RALEIGH, N.C. — Behind a monstrous 43 points from John Gillon, Syracuse (14-9, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) quenched its road woes with a 100-93 overtime win over North Carolina State (14-9, 3-7) at PNC Arena on Wednesday night. The Orange trailed by 16 with 8:44 remaining but came back to pull of a miraculous win to avoid suffering its 10th loss of the season.

Here’s what we learned from the game.

Dennis Smith Jr. wasn’t even Syracuse’s biggest problem

Despite Smith, the probable top-five NBA Draft pick, going off for a triple-double, he wasn’t the toughest thorn in Syracuse’s side. He racked up 13 points, 15 assists and 11 rebounds, but it was sophomore sharpshooter Maverick Rowan who dealt SU its biggest blows.

Rowan’s previous career-high was 27, but he poured in a team-high 31 on 11-of-23 shooting overall and an 8-of-18 mark from behind the arc. He did all he could to give N.C. State a chance — hit a go-ahead 3 with 10 seconds left and convert a four-point play to narrow Syracuse’s lead to three in overtime — but in the end it wasn’t enough.

“I worried all week about Rowan and it did no good,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I might as well worry about the weather.”

Hidden under the drama is Syracuse’s continued struggles on the glass

Once again, Syracuse allowed a bevy of offensive boards and you can bet that Boeheim wasn’t going to skip over his team’s deficiencies on the glass after the game,

N.C. State grabbed 14 offensive rebounds to Syracuse’s six, and the Wolfpack secured six more rebounds in total. Its point guard, Smith, led the team with 11, which prompts a whole other issue about Syracuse’s lack of rebounding from the guard position. The win was much needed and splendid in the moment, granted, but Syracuse needs to find an answer on the glass or it won’t be riding this high for too long.

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MORE COVERAGE 

• Syracuse ends road woes behind John Gillon’s 43 points in 100-93 OT win at N.C. State
• Fan reactions from Syracuse’s 100-93 win against North Carolina State

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“Our problem is rebounding,” Boeheim said. “We’re just not rebounding enough and we gotta get more out of a couple guys.”

Syracuse didn’t need to run set plays down the stretch

Gillon was scorching hot down the stretch, so much so that all it took was a double screen, if that, to free him up for an inevitable make from behind the arc.

“We didn’t have to call too many plays,” Gillon said.

He hit 9-of-10 3s and 10-of-13 overall, and the ones coming from a half-court set didn’t even stem from a real set, just a green light and a touch that couldn’t be stopped. The point guard who has struggled at times to create his own shot put a stop to that notion in a big way, as he now has 64 points in the last two games.

Published on February 1, 2017 at 11:39 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman