardinals, the Orange played at their best when they were in desperation mode. It’s become the story of their season: too little, too late and never enough to begin with. Syracuse (15-15, 6-11 Atlantic Coast) lost to Louisville (21-9, 10-7 Atlantic Coast) 77-62 in the KFC Yum! Center for its fourth consecutive defeat — the second time that’s happened to SU this season.
Losing four straight games was unheard of during the Orange’s glory days under Hall of Fame head coach Jim Boeheim. Now, their brightest badge of honor against a quality team in Louisville was simply fighting until the final whistle.
Sure, Syracuse made this an 11-point game late. But Autry remembers what happened long beforehand, when SU trailed by as much as 21 in the first half and 24 in the second.
“In the first half, that deficit was the difference (in the game),” Autry said postgame. “If we made a couple of those shots and came in (at halftime) down 39-30 or 39-31, I think the game could have been a little different.”
The Orange outscored the Cardinals 41-38 in the final 20 minutes. Yet, they never made the game very close. Autry knows Syracuse fans want wins, not moral victories. But at this point in the season, the only wins he’s getting are the moral variety.
“You want to try to have some things to build on,” Autry said. “I don’t think the fans or anybody wants to hear what I have to say to get my guys ready, you know. It’s about results. And, you know, the frustration is there.”
When a team performs better than normal when facing a large deficit, they’re hard to judge. For Syracuse, it’s easy to assess. Autry certainly had no trouble with that Tuesday night.
“Some of the things that you need to do to win a game, we’re just not doing. Just not doing,” Autry said with a hint of disbelief.
To win games, playing a complete 40 minutes helps. Tuesday was the latest example of Syracuse’s struggles to achieve that. The Orange trailed 39-21 at halftime. An 0-for-12 start from 3-point range, constant lapses defending the perimeter and, per Autry, a lack of understanding with SU’s game plan were a few reasons why.
Autry said it’s been a recurring problem this season where his players don’t execute specific, previously-discussed elements of his game plans. Against the Cardinals, Autry told his team Louisville would be setting screens all over the place in half-court sets. The Orange prepared for this.
But Autry felt his players couldn’t get over screens, especially on the perimeter. It led to the Cardinals knocking down 14 3-pointers — the most SU’s allowed in a contest this year.
“We knew they were going to screen, and we just didn’t do a good job of (moving past them),” Autry said. “We’re all running into screens, and you can’t run into screens. You got to be close enough (to them). You got to anticipate, you can’t melt.”
Things started to turn around fast for Syracuse in the middle of the second half, though. It went on a 13-2 run at one point to cut its deficit to 11, spurred by a suffocating 2-3 zone defense, a few made jumpers from George as well as a two-handed jam from Sadiq White Jr. on a fast break.
A team that went into the halftime locker room with their heads bowed to the floor began to feel a jubilant rhythm. It was late in the game, but the Orange were finally performing how they intended to against Louisville — especially considering freshman phenom Mikel Brown Jr. was out with an injury for the Cardinals.
Then Syracuse went back to being Syracuse.
In just over three minutes, SU’s deficit ballooned from 62-51 to 74-55. It reverted to static possessions in the half-court offense, and had trouble once again fending off Louisville from long range. A step-back 3-pointer from J’Vonne Hadley with 2:14 left essentially sealed the Orange’s loss, if it wasn’t decided already.
When it comes to responding to Autry’s message, yes, Syracuse’s players gave an improved defensive effort and displayed a tad more toughness. But teams don’t hang banners for having a few good spurts here and there. They hang banners for winning. Championships, to be exact.
And as Autry said, the Orange won’t win if they have to play a desperate brand of basketball.
