Observations from SU’s win vs. Saint Joseph’s: No ‘kill’ shots, season-low 3s
Naithan George was one of five Syracuse players to score in double figures Thursday, with 10 points against St. Joseph's. Christian Calabrese | Staff Photographer
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Nine days after downing then-No. 13 Tennessee, Syracuse returned to action against Saint Joseph’s Thursday night. The Hawks entered the matchup ranked No. 180 by KenPom and No. 190 by EvanMiya under their first-year head coach, Steve Donahue.
Meanwhile, fresh off their quad 1 win — which, for now, turned to a quad 2 win after the Volunteers dropped to No. 34 in the NET Rankings — the Orange were ranked No. 62 by KenPom and No. 59 by EvanMiya.
The last time Donahue coached in the JMA Wireless Dome, he was the head coach at Boston College, which defeated then-No. 1 and undefeated Syracuse on Feb. 19, 2014. While Donahue’s squad was competitive throughout most of the evening, he failed to notch a second straight upset, as the Orange downed the Hawks 71-63.
Here are some observations from Syracuse’s (6-3, ACC) win against Saint Joseph’s (6-4, Atlantic 10):
Syracuse fails to get a “kill,” but pulls away late
The term “kill shot” was popularized by analytics expert Evan Miyakawa (the founder of EvanMiya) and is classified as a scoring run where a team scores 10 or more unanswered points, effectively “killing” the opponent’s momentum. The Orange entered the matchup against the Hawks averaging one per game.
In its first two games of the season, hosting nonconference opponents in Binghamton and Delaware State, Syracuse had numerous kill shots, securing back-to-back blowout wins. But since the second half of their win over Drexel in Philadelphia, the Orange have struggled to accumulate kills.
They failed to record one against St. Joseph’s. This allowed the Hawks, which didn’t hold an advantage in the second half, to hang within 10 points until there were two and a half minutes remaining.
The Hawks trailed 59-56 at the 5:30 mark before SU finished the game on a 10-3 run over the next four minutes. Throughout that stretch, William Kyle III and Tyler Betsey carried the load, scoring all 10 points.
While Saint Joseph’s answered by hitting a rare 3-pointer, Kiyan Anthony drained two free throws, extending SU’s lead to nine with 55 seconds remaining. From there, SU handled business by not collapsing, securing the eight-point victory.
St. Joseph’s drastically struggles from 3, SU shoots new season low
Syracuse and Saint Joseph’s are among the worst 3-point shooting teams in the country. SU’s 29.0% 3-point percentage ranked 307th in the country, while the Hawks’ 28.3% clip is 327th.
In the early going, Saint Joseph’s certainly lived up to the billing, shooting 3-of-16 from deep in the first half. Had it just made even two more to give it a 5-of-16 (31.3%), it would’ve entered the locker room with a lead.
Even with the Hawks’ struggles, Syracuse wasn’t able to shoot enough volume from 3 to overpower them. However, SU was an efficient 4-of-8, with all four triples courtesy of Nate Kingz and Betsey.
Throughout their three losses in the Players Era Festival, the Orange attempted around 30 3-pointers per game. That figure dropped to 19 when they beat the Volunteers (five makes), and dipped to 14 against the Hawks — a season-low.
All six of SU’s makes came via Kingz and Betsey, and with Saint Joseph’s struggles prevailing in the second half, it’s all the Orange needed. The Hawks made just two 3s throughout the second half, finishing the game 5-of-26.
Syracuse starts slow, Saint Joseph’s fails to capitalize
For over four and a half minutes of game time, the Syracuse fans stood anxiously. As is tradition, fans aren’t supposed to sit until the Orange make a field goal. While they scored four points from the charity stripe — an encouraging sign with how much they’ve struggled — it took until the 15:26 mark for them to score from the field when Kingz buried a corner 3-pointer.
Though out of the under-16 media timeout, the Hawks embarked on a 6-0 run to give them a 14-7 lead, forcing Adrian Autry to call a timeout just over six minutes into the half. While J.J. Starling got downhill for a deuce out of the break, it took over three minutes for SU to score another field goal, when Betsey drained the first of his three triples.
Throughout the first 10 minutes, Syracuse shot 3-of-11 from the field. However, Saint Joseph’s failed to capitalize, leading only 15-13. From there, Betsey hit another 3 — plus a free throw to complete the four-point play — before deuces from Kyle and Betsey extended SU’s run to 10 unanswered points.
It gave the Orange a 20-15 lead with eight minutes left in the first half, and they didn’t squander the advantage before the break, leading 34-30 after the first 20 minutes.
While SU didn’t play awful, the first half certainly wasn’t its best basketball. The Hawks also didn’t play great, and the first 20 minutes felt like a missed opportunity for them. They led by as many as seven in the early going, but failed to embark on a run.
Balanced scoring
With Donnie Freeman (lower body) sidelined for the fifth straight game, the Orange were once again without their leading scorer. While Kingz stepped up with 19 points to defeat the Volunteers, no other SU player has scored at least 18 points in a single game since Freeman notched 18 against Monmouth.
Syracuse failed to break the trend on Thursday. The Orange pretty evenly distributed their shot attempts, with Starling shooting a team-high 13 and five players attempting at least five shots.
Betsey (16) and Kingz (14) led the way, combining for 30 points while shooting a combined 11-of-17 from the field and 6-of-10 from 3. SU had five players score in double figures, as Kyle (12), Starling (11) and Naithan George (10) also reached the threshold.
