Marek Dolezaj pleaded with an official to look at the video board. He wanted the refs to see what he and most of the Carrier Dome fans had seen: Dolezaj wasn’t out of bounds. Syracuse shouldn’t have been losing possession. 

The ref didn’t look up, though. Instead, he formed a “T” with both hands, granting Dolezaj not only a technical foul but his fifth personal.

“You suck” chants echoed through the Carrier Dome. Dolezaj’s plead didn’t matter, nor did Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim’s or the fans’ complaints. Three Syracuse forwards fouled out of Saturday’s game against Wake Forest with 5:42 left in the game. 

“Afterwards he told the coaches that I embarrassed him in front of the crowd and I just cannot do that,” Dolezaj said. 

Just more than a week after Bourama Sidibe and Dolezaj’s foul ejections led to a Syracuse loss at Clemson, the Orange found themselves in the same position. In a tight game, Syracuse’s foul trouble resulted in lineups SU rarely plays featuring players more used to the bench. Somehow, while playing a freshman forward and guard that had fallen out of Syracuse’s normal seven-man rotation, the Orange held on for a 75-73 win over the Demon Deacons.

“By this stage in the year, we should’ve learned you can’t do that,” Boeheim said. “For us to win this game without those three guys in there…it was amazing to me.”

Syracuse’s foul trouble centered around players who spend most of their time near the basket. The main issue for the Orange was many of the fouls committed weren’t near their hoop. Boeheim said he doesn’t mind fouls that are contesting a shot —  whether it’s players trying to stop a drive or block a layup, those fouls are generally OK.

It’s those fouls away from the basket that got the Orange into trouble. Some of them came on the defensive side of the ball, but just not when Wake Forest was making a clear threat to score. Quincy Guerrier fouled a player bringing the ball up. Sidibe picked up a foul nearly 90 feet from SU’s rim. 

“It’s stupid, yeah,” Guerrier said. “There are some fouls that I can avoid…I got to think more and be smart about fouling.”

Guerrier said he had two or three fouls that were avoidable. One of which came on the offensive end, which Dolezaj noted is the worst place to get a foul. 

Guerrier drove down the lane on a fast break with Elijah Hughes, Syracuse’s leading scorer running to the freshman forward’s right. Instead of passing around the one Wake Forest defender guarding the two Syracuse players, Guerrier attacked the rim. He said after the game he thought a pass would’ve been picked off by a trailing player. Instead, the drive led to a charge and Guerrier’s fourth personal foul. 

“Quincy tries to do something that nobody would ever try to do,” Boeheim said. “He’s playing in the summer. It’s a 2-on-1 fast break you make a bounce pass you’re up two more points than what we were up and he doesn’t have a foul. I’m trying to teach him he’s just not getting there.”

“That was a stupid play for myself,” Guerrier said. “Next time I’m just going to pass him the ball.”

Max Freund | Staff Photographer

The final foul for Guerrier, which set off Syracuse’s string of foul limit breaches, came underneath the Wake Forest basket. At that point, Guerrier had scored 13 points, one short of a season-high, and grabbed three offensive boards. His aggression on the glass twice led to three-point plays as rebounds turned into made layups through contact.

But with less than nine minutes remaining, Guerrier’s aggressiveness cost him. Syracuse’s heaviest player wasn’t in position for the rebound and a Wake Forest player had a clear grasp of the ball. Still, Guerrier reached for the ball as he dove by. Instead of hitting the ball loose, he smacked the player’s face. 

The very next possession, Sidibe fouled out.

“Sometimes, I think I’m doing too much,” Guerrier said. “Because in my mind I got to be aggressive and go to the rebound. And even when I’m not in position to have the rebound, I’m trying to (rebound) too much.”

When asked how to fix the fouling problem by “being smarter,” Dolezaj smiled and tapped his head. The junior forward said it’s about looking at the tape and understanding which fouls are smart and which aren’t. 

Last week, it mattered that Syracuse was careless with fouls. On Saturday, Syracuse did enough to make it hurt less. Next week, who knows? There’s no clear answer to how it stops but there’s a consensus in the Syracuse locker room regarding the fouls. 

“We just cannot do it, you know,” Dolezaj said, echoing his teammates’ and coaches’ remarks after the game. “Today (Brycen Goodine) and Jesse (Edwards) stepped up big, but in more games like this we just need to stay in the game.”

Published on February 9, 2020 at 12:14 am

Contact Josh: jlschafe@syr.edu | @Schafer_44