How Did the Syracuse Transfers Do in 2018-19

Four former Syracuse Orange basketball players played for other schools in the 2018-2019 season.  How was their performance this past year?

Kaleb Joseph at Syracuse

Kaleb Joseph transferred in 2016.  He wrapped up his career after two years at Creighton this year.  Joseph was one of the Bluejays top reserves this past season.  

He never developed into a starter, and in fact he played more minutes his freshman year at Syracuse than he did his sophomore, junior and senior seasons combined.   Joseph scored 4.3 ppg the past season, with 1.2 assists per game and 1.5 rebounds. He did have a career high 16 points in a win over Georgetown this year.

Taurean Thompson quit the Syracuse basketball team on the first day of school in 2017.  This was his first season playing for the Seton Hall Pirates.  Thompson would play only 278 minutes this season in 27 games, as opposed to 607 minutes for Syracuse his freshman year.   He scored 4.6 points per game this past year, along with 2.2 rebounds per game.  He shot 40.3% from the field, and 24.1% from three point range.  He played a few minutes in Seton Hall's first round NCAA tournament loss.

Matthew Moyer transferred after last season to Vanderbilt.  The NCAA granted him a waiver to play immediately, so he was able to play this season.  Moyer was a top reserve for the Commodores, playing 420 minutes in 31 games, and starting five games.  He scored 3.7 points per game, along with 3.0 rebounds a game.  Moyer shot 34% from the field, and 24.5% from three point range.  Vanderbilt  was 9-23 this season, winless in SEC play and losing their last twenty games of the season.

Braedon Bayer, the walk-on hero of the Michigan State upset in 2018, was a graduate transfer.  He was able to play at Siena this past season.  Bayer would play in 19 games, but saw very limited playing time with only 53 minutes on the season and scoring only 3 points.

Syracuse Orange Basketball - By The Numbers 2018-19

The Syracuse Orange basketball team ended the season on a sour note losing in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  On the bright side, they did comfortably make it into the tournament, earning an eight seed.

Here's some team level numbers to remember the year by:

Syracuse was 18-11 in games Frank Howard played.  2-3 in games he did not.

Syracuse was 5-1 in games that Marek Dolezaj started.  15-13 in games he did not.   Four of his starts were ACC games.

The Orange were 3-8 versus AP Top 25 teams.  The 11 games against ranked teams ties the school record set in 2005-06 and again 2015-16.

The Orange were 1-5 versus AP Top 5 teams.  The 6 games against top 5 teams ties the school record set in 1995-96, and again in 2017-18 (last year).  

The following is a list comparing 2018-19 statistics to the other 42 seasons in the Jim Boeheim era:

• 808 field goals made were the 2nd fewest in the Boeheim era (2014-15 is lowest with 763)
• 42.40% field goal percentage was the 2nd lowest (2017-18 is lowest at 41.7%)
• 68.5% free throw percent was 23rd lowest (1987-88 is lowest at 60%)
• 274 three point field goals was 3rd most ever (2015-16 is highest with 315)
• 824 three point attempts is 2nd most ever (2015-16 is highest with 876)
• 33.3% three point percent is 23rd highest ever, right in the middle of the pack (1986-87 is highest with 40.3%)
• 408 assists is third lowest (2017-18 is lowest with 395)
• 1176 rebounds is 8th lowest (1984-85 is lowest with 1,064)
• 424 turnovers is 7th lowest (2013-14 is lowest with 306)
• 162 blocked shots is 9th lowest (1994-95 is lowest with 141)
• 2,370 points is 7th lowest (2014-15 is lowest with 2,096)
• 69.7 points per game is 4th lowest (2017-18 is lowest with 66.6)
• 12.0 assists per game is 3rd lowest (2017-18 is lowest with 10.7)
• 34.6 rebounds per game is 2nd lowest (1984-85 is lowest with 34.3)
• +3.7 Point differential per game is 5th lowest (2017-18 is lowest with +2.8)

The last time the Orange has a negative point differential was 1968-69.  That was also the team's last losing season.

Syracuse set the NCAA Single Game home attendance record of 35,642 versus Duke on 2/23/2019.

Tyus Battle's 17.2 ppg was the lowest for the team leader since C.J. Fair had 16.5 ppg in 2013-14.

Oshae Brissett's 7.5 rebounds per game was the lowest for the team leader since C.J. Fair has 6.4 in 2013-14.

Frank Howard's 2.9 assists per game was the lowest for the team leader in school history.  The previous record was 3.1 by Ross Kindel in 1976-77.

Tyus Battle's 76.3% free throw shooting was the lowest for a team leader since Damone Brown's 75.0% in 1998-99.

Should the Orange be Shooting so Many Threes?

The perception is the Orange are a poor shooting three point team.  They are shooting only 32.8% from three point range.  However, I would suggest that number is greatly biased by horrendous three point shooting by the team earlier in the year.  The team shot 29.9% against the non-conference opponents, making 87 of 291 attempts.

The team was even worse in its first five games of the year, when it made only 23.3% of the shots, making 24 of 103 attempts.  The team has shot 35.1% starting with the Ohio State game.

Buddy Boeheim

As the team entered ACC play, it got even better. Here are the breakdowns for the first nine ACC games.

Notre Dame 41%

Clemson 23%

Georgia Tech 21%

Duke 44%

Pitt 46%

Miami 47%

Virginia Tech 32%

Boston College 42%

Pitt 32%

The team is shooting 36.3% in ACC play.  Some of the individuals are really shooting well since conference play started.  

Buddy Boeheim leads the way making 17 of 33, or 51.5%.  That's outstanding.

Elijah Hughes is shooting 37% (27-73), FRank Howard 37.3% (19-51) and Marek Dolezaj 50% (5-10).  

Earlier in the year Frank Howard was missing from the lineup, which messed up the ball movement. Even when he returned, it took several games for him to get back up to speed.  That definitely had an impact on all aspects of the offense, including three point shooting.

The problems for the Orange isn't that they shoot a lot of threes. The problems are when they shoot the wrong threes. If they are shooting early in the shot clock without working to get an open shot, or if they are not moving the ball well, and then forced to shoot as the clock expires, then they are likely to fail. But when they move the ball around properly, move it into the paint and then back out, things work well.

2,000 wins for the Orange!

The Syracuse Orange basketball team had an impressive win over Miami on January 24th, winning 73-53.  The Orange had a hot night shooting from the perimeter, making 13 three point shots, and had a tough interior defense with 11 blocked shots along with many altered shots.  It moved the Orange to 5-1 in the ACC, and put them in a tie for first place.

The game also marked the 2,000th win for the Syracuse men's basketball program.  The Orange are the fifth program to win that many games.  The top five are:

Kentucky           2,263
Kansas               2,248
North Carolina  2,232
Duke                  2,144
Syracuse            2,000

The Orange have only had seven full time head coaches (plus a brief tour by Mike Hopkins when Jim Boeheim was on suspension).  Victories by coach:

Jim Boeheim   1,041
Lew Andreas      358
Ed Dollard          152
Roy Danforth      148
Marc Guley         136
Fred Lewis            91
John A.R. Scott     64
Mike Hopkins         4


126 of those wins have come against Colgate.  366 were in the Big East Conference, 55 in the ACC conference. 

Go Orange!!

Paschal Chukwu's Big Numbers Against Duke

Paschal Chukwu had arguably the best game of his career in Syracuse's upset win over Duke on Monday night.  The 7'2" center pulled down 18 rebounds, scored 10 points, and made two clutch free throws down the stretch to ensure the win.  He did that against a Duke front line that had Zion Williamson and R.J. Barrett.  Both those gentleman had big nights too; Chukwu wasn't stopping them.  But he was impacting the ability of the rest of Duke's players to drive the paint.  They had to be content shooting from the perimeter, and the Orange pushed them back and dared them to beat them from there; Duke failed.

Would you believe...

Paschal Chukwu

...that Paschal Chukwu has had twelve games at Syracuse with 10+ rebounds?

Chukwu has definitely regressed this season; I think we would all agree he isn’t playing at the same level as he did last year.

Yet, if you look at his productivity per 40 minutes, it is up this year:

8.6 points vs 7.9 points

12.8 rebounds vs 10.0 rebounds

3.7 blocks vs 3.6 blocks

1.

65% FG shooting both years

63% FT shooting both years

7 steals vs 1.0 steals

His turnovers and his fouls are both up this year. 

2.3 turnovers vs 1.6 turnovers

6.8 fouls vs 4.6

His is maddeningly inconsistent, last year and this year. He misses so many shots he should make, and has more turnovers than he should for as little as he touches the ball. 17 turnovers this year and 31 field goal attempts. Just maddening.

Yet, in many ways he’s been productive at times, particularly in the rebounding and shot alteration capacity. He’s never met the expectations I think we had, but he’s also far from a bust.

New York State of Mind

We often hear about Syracuse playing local schools, and they do have a storied history regarding playing teams from New York state.  Since 1900, the Orange have played 46 different New York teams, with Colgate well established at the top. 

Here is a list of all 46 teams, what the Orange’s record is against that team and how many games they have played. 

1. Colgate 126-45, 171 games
2. Cornell 93-31, 124 games
3. St. John’s 51-40, 91 games
4. Niagara 53-28, 81 games
5. Canisius 46-24, 70 games
6. Rochester 53-11, 64 games
7. Fordham 28-16, 44 games
8. Buffalo 28-6, 34 games
9. St. Lawrence 26-8, 34 games
10. Army 19-11, 30 games
11. St. Bonaventure 25-4, 29 games
12. Manhattan 21-7, 28 games
13. NYU 9-12, 21 games
14. Clarkson 17-1, 18 games
15. RPI 13-5, 18 games
16. Union 15-3, 18 games
17. Columbia 11-3, 14 games
18. CCNY 5-8, 13 games
19. Hobart 11-0, 11 games
20. Albany 8-0, 8 games
21. Alfred 8-0, 8 games
22. Siena 8-0, 8 games
23. Hamilton 6-1, 7 games
24. LeMoyne 6-0, 6 games
25. Binghamton 5-0, 5 games
26. Iona 5-0, 5 games
27. Sampson Naval Training 3-2, 5 games
28. Buffalo State 4-0, 4 games
29. Cortland State 4-0, 4 games
30. Oswego State 3-1, 4 games
31. Potsdam 4-0, 4 games
32. St Francis College 4-0, 4 games
33. Utica 4-0, 4 games
34. CW Post 3-0, 3 games
35. Hofstra 3-0, 3 games
36. Ithaca College 3-0, 3 games

37. Wagner 3-0, 3 games
39. Queens College 2-0, 2 games
39. Schenectady Company E 0-2, 2 games
40. Syracuse All-Stars 1-0, 1 game
41. Batavia YMCA 1-0, 1 game
42. Brooklyn College 1-0, 1 game
43. Brooklyn Polytechnic 1-0, 1 game
44. Cazenovia College 1-0, 1 game
45. Long Island University 1-0, 1 game
46. NY State Teachers College 1-0, 1 game

Hobart gets the distinction of the most games against the Orange without the Orange losing a game, a perfect 11-0.

Colgate has won more games against Syracuse than any other New York team.  Of course, 45 wins in 171 attempts isn’t very impressive, but hey, they hold the record.

NYU (9-12), CCNY (5-8), and Schenectady Company E (0-2) get the distinction of being the only New York  teams with a winning record against Syracuse.

If we want to see the top 10 New York teams that Jim Boeheim has coached against (1976-1977 season to present), then we have:

1. St. John’s 65 games
2. Colgate 32 games
3. Cornell 32 games
4. St. Bonaventure 24 games
5. Canisius 20 games
6. Siena 8 games
7. Niagara 7 games
8. Fordham 7 games
9. Buffalo 7 games
10. Albany 7 games

St. Bonaventure moves up the list from 11^th to 4^th.  Several teams in the top 10 all-time dropped off.  Surprisingly, only 5 NY schools routinely played Syracuse during Jim Boeheim’s 43 year coaching career.

Source:  http://www.orangehoops.org/SyracuseAllTimeSeries.htm

Where to Rank Tyus Battle?

I honestly don’t know where to rank Tyus Battle in terms of all time Syracuse players.  Fortunately, there still a majority of this season to be played out.  Right now, I think he’s been a very good player on an offensively challenged team, and that has inflated some of his statistics.

Tyus Battle

Syracuse has played a lot of close games the past three years, and therefore a lot of opportunities for game winning heroics have existed.  And to Battle’s credit, he has taken advantage of most of those opportunities and succeeded.  That’s a plus for him.  

Battle is very good at isolation offense, and that has helped Syracuse when the offense has stagnated.   He is decent in the zone defense at Syracuse; not outstanding, but definitely up to the task of playing the position well and there’s not much to criticize there.   He does have only 9 steals so far this year… which is an anomaly for him, and very low for a SU guard after 10 games.  Looking back over recent history, Brandon Triche was the last guard to average that few steals, and he played about 2/3 the minutes of Battle.

He is not a solid three point shooter, he doesn’t rebound as well as you would like a 2-guard to rebound, and he has low assist totals for a guy who plays 40 minute almost every game.  He does not play well when there is poor point guard play, indicating his is dependent on his teammates to help him out. At the same time, I’ve always thought great players elevated those around them, and I’m not sure I see any of his teammates improve because of his presence on the court.  

If you compare him to a guy like Andy Rautins, the contrasts are obvious.  Battle has an NBA style of game and athleticism, so he may get a shot at the NBA, whereas Rautins was really never going to make that league.  But as collegiate players, Rautins had a better rounded game as a senior than Battle does as a junior.  Rautins made nearly 41% of this three point shots, averaged 4.9 assists per game, 3.4 rebounds per game, and had 2 steals a game.  Rautins couldn’t beat his man off the dribble and get into the lane like Battle can.  But he definitely improved the game of those around him, and he was outstanding at playing the top of the SU Zone.  

Back in 1961-1962 a sophomore guard name Carl Vernick led the Orangmen in scoring, by far, with 16.5 ppg.  He has 5.4 rebounds a game, and had a couple of games with 30+ points.  Vernick, while the best offensive player on that team, was an okay college player.  He looked much better because he had to step up compared to his teammates. That Orangemen team was 2-22 for the season, the worst in SU history.

New SU head coach Fred Lewis came aboard and started recruiting better players.  Vernick’s numbers started to drop, and by his senior year he averaged 2.6 ppg.  Players like Dave Bing, Chuck Richards, Norm Goldsmith and Jim Boeheim were simply better than him.  

I’m not suggesting Tyus Battle is Carl Vernick.  I just wanted to use Vernick as an illustration for a basketball player’s stats being highly influenced by the context of the team he is in and the players around him.  Vernick is an extreme example.

Battle is also not a Billy Owens, Carmelo Anthony or Lawrence Moten. Those guys took teams with young or little talent, and rose them to a very successful level.  SU’s teams with Battle have been borderline NCAA teams.  Owens carried the 1990-91 Orangemen to a 26-6 overall record, a 12-4 Big East season, with 23.2 ppg, 3.5 apg, and 11.6 rpg.  That team was 26-4 going into post season play.  Dave Johnson stepped up beside Owens to help with the offense, but make no mistake about how dominating Owens was.

Battle has shown moments of being able to dominate games; the second half of the recent Georgetown game is such an example.  It was amazing how he dominated the Hoyas in the second half; it was disappointing that as a junior guard, that it required being called out by his head coach at half time in order for him to step up. 

Battle is going to end up a top 15 scorer for Syracuse by the end of this year; if he stayed around another year he would move to #2 in scoring and have a shot at #1.    I don’t think it he is one of the best 15 players ever for the Orange; at least not on what I have seen yet.

Yet, he is going to leave us with many memorable game winning plays, a career full of heroic moments.  And I’m grateful for that.