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For the second-straight season, Syracuse fell early in nonconference play with disappointing home losses to Colgate and Bryant. But this time around, the Orange rebounded quickly, going on a five-game win streak to end nonconference play, and are 6-4 in Atlantic Coast Conference matchups thus far.

Slow starts, rebounding issues and late collapses have littered the year. Still, the Orange have established a young core and showed resilience by bouncing back from tough first-half showings. The team’s reliance on Joe Girard III’s shot-making ability has also paid dividends.

Here’s a closer look at some of the numbers throughout SU’s 2022-23 campaign with 10 games left in the regular season:

Slow and steady wins the race?

Syracuse has been notorious for its slow starts throughout the 2022-23 season, routinely taking over five minutes to gain comfortability on both sides of the floor. The Orange have been down at the first media timeout in two-thirds of games this season, only leading or tying against the opponent in seven contests.

The deficit itself has been an average of 4.87 points, the largest individual game being 11 points versus Georgetown on Dec. 10. But SU came back against the Hoyas, and has won 60% of games in which it was down at the first break.

The win over Georgetown was part of a five-game win streak where the Orange came back after trailing in four of five. SU has tied the game or taken a lead by halftime in all but one of its wins after being down at the Under-16 timeout.

Boeheim and players have said they need to be more aggressive from the opening tip — but in its last three contests, Syracuse has trailed by an average of 8.33 points after the first five minutes. SU only came back against Georgia Tech thanks to a 17-0 run led by Girard.

Trust the youth

SU lost a handful of veterans from last season, including Buddy Boeheim, Jimmy Boeheim and Cole Swider, and came into this one with Girard in need of some serious help. The task seemed daunting at first, but the Orange’s freshman class has effectively added to the team’s production.

Arlo Stone | Design Editor

Judah Mintz and Chris Bell have seen the most playing time out of the freshmen, immediately placed into the starting lineup alongside Jesse Edwards, Girard and Benny Williams. The freshmen have been encouraged to take shots early, scoring the first basket for the Orange in nine of 21 games this season.

Over the last five contests, Boeheim has taken out Williams for Maliq Brown early, favoring a lineup including Brown for 19.1% of play, according to KenPom. Justin Taylor has also brought a spark with his ability to fire from deep, shooting 41% from beyond the arc this season.

To this point, Mintz has averaged 15.0 points per game, putting him on track to rank fourth all-time in freshman scoring average. Jonny Flynn, who Mintz has been compared to by Boeheim, averaged 15.7 in the 2007-2008 season. Mintz leads the ACC in steals per game and averages the second-most points out of all freshmen in the conference, sitting behind Duke’s Kyle Filipowski.

Cleaning the glass

Boeheim has criticized Syracuse’s wings since the beginning of the year for leaving Edwards helpless on the defensive glass, but he’s had good reason to.

Syracuse allows an average of 36.3 rebounds per game from its opponents, giving up 762 over the course of this year. That number is 21 more than any other team in the conference, helping teams like Miami pull away late. This season, Syracuse’s opponents have combined for a ​​33.3% offensive rebounding rate, according to KenPom. SU is one of the worst 50 teams in the country in that statistic.

Bell has been practically nonexistent on the boards, averaging 1.6 rebounds per game in 20.2 minutes. Williams has notched 10 or more rebounds just twice this season, but outside of those two contests, he’s averaged 3.56 rebounds per game. Brown has been helpful in this regard, filling in for Williams against Virginia and collecting eight rebounds in 36 minutes. He had five offensive rebounds four days later versus VT.

Without much help, Edwards has still been one of the best big men in the ACC, averaging 10.6 rebounds, good for second-best in the conference. He’s third in the ACC in offensive rebounds (65), propelling Syracuse to a 31.1% offensive rebounding rate, which ranks 104th nationally.

Joe’s show

It’s been roughly two months since Illinois embarrassed Girard, holding him scoreless for the first time since Feb. 22, 2021. But since then, Girard has scored 15 or more points in all but one game and currently averages a team-high 17.5 points per game.

Arlo Stone | Design Editor

Mintz’s addition to the backcourt has taken some pressure off Girard. The senior holds 25.6% of SU’s possession while Mintz has had the ball for 27.2% of the time so far this season, according to KenPom. Girard takes 29.1% of the Orange’s shots, according to KenPom, which is 132nd in the country.

Unsurprisingly, Girard’s scoring average is up almost four points from last season and his turnover percentage has decreased from 18.5% last year to 12.7%. He also leads the ACC with 64 3-pointers this season. The Orange have only won once when Girard scores less than 10 points this season, highlighting his importance as SU enters a tough conference stretch.

Published on January 25, 2023 at 11:19 pm

Contact Anish: [email protected] | @anish_vasu