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Trailing by 10 with 90 seconds left in the game, Syracuse desperately needed baskets to avoid another conference loss. After Cole Swider collected his own rebound after missing a 3 to start the possession, he passed the ball to Buddy Boeheim.

Buddy had been the only consistent scorer of the night, but he also missed. When Jesse Edwards snagged the offensive rebound, he passed it out to Joe Girard III for a 3-pointer.

Girard rose up and knocked down the 3 to cut the lead to single digits, but those three points were Girard’s first and only points of the night. The bucket came with just 36 seconds left when the game was already out of contention.

“Joe was out of it and I thought he would take charge,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I thought he would say ‘okay Symir is not here I’ve got to do something’ and he didn’t do that.”

Girard finished with three points on 11.1% shooting and six turnovers in 36 minutes. Apart from Buddy, who scored 25, the rest of the offense managed just single digits as Syracuse (9-11, 3-6 Atlantic Coast) lost 64-53 to Pittsburgh (8-12, 3-6 ACC). On a night where Symir Torrence was ruled out with injury, Girard was only removed from the game when he took hard contact on a drive in the paint. Tonight was the guard’s worst shooting percentage since scoring zero points against Duke last year.

“Joe is hard to figure out this year,” Boeheim said. “He’s really played really well in games and then when he gets off to a bad start he struggles and he struggled tonight.”

Girard started the night with a missed layup before missing a heave from deep on an inbound play. Later, when Girard slowly dribbled up the court, with one arm in the air, he had his pocket picked from behind by Onyebuchi Ezeakudo. As Ezeakudo wheeled away for an easy layup, Girard jogged back with his head down in frustration.

“Joe got some good looks and just wasn’t able to convert,” Buddy said. “He had a couple sloppy turnovers, but it’s on all of us, obviously, and he’s going to be better.”

Girard finished scoreless in the first half, as Buddy’s 14 points made up half of Syracuse’s offense. The Orange entered the halftime break with a 28-24 lead on a Pittsburgh team that had made just one 3 in the opening 20 minutes.

“I don’t know. He just had 25 against Clemson, one of the better defensive teams. It is what it is,” Boeheim said. “It’s obvious he’s not playing well. There’s nothing I can do about it. He’s got to do something about it.”

Despite being the worst shooter for SU tonight, Girard was far from the only culprit. Swider scored just one basket in the first half, finishing 1-for-7 from beyond the arc. He would miss seven straight shots in the second half as the Orange tried to claw their way back into the game.

Jimmy Boeheim also failed to provide a scoring bunch behind Buddy. Jimmy airballed a 3 in the first half and managed just one offensive rebound the entire game. When Swider missed another 3 in the second half, Jimmy tried to secure an offensive rebound, but he was just a fingertip away. Before he could get back on defense, Femi Odukale rose up for an easy layup that gave Pittsburgh a lead it wouldn’t relinquish. Jimmy would go scoreless the entire second half as Pitt outscored SU 40-25.

“(Pitt was) a good defensive team and they were a good defensive team in Syracuse too,” Boeheim said. “Joe and Cole have to be contributors. If they’re not we’re gonna struggle.”

After tonight’s win, the Panthers are ranked at 183rd in the nation on KenPom and sports a defense ranked at 124th. Yet despite his starters struggling, Boeheim elected not to turn to his bench. In the ACC coaches weekly call, Boeheim mentioned Paddy Casey and Swider as potential replacements for
Torrence in the rotation.

Yet Girard didn’t leave the game until 6:46 in the second half, when he was injured driving into the lane. Only then, did Boeheim turn to his bench to sub out his starting backcourt. He inserted John Bol Ajak into the lineup and bumped Swider up to a guard spot.

Ajak, who has never started a game for SU, set a career-high 10 minutes in tonight’s loss. Joining him off the bench was Frank Anselem with six minutes and Benny Williams with three minutes. The trio scored zero points altogether, grabbing one rebound, securing one steal while picking up three fouls.

So far this season, Boeheim has rarely elected to turn to his bench. The Orange are second-last nationally on KenPom in bench minutes, with Torrence, who averages 2.3 points per game, getting the most bench minutes. But with Torrence unable to play, Boeheim and Buddy agreed that his presence was necessary.

“We’re not winning games scoring in the 50s. That’s just not who we are,” Boeheim said. “59 and 53 points, we’re not winning games that way.”

Published on January 26, 2022 at 12:19 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu