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Following a comeback win over the Golden Eagles Saturday, No. 3 seed Boeheim’s Army repeated its heroics with a 66-64 win over No. 5 seed Florida TNT. Tyrese Rice willed the team back in the Elam Ending, finishing with 24 points in the semifinal win.

Here are three takeaways from Boeheim’s Army’s win against Florida TNT on Sunday:

Struggles from deep 

In the quarterfinal game against the Golden Eagles, BA had minimal luck from deep, finishing 6-for-20 from behind the arc. Still, at the beginning of its Final Four matchup, Boeheim’s Army attempted to force scores from the 3-point arc.

After Florida TNT opened the game with a 3-pointer right off the tip, BA tried to replicate that on the other end, but the shot didn’t fall. On the next two possessions, instead of running out the shot clock, BA again heaved from 3-point range from the left corner. Both shots from Malachi Richardson and DeAndre Kane fell short. 

By the end of the first quarter, Boeheim’s Army was 1-for-10 from the 3-point arc, with its only make coming off a string of passes that ended with Keifer Sykes wide-open in the quarter. In the second quarter, BA lessened its attempts from deep, only taking three in the period. But like the first quarter, Boeheim’s Army was mostly unsuccessful, with Rice scoring the only deep attempt in the period. 

At the start of the second half, Boeheim’s Army still shot 3s, but with fewer attempts compared to the opening periods. By the conclusion of the third quarter, BA was 15% from deep, making just three shots on 20 attempts. 

Throughout the fourth quarter and the start of the Elam Ending, Boeheim’s Army took open 3-point looks, but only one fell. But like the previous Elam Endings in the tournament, BA looked to Rice, who hit two pull-up 3s to give the Army a 61-58 lead, one BA wouldn’t lose. 

Return to the zone

Boeheim’s Army hasn’t used its 2-3 zone since its opening win over Forces of Seoul because of the new additions’ unfamiliarity with the setup. But after its man-to-man defense was getting torched early against Florida TNT, BA returned to Jim Boeheim’s strategy. 

While this change was supposed to stop Florida TNT from getting more open 3-point looks, Florida TNT was able to use shot fakes and overload the perimeter to get good 3-point opportunities. By the end of the first half, Florida TNT scored six 3-pointers on 12 attempts.

In the second half, Boeheim’s Army returned to the zone, but early in the third quarter the Army started to allow points inside the paint. This was mainly because when coming back in transition, BA would have some of its smaller players end up at the back of the zone, going against bigs like TNT’s Keith Clanton. 

Clanton scored eight points by the start of the third quarter, and with five minutes left in the period, BA stopped using the zone. Boeheim’s Army opted for an aggressive man-to-man look for the remainder of the game, which worked as Rice made a steal at the end to get a game-winning layup. 

Paint presence

Because of its struggles from 3-point range early against Florida TNT, Boeheim’s Army started to set up its bigs in the paint to create more movement and get openings in the post. 

The first Boeheim’s Army player to use his size in the post was C.J. Fair, who checked into the game at the end of the first quarter. Fair, who also recorded seven rebounds in the first half, backed down Florida TNT’s Dominique Jones immediately after checking in.

Despite having no open lane to the basket, Fair bodied Jones before passing to Sykes for a 3-point shot that found the bottom of the net. On the next possession, Fair got a putback by staying in the paint after a missed 3-pointer. 

With this success, Boeheim’s Army started to utilize the paint more in the second half by setting up high pick and rolls for Rice and opening up bigs like Tyler Lydon, who had four points in the third quarter. 

In the last period, Chris McCullough took over Lydon’s position. McCullough missed on his first attempt at driving in the quarter, but he was able to get the putback on his own shot for the score. The next possession, McCullough faked going into the paint and pulled up from midrange to get his 15th point and cut down Florida TNT’s lead to three.

In the Elam Ending, Rice started to drive into the paint, drawing a foul and hitting a floater to give Boeheim’s Army a 62-60 lead. 

Published on August 1, 2021 at 2:03 pm

Contact Anish: asvasude@syr.edu | @anish_vasu