BLACKSBURG, Va. — Virginia Tech’s Justin Robinson left the timeout huddle with a few minutes left in Saturday night’s game. He’d just been subbed out, and the public address announcer listed off what he’d done against Syracuse: Career-high in points, VT single-game high in 3-pointers, and setting the all-time assist-record for the Hokies.

Alone near the sideline, pink jersey untucked for the first time, Robinson raised his left hand in the air. Minutes earlier, that hand had lit up the Orange defense from beyond the arc. Now, Robinson soaked in a standing ovation. For the Orange, the situation was familiar.

“This was a blessing. It’s a surreal feeling,” Robinson said. “It’s just, it just … feels good inside. I’m kind of lost for words.”

Robinson was just the latest guard to burn Syracuse (14-6, 5-2 Atlantic Coast) in Virginia Tech’s (16-3, 5-2) 78-56 win over SU on Saturday in Cassell Coliseum. He finished with 35 points, including nine 3s, to go along with eight assists. For the 10th time this season, an SU opponent was led in scoring by a guard who found success from outside. With Boston College and top-5 ACC scorer Ky Bowman up on Wednesday — and other guards to follow —, it’s a trend that’ll have to stop for the Orange to bounce back from its most recent loss.

“Better rotate differently, or you’ll see that happen,” SU guard Frank Howard said of stopping a hot shooter.

Even in the second game of the season, when Syracuse rolled past Morehead State, the potential showed for an opposing guard to dominate. Jordan Walker, a 6-foot-1 guard, dropped 24 points on the Orange with six 3s, a few after it was obvious he was MSU’s only threat. Then Cornell’s Matt Morgan put up 26 with six 3s, and Jim Boeheim lamented afterward that SU knew what he could do and didn’t guard him properly.

It happened in the loss to Old Dominion, when ODU two-guard B.J. Stith put up all 18 of his points in the second half to lead the Monarchs to a win. CJ Massinburg drained 25 points three days later, as Buffalo beat the Orange in the Dome, too.

It’s carried over to conference play, like when T.J. Gibbs, Notre Dame’s top scoring threat, knocked down four first-half 3s before the Orange adjusted to guard him tighter. Clemson, Georgia Tech and Pittsburgh all had their top-scoring guards lead them in scoring, too.

Right from the get-go, Robinson followed that pattern. Maybe at first it was a surprise: He entered as VT’s fourth-leading scorer. But the first basket of the game foreshadowed many to come, like when he received a pass out from the post to Robinson at the top of the key and swished the shot.

He didn’t cool down in the first half. Left wing, right wing, it didn’t matter. Howard didn’t think the Orange rotated too slowly. Rather, he said that the Hokies had too many shooters, and one was bound to free up. Robinson kept getting free.

“I feel like we guarded the shooters,” Howard said. “It was just, one was always open. And the one we chose to leave open had a night.”

By the end of the first half, Robinson had already set his season-high with 24 points, mostly via seven 3s. Syracuse contested a few, but his last 3s came off kick outs, often he was open at the top of the arch. Battle said that SU “just didn’t find Robinson at all.”

“Once a guy makes two or three, we can’t get off him, and we did,” Boeheim said.

The Orange should have adjusted to Robinson more, Howard said. SU’s point guard didn’t want to reflect on the Notre Dame contest or any other games in the past, but Howard knew SU should’ve done a better job at deterring Robinson.

“That’s on us, me and Tyus, that’s on the guards,” Howard said. “We gotta be better guarding that, and we know that.”

Save for the two-game skid against Old Dominion and Buffalo, and Jose Alvarado’s performance for Georgia Tech on Jan. 12, the Orange had avoided collapsing under the streaky shooting of an opposing guard. But against Robinson, that didn’t happen. SU mostly limited him in the second half, but just before he was subbed out, he drained two more 3s.

“After we got (within) 10, I think we fell back asleep and let them shoot the ball again,” Battle said.

Both Battle and Howard pointed out the obvious: The Orange weren’t likely to win if an opposing player hit nine 3s. The guards on Syracuse’s schedule the rest of the way pose similar threats to the ones that have already exploited SU’s 2-3 zone. There’s BC and Bowman, Pittsburgh and Xavier Johnson again, Virginia and Kyle Guy, North Carolina and Coby White, Florida State and Terrance Mann.

“We just gotta go home, get some treatment, get some practice in, get up and down the floor, get prepared,” Howard said, “and we’ll be ready.”

The Orange have found a way to limit losses even in the face of a hot-shooting night. But with a gauntlet of games left, SU’s only choice is to adjust.

Published on January 27, 2019 at 12:10 am

Contact Billy: wmheyen@syr.edu | @Wheyen3