The No. 25 Notre Dame Fighting Irish (14-6) scored the first five points of the game while keeping the Syracuse Orange (14-8) off the board for the first two minutes and twenty-four seconds. Soon after, however, Syracuse became almost unstoppable, going on a 23-1 run that didn’t see the Fighting Irish score a field goal for four minutes and 51 seconds. Syracuse maintained at least a double-digit lead from then on en route to a dominating 81-66 victory.
“The whole key of this game was going to be defense on Colson and Auguste," Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim [13] said following the win. “We can score a lot of points, but we scored a lot of points in Virginia and we didn’t win. We’ve got to play better defense and it really was the difference tonight.”
Junior forward for Notre Dame V.J. Beachem led the Fighting Irish with 22 points in 34 minutes, shooting eight for 13 from the field. Bonzie Colson and Zach Auguste, the players Boeheim stressed to guard heavily, combined for just 17 points on the night.
Junior guard Demetrius Jackson, who is a key member of Notre Dame’s offense, did not play as a result of a pulled hamstring that he sustained early in his last game against Boston College.
Orange graduate guard Trevor Cooney [14] and freshman forward Tyler Lydon [15] were explosive in the first half for the Orange, with Cooney racking up 15 and Lydon adding 13 in the opening twenty minutes.
It was ‘Dress Like Jim Boeheim’ night at the Carrier Dome, and while Boeheim unfortunately missed who was the best impersonator, he jokingly said he “probably wouldn’t have won” had he been competing.
Boeheim also had some strong comments regarding the schedule this year, which he feels was incorrectly prepared.
“The schedule is horrific in the league this year, it’s pretty obvious. It doesn’t make sense. You want to set teams up to have the opportunity to be successful, and [the NCAA] don’t. Notre Dame actually has a tougher schedule. We’re playing Thursday, Saturday, Tuesday, and then we have [9] days off. It’s just stupid.”
The Orange stay at home as they wait to face the Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (12-8) at noon on Saturday. The Yellow Jackets have lost five of their last 7 games as they look for more consistency heading into the Carrier Dome, which won’t come easy, especially since the Dome is one of the hardest arenas for opposing teams to play in. With the Orange gaining momentum following a statement win versus Notre Dame, it’ll surely be an exciting tilt to watch.
