Syracuse basketball pulled a fast one on Bucknell: How the Orange got out on the break - syracuse.com

Syracuse, N.Y. – Syracuse scored 28 of its 97 points off transition chances Saturday in the Carrier Dome.

The Orange men forced 23 Bucknell turnovers. They outrebounded the Bison 44-32. And when Syracuse players gained possession of the basketball on their defensive end, they pushed it to find a 3-point shot at the other end or an easy look beneath the basket.

“That’s when we have all our fun,” Elijah Hughes said. “We get out in transition, those three-on-twos, two-on-ones, that’s when we have our fun.”

“We had some opportunities to get out,” SU coach Jim Boeheim said. “They missed shots and when they turn it over, that’s when you’re going to get some. They turn it over quite a bit. They turned it over a lot today. I thought some of it was our activity on defense. We were really active. They thought there were people open and we just cut and got there. Our defense was very good today.”

The Orange crushed Bucknell 97-46 Saturday in a game that was never in doubt. Boeheim described it as the perfect storm of SU playing well and Bucknell struggling to do much of anything.

The fast break points, despite the overmatched competition, were a welcome sight for a Syracuse team that has mostly walked the ball up and played in the half court these past few seasons.

There will be teams SU plays this year (or has played, re: Virginia) that will take better care of the ball and/or forego the offensive glass and scamper back to prevent transition. But Syracuse has made an effort, since its summer tour in Italy, to push the pace, to seek out fast break opportunities.

“We want to get out, we want to play fast,” Hughes said.

A few reasons why the Orange break worked so well against Bucknell:

Joe Girard has an uncanny knack for coming back to the ball when one of his teammates grabs it off the defensive glass. He said that instinct stems from his plethora of high school responsibilities, when he basically had to do everything for his Glens Falls team. Those duties included bringing up the ball on every possession. He nearly always, he said, needed to come back to get the ball.

Girard made a football comparison to amplify the importance of being visible for his rebounders: When he quarterbacked the Glens Falls high school team, he appreciated when receivers came back to the ball so he could see them.

“It’s kind of helped me here on the fast breaks,” Girard said. “Coach says ‘Get it to the 1 and everybody else fill the lanes and run.’ It makes it easier for me to go back, get it from the 4 or 5, whoever’s got it and we just get off and run and find open 3s.”

Girard’s visibility enables his rebounders to see him clearly, to have a target to throw an outlet pass.

“That’s what Coach wants,” said Bourama Sidibe, who grabbed nine rebounds in fewer than 20 minutes Saturday. “He says in every practice, ‘When you get the ball look for the point guard, not other people.’ So whenever I get the ball, I look for him.”

Syracuse’s defense intimidated the Bison. The Orange opened the game on a 16-0 points off turnovers spree. SU players trapped hard in the corners and Bucknell players panicked. The Bison sent passes to spots on the floor that were suddenly occupied by rotating Orange defenders. SU made 14 steals against Bucknell.

Marek Dolezaj said the Orange studied film of its last few games and determined it could be more aggressive defending in those corners. Syracuse scored 37 points off Bucknell turnovers.

“It all started on the defense,” Dolezaj said. “We get some stops, we get some steals and we can run. We made some easy shots. Buddy, Joe make easy 3s. Elijah did. And that helps. The defense is not set up. This is an easy shot in what we can do.”

The Orange made 14-of-29 shots from the 3-point line against Bucknell. Many of those shots came in transition. A Sidibe steal led to a Girard pass to Hughes, who drained a transition 3 to get SU to 22-7. Hughes returned the favor and found Girard in transition; his 3-pointer made it 45-21. Girard found Buddy Boeheim for three transition 3s on Saturday.

“We got a lot of guys who can shoot,” Hughes said. “Usually teams run it all the way to the paint, but we got guys running to the 3-point line so we try to find that.”

Girard said the recipient of his fast-break passes depends on the day and the way the game has unfolded. If his guys are making 3-pointers, they will continue to get the ball in 3-point shooting situations.

“With the shooters that we have and the game plan that we have, it’s likely what we’re gonna do,” he said. “If you have a shooter like Elijah or a shooter like Buddy’s who’s open in a fast-break situation, you gotta throw it to him because they’re more than likely to make it.”

It’s dangerous to extrapolate much this early in the season, but SU’s fast break stats bear watching. Last year, SU got 23.4 percent of its shots in transition; 44.6 percent of those shots came from the 3-point line (hoop-math.com). This year, without the Bucknell game factored in, SU is getting 29 percent of its shots in transition and is taking 52.8 percent of them from the 3-point line.

Sidibe knows all about the 3-point threats SU has surrounded him with this season. But he has also been the recipient of Girard’s largesse on the break. With 6:06 left in the first half, Girard found Sidibe down low for a fast-break finish.

“When I run the floor, they have to take me, they have to defend me,” Sidibe said. “And then the other guys are going to be open at the 3-point line. I know (Girard is) going to look for me, that’s why I keep running.”

More Syracuse basketball:

Thanks for visiting Syracuse.com. Quality local journalism has never been more important, and your subscription matters. Not a subscriber yet? Please consider supporting our work.

Let's block ads! (Why?)

"fast" - Google News
November 24, 2019 at 04:16AM
https://ift.tt/2OzsIHm

Syracuse basketball pulled a fast one on Bucknell: How the Orange got out on the break - syracuse.com
"fast" - Google News
https://ift.tt/2VRmxBz
Shoes Man Tutorial
Pos News Update
Meme Update
Korean Entertainment News
Japan News Update