Cornell broke the press on the inbounds and Bourama Sidibe found himself all alone facing a guard pushing the ball up the floor to his left and a big man filling the lane to his right.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim hasn’t liked to employ the press often in the past because, he said, good teams solve it. But this season, it seems he’s made an exception for his defensive-minded team because, in the first two exhibition games, the press jumpstarted the Orange’s anemic offense.

Now though, about midway through the first half, the press’ breakdown put Syracuse’s freshman center on the wrong side of a two-on-one. Cornell point guard Matt Morgan hit Steve Julian on the block but, as Julian rose for a lefty layup, Sidibe unfurled his 6-foot-10 frame and pinned Julian’s shot off the backboard.

“If we’d have pressed last year that first play,” Boeheim said, “Cornell would’ve had a dunk, and we would’ve been out of (the press). (Sidibe) makes an unbelievable block on a pretty good athlete. We didn’t have that last year. That’s a big, big thing.”

That play encapsulated this year’s team, because though it is less experienced and less skilled on offense, Boeheim said he saw an increased “willingness to commit” to playing defense. Though Syracuse itself struggled shooting in the first half, the Orange (1-0) constricted Cornell (0-1) with overwhelming and inherent advantages in size and speed in a 77-45 dispatching on Friday night in the Carrier Dome. The Orange hasn’t lost to the Big Red since 1968, when Richard Nixon was the United States president-elect.

“The whole 40 minutes,” Boeheim said, “we were keyed in on what we had to do on defense. Our offense is sputtering a little bit, and it will sputter.”

Syracuse’s height advantage limited Cornell to 25 percent shooting (13-for-52) and keyed that continued dominance. The Big Red had no player taller than 6-foot-8 and, with Sidibe and 7-foot-2 Paschal Chukwu protecting the rim, Cornell found itself settling for jump shots at least 10 feet from the hoop often. It also turned missed shots — which both teams had a fair share of — into 50-50 balls on Cornell’s defensive glass. Syracuse had 21 offensive rebounds to Cornell’s 22 defensive.

All night, Syracuse locked up Cornell’s Morgan, one of the most dynamic guards it faces this season. The top of the Orange’s zone—most often Frank Howard and Tyus Battle—each hold three inches on Morgan and rarely afforded him room to get off a shot.

“We just felt connected together (on defense) and we really made them work to get up shots,” Battle said.

When asked what they learned from this game, forward Matthew Moyer, Howard and Battle expressed the same sentiment: “We can be a good defensive team.”

“We can be really good,” Moyer said. “If we play defense for 40 minutes, we can win games. I don’t care who we play, Kansas, Duke. If we play defense for 40, we can beat anybody. And if we don’t, we can lose to anybody.

“If we can play defense like this, I don’t care if that’s (Duke guard) Grayson Allen out on the wing, we can win games.”

Just as Boeheim hoped the press might generate offensive chances, the Orange’s sticky fingers on defense did, too. Late in the second half, after Syracuse had made the blowout an inevitability, Battle picked Cornell forward Riley Voss’ pocket and sent an outlet pass to Howard.

Syracuse’s starting point guard, who finished with four assists to one turnover, led a break with freshman forward Oshae Brissett on his left and Moyer on his right. Howard drew the defender, faked a pass to Brissett then tossed it to Moyer who dunked two-handed as the Carrier Dome erupted and Syracuse rolled.

“Our defense was solid,” Boeheim said, “and we still have a lot of work to do on offense. That’s going to take some time.”

Published on November 10, 2017 at 9:22 pm

Contact Sam: sjfortie@syr.edu | @Sam4TR