ACC Road Wins 2022-2023

The Orange beat Florida State 76-67 last night in Tallahassee behind the strong second half efforts of Joe Girard, Judah Mintz, and Jesse Edwards.  This was the Orange's fifth ACC road win this season.  Winning on the road can be tough, especially in conference games.

Five road wins is a lot for the Orange in ACC play, but not the school record. They had seven road wins in their first season of the ACC back in 2013-2014. And in 2019-2020 they had six road wins. 

Here's a chart of all the road wins for the Orange in ACC play.

The Orange have two more road games this season against Clemson and Pittsburgh.  They have only three home wins so far. Part of that is the tougher competition has been at the Dome, and part is they have played eight road conference games, and only six at home. Their schedule is backloaded with home games comprising four of the last six.

Go Orange!

Baye Moussa Keita Fundraiser

 Former Orange center Baye Moussa Keita is raising money for a youth basketball camp that he is involved with in Senegal. 

Baye Moussa Keita

He is looking to raise money for the following:

• 2 x basketball backboards and installation cost
• 2 doors and installation cost
• 4 outdoor lights
• New storage unit
• 150 T-shirts
• 150 Socks
• 30 basketballs
• Bags transportation cost ($200 each x 8)
• 6 bags for prizes for top 3 girls and 3 boys Academically
• Painting

Here is the link to his GoFundMe page.

Syracuse Starters Playing Less

An anomaly for this Syracuse season is the playing time for the starters; there's nobody playing a ton of minutes every game.  Girard leads the team with 33.8 mpg. There are 14 players in the ACC with a higher usage rate.

Last season four Orange players averaged 34+ mpg: Buddy Boeheim 38.0, Cole Swider 34.5, Joe Girard 34.1, and Jimmy Boeheim 34.7.

Tyus Battle

Leaders for recent seasons:

2021-22 Buddy Boeheim 38.0

2020-21 Buddy Boeheim 36.2

2019-20 Elijah Hughes 36.7

2018-19 Tyus Battle 36.3

2017-18 Tyus Battle 39.0

2016-17 Andrew White 37.2

2015-16 Michael Gbinije 37.9

2014-15 Trevor Cooney 37.3

2013-14 CJ Fair 37.8

2012-13 Michael Carter Williams 35.2

2011-12 Kris Joseph 32.2

You have to go back to 2011-12 with Kris Joseph to find the team leader with that low a minute per game usage.

Orange Improving From Three

The Orange have rather quietly developed into a proficient three point shooting team over the last few weeks. The team has shot 44% from three point range over the past six games (44-101) with the Pitt game being the only poor effort. That stretch of games included Cornell, Pitt, Boston College, Louisville, Virginia, and  Virginia Tech.

Joe Girard

It is no surprise that Joe Girard is leading the three point charge. The senior shooting guard has made 22 of 48 three point attempts over the past six games, hitting at a 47% clip.  His 22 made shots is half of made threes for the Orange during that period.  

However, it is not only Girard who is hitting at a hot clip. The rest of the team has made 22 of its 53 attempts, for a 41.5% percent.  This includes:

• Chris Bell: 8 for 17, 47% 
• Justin Taylor: 5 for 12, 42%
• Benny Williams:  3 for 6, 50%
• Symir Torrence: 2 for 3, 67%
• Judah Mintz: 3 for 13, 23%

As you can see from that list, Mintz is the only one on that list who has struggled to make three point shots during that stretch.   Chris Bell has been very hot recently making 75% (6-8) over the past three games.

It will be interesting to see if this is an anomaly, or is this Orange team really a three point threat? 

Unfortunately with the good comes the bad. The Orange are making 44% of their threes, but only 47% of their shots inside the arc.  That is an area of the game they will have to continue to work upon.

My assumption is that opposing defenses are sagging off of the Orange perimeter, with the exception of Girard, leaving most of the players with clean looks. Fortunately the Orange are making those defenses pay for that. Eventually teams will adjust and cover the perimeter more, which should help the Orange insider, particularly Jesse Edwards and Maliq Brown.

It is nice to see this run of hot perimeter shooting. One concern about the Orange in the preseason was where their perimeter offense would come from. They knew they had Girard, but the rest were unproven underclassmen.

#CuseTixForKids III

Our friends over at Troy Nunes is an Absolute Magician are again running a fundraiser to help send youth in the Bronx to the Pinstripe Bowl to see the Orange play Minnesota.  TNIAAM is working with the Bronx Knights youth football and cheerleading organization, trying to get enough funds to send 100 people to the game.

The details are on  this page at TNIAAM

Thank you.

Flashback to All Time Scorers

Syracuse has had a long and storied varsity basketball history going back to the 1900-1901 season.  The leading scorer in the first season was Bill Lowe, a junior center out of  Buffalo, New York.

Billy Gabor

The game evolved a lot since those days. If Syracuse had a record book in existence after the 1949-1950 season, these were the top 5 all time scorers at Syracuse:

1.  Billy Gabor, 1344 points 1943-1948

2.  Ed Stickel, 1096 points 1946-1949

3.  Royce Newell, 951 points 1946-1949

4.  Jack Kiley, 790 points 1949-1950*

5.  Vic Hanson, 762 points 1925-1927  

Kiley was still active after the 1949-1950 season and would finish his career with 1,193 points, second most at that time.  Hanson averaged 14.1 ppg in an era where that made him one of the most dominant players in the country, and it took Gabor roughly 20 years to break his school record.

If we move forward to the end of the 1979-1980 season, these are the top 5 all-time scorers:

1.  Dave Bing 1,883 points 1964-1966

2.  Roosevelt Bouie, 1,560 points 1977-1980

3.  Dennis DuVal, 1,504 points 1972-1974

4T.  Rudy Hackett, 1,496 points 1973-1975

4T.  Dale Shackleford, 1,496 points 1976-1979

Eventually Sherman Douglas would break Bing's all-time record in 1989, and Derrick Coleman would break Douglas' record the following year in 1990. Lawrence Moten would set the all-time school record in 1995 with 2,334 points.

The top 5 today:

1.  Lawrence Moten, 2,334 points, 1992-1995

2.  Derrick Coleman, 2,143 points, 1987-1990

3.  John Wallace, 2,119 points, 1993-1996

4.  Gerry McNamara, 2,099 points, 2003-2006

5.  Hakim Warrick, 2,073 points, 2002-2005

Syracuse Basketball Opponents Winless Against the Orange

The Orange beat Northeastern last night 76-48. This improved Syracuse's all-time record against the Huskies to 9-0, tying Lafayette for third on the list of teams winless in games against the Orange.

The University of Toronto is atop the list with 16 games against the Orange from 1912 to 1963.  The closest game in the series was 1923 when the Orange won 20-15 behind Ken Lavin's 8 points.

Hobart is second on the list with 11 games, from 1922 to 1944. The closest games were the first and last games of the series. The Orange beat Hobart 12-8 in 1922 behind forward George Noakes 8 points, in his first varsity game.  The last game of the series saw the Orange win 55-51 behind Bill Dickie's  career high 20 points.

As mentioned above, Northeastern is third with 9 games. The closest game in the series was in 2020 when the Orange won 62-56 behind Joe Girard's 21 points and Quincy Guerrier's 16 rebounds.

Tied for third on the list is Lafayette, whom the Orange played from 1957 to 2021. The first time the two teams met was the 1957 NCAA Tournament, with the Orange winning a tight game 75-71.  Syracuse forward Gary Clark had an outstanding game with 34 points and 13 rebounds. Lafayette's Stuart Murray had 30 points in the loss.

There is a three way tie for fifth on the list with Albany, Alfred, and Siena all playing 8 games with no wins.  The Orange played Alfred from 1917 to 1961, Albany from 1919 to 2021, and Siena from 1978 to 2007.  The Orange scored a school record 144 points against Siena in 1979, winning 144-92.  Eight Orange players scored in double figures that game.

Overall there are 148 teams that have played the Orange at least once and have failed to win a game.  83 of those teams have played only one game against Syracuse.