Zone, man defenses both fail in Syracuse basketball’s loss to Wildcats
Jim Boeheim displays his frustration Sunday during Syracuse's 89-86 loss to conference-foe Villanova. The Orange has won two of the last nine games against the Wildcats.
Jim Boeheim stepped to the podium knowing his team allowed Villanova to shoot 52.5 percent from the field – a number eerily similar to the percentage the Wildcats posted two weeks ago in Philadelphia, where they shot 54.5 percent.
But the Syracuse head coach also knew there wasn’t much more he could do to prevent the prolific shooting.
‘We have trouble playing Villanova zone. They’re very good against our zone,’ Boeheim said. ‘And we had trouble playing man-to-man, too. So if there’s another defense that we can go to, I’d like to try it.’
Right from the opening tip of Syracuse’s 89-86 loss to Villanova Sunday afternoon, problems could be foreseen. The Orange opened in man-to-man. About 70 seconds into the game, Scottie Reynolds blew by Eric Devendorf, hit a layup and was fouled. The next possession down, the Orange switched to a zone defense. But it wasn’t much of a help.
‘We really can’t play two big guys when we play man-to-man, because they’ve only got one big guy out there,’ Boeheim said. ‘In all actuality, Villanova doesn’t even play a big man. Dante Cunningham mans the center position, but is really a forward at 6-foot-8, 230 pounds.’
The quickness of the starting lineup could not be accounted for by a larger, more lethargic Syracuse starting lineup, leading open jumpers and fast-break opportunities.
When in the game, the Syracuse big men looked extremely anxious to block shots. Rick Jackson was hoaxed by an upfake at least three times, while his teammates followed suit, as every pump fake seemed to draw the Orange off its feet. ‘They got four guys out there,’ Devendorf said. ‘Anybody can penetrate and it’s tough to guard four guards when you have two guards, two forwards and a center.’
Defensively, the Orange had to substitute out of its starting lineup and switch to a smaller, quicker lineup. Starting center Arinze Onuaku only saw the court for 19 minutes and had to be pulled because he couldn’t keep up with the fleet-footed Wildcat big men.
‘We had to take the big guys out,’ Boeheim said. ‘They couldn’t get back. They had four or five fast-break layups in the first half, and our big guys just weren’t getting back on defense.’
SU forward Kristof Ongenaet was called upon to try to keep up with Villanova’s undersized big men. In the 24 minutes he played, Ongenaet stuffed the box score with seven points, 11 boards, three assists and two blocks.
But the low-post defense wasn’t the only issue that plagued Syracuse Sunday. Villanova managed to drain 46.7 percent of its 3-point attempts, exactly one percent better than SU shot from the field. The proficient shooting led to the Wildcats registering five scorers in double figures early in the second half, and they finished the game with six players scoring at least 10.
It was similar to the Feb. 7 matchup between the two teams, when five players dropped double digits on the Orange and two other finished with at least seven. Syracuse has now lost three consecutive games to Villanova for the first time since the 1990-1991 and 1991-92 seasons, not to mention SU is 2-7 in the last nine against Nova.
‘It’s a mismatch problem for us,’ Harris said. ‘They start four guards and one forward and we start two guards, two forwards and a center. Now you’ve got a center checking a forward and a forward checking a guard – it’s just a lot of mismatch problems.’
Published on February 22, 2009 at 12:00 pm
