SAN JOSE, Calif. — The California offense was so flummoxed, so timid and inept, that Syracuse extended its lead even without making a field goal. For 12-plus minutes of game time, and 32 minutes of real time, the Orange inched along by ones — from the free-throw line — while the Golden Bears failed to solve the Rubik’s cube that is the 2-3 zone.

On one end of the court was stifling defense, the kind that limited the Pac-12 Player of the Year to nine shot attempts and even fewer points. On the other end was inspired offensive aggression, the kind that attacks the rim repeatedly and refuses to yield while wearing down the mental strength of an opponent.

In the end, Syracuse out-toughed the Golden Bears before a sellout crowd in HP Pavilion, earning a 66-60 win to advance to the Sweet 16 in Washington, D.C. The Orange asserted its will by drawing 20 second-half fouls and shooting 26-for-41 from the free-throw line, while stifling a California offense that appeared befuddled from start to finish.

“People asked me, ‘Well how do you think Cal is going to be against the zone?’” Syracuse guard Michael Carter-Williams said. “And I told them it’s really hard to prepare for the zone in a short amount of time, teams have been going over it for years — the Marquettes, Georgetowns, the Louisvilles — and they struggle sometimes.”

Mike Montgomery, the California head coach, said his team’s attention span was subpar in the one 90-minute practice it had Friday to prepare for Syracuse. That dip in focus, combined with the unfamiliarity with zone defense, shone through from the opening tip of Saturday’s game.

The Golden Bears turned the ball over on seven consecutive possessions following their first basket of the game, coming unraveled in seemingly every way possible. Passes went awry, players stepped out of bounds, others traveled. If there was a way to turn the ball over, California accomplished it.

“I thought we started the game very, very tentative,” Montgomery said. “I don’t really know what we expected of the zone or what we expected of Syracuse, but we didn’t have the same confidence level that we had against UNLV.”

The lack of confidence spawned the turnovers, which in turn spawned a nine-point lead for Syracuse. And together those elements set the tone for the war of attrition that would define the second half.

Facing a deficit, California switched almost exclusively to man-to-man defense after halftime, hoping to pressure the Orange guards into mistakes that could lead to points the other way.

But as has been the case all season, Syracuse’s collective eyes lit up with excitement. Carter-Williams and Brandon Triche, guards whose games are predicated on penetration, immediately went to work.

“We knew we had an advantage, us guards, being able to get by their guards,” Triche said. “So that’s what we wanted to do.”

And after a dunk by James Southerland with 19:31 remaining, the free-throw bonanza began. Syracuse missed its next eight shots from the field but got to the foul line at will. Triche and Carter-Williams, making brilliant use of ball screens, penetrated easily to draw fouls of their own or set up teammates.

Southerland’s dunk gave Syracuse a 34-26 lead, and the scoreboard showed a 12-point margin by the time Carter-Williams finally made a floater in the lane with 7:18 remaining.

In between were free throws — tons of them — with Syracuse drawing fouls on five straight possessions at one point. The Orange made more free throws, 26, than California attempted, 19, and it wasn’t even close. SU’s 36 second-half free-throw attempts were more than its previous season high for an entire game.

“I thought that was a huge key to the game,” Syracuse assistant coach Mike Hopkins said. “When you get in the bonus, and they’re going to try to extend, that’s when you can drive. When your defense is going well and you’re able to extend a lead without making a field goal, I think it’s huge.”

Meanwhile, the Golden Bears were out of sorts. Allen Crabbe, their leading scorer and player of the year in the conference, was blanketed and held without a basket for more than 28 minutes.

It left his teammates stunned and without an offensive leader as the minutes melted away. Body language suffered, as players grew upset with each other and the officials. Montgomery even flapped his hands in disgust.

So when it was over, after Syracuse had advanced to the Sweet 16 and talked of a potential matchup with Indiana, Montgomery acknowledged that the zone defense more than did its job. It confounded California from start to finish, which was exactly what the head coach was afraid of.

“The zone accomplished what it wanted to,” Montgomery said. “I was fearful that was going to happen.”

Published on March 23, 2013 at 10:50 pm

Contact Michael: mjcohe02@syr.edu | @Michael_Cohen13