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Monday night wasn’t the first time that Jesse Edwards shined for Syracuse.

Edwards played 23 minutes against Miami on Jan. 19 and tallied seven points and six rebounds. He brought a commanding presence in the middle of the 2-3 zone that SU will need moving forward, Joe Girard III said. 

He played two minutes in the ensuing game, a blowout win against Virginia Tech. When the Orange couldn’t get stops against Virginia, NC State or Clemson in the three games after that, Edwards played two total minutes. 

From the moment Bourama Sidibe suffered a knee injury four minutes into the season, the Orange haven’t gotten sufficient production from their centers and have been undermanned in the interior. It took Dolezaj getting into foul trouble on Saturday and the Orange’s NCAA Tournament chances being on the brink of elimination on Monday for head coach Jim Boeheim to move Dolezaj to his natural spot at the four and give Edwards extended minutes at center against North Carolina. 

“I didn’t think he was ready, and I still don’t think he’s ready,” Boeheim said postgame after UNC. “But we need him to go in there and do what he can do.”

But don’t ask Boeheim if Edwards is ready. Ask North Carolina forward Armando Bacot.

“(Edwards) did a lot better job than (Marek) Dolezaj of boxing us out and keeping us off the boards,” Bacot said.

Or ask Etan Thomas, former Syracuse player and NBA center: “They finally Freed Jesse!” he tweeted Monday. “Great game. It’s almost as if he could’ve been playing all year, huh?””

Syracuse’s five-man lineup of Kadary Richmond, Buddy Boeheim, Quincy Guerrier, Dolezaj and Edwards spurned a 15-2 run for Syracuse (14-8, 8-7 Atlantic Coast) in its 72-70 home win against North Carolina (15-9, 9-6). Syracuse won its first game against a top-40 KenPom team in the last two seasons and moved back into the NCAA Tournament bubble conversation. 

Edwards’ addition and Richmond’s increased minutes raises questions about whether the Orange could have benefitted from these rotation changes earlier in the season. Boeheim said that Edwards isn’t ready, but he hasn’t defined what “ready” means. He said Richmond still needed to improve his conditioning to play more minutes early this season, but Richmond played 31 minutes off the bench on Monday. Girard had a career-low 10 minutes. 

Slow starts have defined much of the second half of the season. UNC went up 11-2, marking the seventh time in nine games that the Orange have trailed by at least nine in the opening 20 minutes of the game. Still, Boeheim hasn’t shifted the starting lineup. 

Syracuse’s defense had ranked 163rd nationally in efficiency in its last 10 games prior to Monday — compared to 102nd for the year — according to BartTorvik.com. 

Richmond and Edwards improved the Orange’s defense Monday night as they allowed their third-lowest effective field goal percentage and points per possession of 15 ACC games. Syracuse still got crushed on the glass, but Richmond and Edwards combined for eight steals as the Orange turned over UNC 20 times. 

“He’s still got a lot to learn, but he got a couple rebounds,” Boeheim said of Edwards. “One thing he does is he gets steals. He was active.”

Edwards managed six points, eight rebounds, four steals and a block against the nation’s best offensive rebounding team and one of the biggest frontlines in the country. Boeheim has shown willingness to play Richmond more minutes — even starting him in the second halves of two of the last three games — as Richmond’s proved to be a more efficient two-way player than Girard. 

Yet Dolezaj has been stuck playing the 5, a position where he’s asked to rebound and match up with much bigger and taller players. Dolezaj’s strengths have never been rebounding, blocking or interior defense. Syracuse’s 2-3 zone has always been at its best with a reliable center, and Boeheim said the Orange don’t have one without Sidibe. 

“If he was ready earlier in the year, he would’ve been playing earlier in the year,” Boeheim said. 

Kadary Richmond played 31 minutes, three times as much as Joe Girard III did, against UNC. Courtesy of Dennis Nett | Syracuse.com

Boeheim sees his development at practice daily. But earlier this year against Buffalo, Richmond helped lead a second-half comeback with his defensive length. The Orange went on a run when he entered, for Girard was ineffective and 1-of-6 from the field.

“Everybody out there knows who should be playing here except me,” Boeheim said sarcastically after that game. “Let’s just stick with the guys who we know what they can do, who’ve already proved themselves, and if they really struggle for a long period of time, there will be adjustments made.”

Syracuse went on a pause after that game due to COVID-19. When they returned, Girard still played more minutes, even after he admitted he wasn’t 100% recovered after contracting the virus. 

When Pittsburgh went big against the Orange and dominated SU inside in both games, Edwards played one combined minute. It’s possible a win instead of two losses to Pitt could be the difference between Syracuse making or missing the NCAA Tournament. 

“The minutes he gave us tonight were really good,” Buddy said of Edwards on Monday. “He’s shown flashes that he can help us in the future. I think this is a good game for him to build his confidence off of … Hopefully, we can use him.”

Boeheim said after Buffalo in December that “you don’t make adjustments after one game.” Yet Syracuse’s problems with inconsistent point guard play and Dolezaj’s lack of fit at center have persisted for an entire season. Richmond surpassing Girard in minutes per game could make the Orange better now, but it might be too little, too late for the committee.

*This chart excludes games 2-4, the three games where Richmond and Girard started together as Buddy Boeheim was out due to COVID-19 contact tracing. 

Edwards may have just flashed a few times and may not be consistent enough to dramatically improve Syracuse. Monday might be just a glimpse of what could have been. The season is running short on time to find out the truth.

The game was won when….

UNC scored eight of the first nine points in the second half to grab the lead, its only one in the final 20 minutes. The Orange responded with a 15-2 run once Guerrier subbed in for Alan Griffin. Griffin struggled to find his jumpshot the entire night and finished with four points. Meanwhile, the Orange’s five-man lineup of Richmond, Buddy, Guerrier, Dolezaj and Edwards carved up North Carolina.

Edwards made both of his free throws after drawing a foul inside. Buddy hit a pull-up 3 in transition, and Richmond hit a mid-range jumper when the defender sagged off him into the paint. Syracuse’s defense tightened up during the run, as the Orange registered five steals in the 15-2 spurt. Edwards had two, Richmond had two, and Dolezaj stole one. It enabled Syracuse to get out in transition and Guerrier to get matchup advantages against smaller opponents on the inside.

With a lineup that SU has almost never played this season, Syracuse’s win probability rose from 46.2% — lowest in the second half — to 90.1% by the end of the run. 

Source: KenPom.com

Quote of the night: Buddy Boeheim

Buddy was asked about the status of Guerrier’s health after the game, as well as if he thought Guerrier would play before the game.

“Q’s a gamer,” Buddy said. “He was definitely limping a little. Yesterday he couldn’t even run without limping or pain so he just sat out. I just went up to him today, and I was like, ‘You good to go?’ He’s like, ‘Yeah, you know me. I’m going to play, and I’m not going to sit out any games for y’all unless it’s really serious.’”

Number to know: 20

Syracuse struggled on the glass against the best offensive rebounding team in the nation, but the Orange made up for the extra possessions by turning over the Tar Heels 20 times. The Orange won the turnover battle 20-12 and scored 20 fast break points.

SU stole the ball off UNC’s forwards on the interior as Edwards tallied four steals and Dolezaj added three. Richmond had two steals during the Orange’s second half run and four in total. 

Game ball: Buddy Boeheim

Buddy scored 20 first-half points in Chapel Hill, North Carolina in the first meeting between the two teams in January, but UNC shut him out in the second half. As Griffin and Girard combined to miss all seven of their 3-point attempts on Monday, Buddy kept the SU offense afloat. He made 6-of-13 from beyond the arc and surpassed 1,000 career points on a corner 3 late in the first half. 

Buddy made three consecutive 3s late in the opening 20 minutes to turn a five-point Syracuse deficit into a six-point lead just before half time. He registered nine of the 11 points in SU’s 11-0 run in the final 3:22 of the half, finishing with a game-high 26 points.

“He had a great game, best game I think he’s played here,” Boeheim said. “He was tremendous.”

Buddy’s improved shooting has been critical for the SU offense — which has received inconsistent game-to-game production from Griffin and Guerrier. The junior guard’s 3-point percentage is up to 36% for the year, just one percent below last season, following a poor shooting stretch to begin the season.

Buddy Boeheim’s improved shooting has been crucial for SU’s offense. Courtesy of Mark Konezny | USA TODAY Sports

Three final points

Where are the fans?

Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced on Feb. 10 that a limited number of fans could return to the Carrier Dome and other New York sporting venues as early as Feb. 23, if the testing and safety protocols were approved. 

“The University has supplied the information it needs” to the necessary governing bodies that would need to approve the plan, a spokesperson for SU Athletics said Saturday. 

But New York state has yet to approve the plan. Onondaga County Executive Ryan McMahon said at a Monday press conference that “it makes zero sense” why the state will not approve the surveillance testing for basketball and lacrosse games that Syracuse University already uses for students and faculty. 

Until that approval comes, the Carrier Dome will remain empty.

“I’ve been pushing the state to, ‘Let’s figure out how you can say yes on this,’” McMahon said. “We’re okay with this testing protocol every day of the year, but now all of a sudden, we have a problem for it to get fans in the building.”

The injury report

Guerrier collided knees with a Georgia Tech player near the end of the Orange’s 84-77 loss. Boeheim said that Guerrier didn’t practice on Sunday and he didn’t know whether he’d play against UNC.

The sophomore forward was seen walking with a limp during the pregame shootaround and wasn’t able to run normally for the entire game. 

“Quincy was unbelievable,” Boeheim said. “Brad Pike did a great job with him, treating him ever since the game the other night.”

Guerrier finished the game with 18 points and six rebounds. Richmond, on the other hand, didn’t finish the game. He left with 3:51 to play after injuring his right knee. 

Richmond wore a bag of ice taped around the outside of his right knee on the sideline and didn’t return in the closing moments. 

“No, I have no idea,” Boeheim said postgame about Richmond’s status. “I think he’ll be alright, but I don’t know.”

Bubble watch back on

Syracuse found itself well outside of the bubble entering the game against North Carolina. A loss would have basically ended SU’s chance at an at-large bid. With the Quadrant 2 win added to its resume, Syracuse moved into ESPN Bracketologist Joe Lunardi’s “Next Four Out.” Syracuse’s win improved its NCAA Tournament odds to 18.2%, per BartTorvik.com’s Teamcast. 

The Orange also benefited from two bad losses from bubble teams Richmond and St. Bonaventure. Lunardi and Torvik both moved SU ahead of Richmond but are still behind St. Bonaventure for an at-large bid.

Syracuse needs to beat Clemson, ranked No. 33 in the NET rankings, which is another Quadrant 2 game. Since North Carolina State is now 75th in the NET ranking, SU has its first Quadrant 1 win retroactively, as the road win at NC State in February becomes Quadrant 1 and the January home win moves from Quadrant 3 to Quadrant 2.

A win over Clemson and one win in the ACC tournament — or possibly two — will likely make SU’s case for an at-large spot. 

“We know we have work to do,” Buddy said. “We let a couple games go that we needed to win, and we know that. We’re just taking it one day at a time.”

Next up

Syracuse has less than 48 hours between games as Clemson travels to the Carrier Dome on Wednesday at 5 p.m. The game was added to SU’s schedule late after the Orange had five other ACC games postponed due to COVID-19 issues. Clemson won the first matchup between these two teams 78-61 on Feb. 6. 

Published on March 2, 2021 at 1:48 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo