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INDIANAPOLIS –  There may be no bigger stylistic match in all of college basketball than Syracuse and the 2-3 zone defense. Jim Boeheim and his zone have been synonymous with the Syracuse program since the 76-year-old began coaching Syracuse 45 years ago and built the program to national prominence. The length, the rotations and the principles have frustrated opponents and helped spring multiple deep tournament runs, even with teams that’ve been mediocre most of the season.

Almost all of the Syracuse-related questions San Diego State head coach Brian Dutcher answered this week were about the zone. How to simulate it in practice. How to prepare for it when you haven’t faced anything like it all season. How to beat it.

Boeheim’s defense in the NCAA Tournament challenges an unfamiliar team and causes them to hesitate. To think twice before playing a pass. To make difficult 3-pointers in high-pressure situations in foreign arenas. To beat a long, athletic defense that most nonconference foes have never seen in their careers.

During San Diego State’s practice on Monday, one Aztecs coach in the team’s behind-the-scenes video offered his thoughts of the Orange’s 2-3 zone while off-screen. 

“It’s not like normal Syracuse. They don’t have the bigs like that.”

The Orange’s defense wasn’t normal for most of the regular season. More often than not, it wasn’t even good. In the opening stages of Friday’s NCAA Tournament opener, San Diego State had every open look it wanted. Yet the Aztecs kept missing, missing, and missing some more — in total, they launched 40 3s. Boeheim’s zone goaded them to keep shooting, too.  

For 10 minutes in the middle of Syracuse’s dominant 78-62 upset in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament, San Diego State didn’t score a point. The spooked Aztecs shooters made 11-of-40 from the 3-point line and were held to a season-low 18 first-half points. SU used an 18-0 run at the end of the first half to take control, alongside 15 3-pointers, the most in program history during an NCAA Tournament game.

“Tonight it was better than it’s been,” Boeheim said of his zone. “It’s a little bit more difficult to play against a zone when you don’t see one all year. That’s one thing that’s probably helped us as we get into the tournaments the last few years.”

Boeheim entered the game 10-2 as a lower seed in NCAA Tournament games. Tournament runs as a double-digit seed after mediocre regular seasons became a staple of the 2016 and 2018 teams and a part of Syracuse’s March identity. A good zone defense is hard to prepare for on short rest. And for SDSU, no matter how much it may have practiced against the zone, it wasn’t able to exploit it. 

The same Orange defense that had been picked apart by Pittsburgh, Clemson, Buffalo and Bryant stifled the Aztecs. Boeheim described the Orange’s defense as “the worst I’ve seen it,” following Pittsburgh’s 96-76 drubbing of Syracuse that appeared to be relegating the Orange into NIT conversations in January. When Duke made 10 first-half 3s against Syracuse on national television 26 days ago, Boeheim said one of his players admitted to not playing defense in the first half. 

“Three or four times, we felt like we got killed. At Pittsburgh, at Virginia, Clemson, we didn’t look like a good team,” Buddy Boeheim said. “Just the resilience of this team and these coaches for getting us back on track is unbelievable.”

Early game roars from San Diego State fans, some of whom traveled nearly 2,100 miles to be at historic Hinkle Fieldhouse, turned to groans and silence as their rushed long-range attempts kept clanking off the iron.  

The Aztecs searched for a reprieve by continuing to launch 3s, hoping one of their elite jump shooters would unlock the Syracuse zone. When they were covered, they missed. And when they were wide-open, they missed, too. They tried to go inside to Matt Mitchell – SDSU’s leading scorer, who can score from anywhere — and Mitchell faced stiff resistance from Jesse Edwards in the middle of the zone. 

“Jesse walled up a couple of guys and made them take tough shots,” Boeheim said. “It was the best he’s been there defensively. He made a great block in the second half.”

Edwards only had two points and five rebounds, but he altered shots with his wingspan and helped SU win the rebounding battle. The emergence of Robert Braswell and Edwards off the bench have added dimensions to Syracuse that had been missing most of the season. 

This Syracuse team can play eight. After a bad opening start for the Orange’s defense that left multiple Aztecs’ shooters wide-open but resulted in misses, Boeheim went to his bench. Braswell hit a 3. Kadary Richmond notched a track block as a part of the Aztecs’ scoring drought. Edwards’ length prevented SDSU from getting the ball into the lane. Earlier this season, he could barely get into the game.

Buddy Boeheim led all scorers in SU’s dominant win. Courtesy of Sara Davis | The ACC

The Orange’s defensive lineup held San Diego State off the board in the final 9:41 of the first half. The Aztecs couldn’t go inside because of Edwards’ size, and Braswell pinched in defensively to help rebound.

“It was a great 40 minutes of defense,” Buddy said.

At the other end, Syracuse’s offense produced next to nothing early on besides Buddy, who went on a 16-0 run. Alan Griffin and Quincy Guerrier didn’t score. SDSU’s physical defense forced the Orange out of their rhythm early, but it didn’t matter for Buddy, whose current shooting form is among the best in the nation. 

When Buddy picked up his second foul with 5:37 to go and SU leading 19-18, Boeheim promptly removed him from the game. Braswell hit a 3 on the ensuing possession to push the Orange’s lead to four, and Joe Girard III then played four of his best minutes of the season, draining three consecutive 3-pointers for nine of his 12 points. 

The same Syracuse offense that struggled to get any open looks in the early stages was making shots from everywhere, open or not.

Buddy hit 3s off screens, off pull ups, off loose ball rebounds. His seven 3s in total tied a career-high. The junior guard finished with 30 points, one point shy of the career-high that he had set eight days ago against Virginia. 

“Buddy kept us in it. We were not scoring against them,” Boeheim said. “Then we gradually started to get better ball movement. Joe got going. Robert hit a couple shots. Marek (Dolezaj) made a couple of really good plays … The whole team picked it up then.”

Two weeks ago, many left Syracuse’s season for dead. The Orange had just been dealt back-to-back losses to Duke and Georgia Tech. Two weeks ago, Boeheim said he would have walked all the way to Indianapolis for a chance to play in the NCAA Tournament. But now that the Orange are in Indianapolis, and now that the zone’s as dialed in as it’s been all season, they’ll stay for the next round.

Published on March 19, 2021 at 11:57 pm

Contact Anthony: amdabbun@syr.edu | @AnthonyDabbundo