Syracuse ends three-game skid behind Edwards’ 27 points

Lately the story around Syracuse Men’s Basketball has been Joe Girard III on the offensive end, inconsistency on the defensive end or late in games and headlines from Boeheim off the court. While the off-court drama didn’t subside for the Orange, they did get a big boost from someone other than their starting shooting guard; Jesse Edwards had his best game of the season against the Eagles.

For the first half of the season, Edwards was someone who would reliably get you double digit rebounds while usually hitting the same mark in the scoring column. He would show flashes of his offensive capabilities, such as his three game stretch against Notre Dame, Georgetown and Oakland where he averaged 20 points a game and over 10 boards.  His season high came against Miami where he had 25 points and 11 boards, including a 7-8 night from the free throw line.

Since then, he had a poor four game stretch where he was unable to get more than 14 points or seven rebounds. He was noticeably passive offensively, which is why those performances were poor by his standard. During that four game stretch, Edwards shot just 10 free throws, averaged just 7.5 field goal attempts per game. On top of the drop in rebound numbers, that shows his diminished aggression.

Saturday brought what all Syracuse fans, and hopefully Jesse himself, wanted to see from their big man. Aside from a few lackluster turnovers (which came for each him, Mintz and JGIII) he was flawless. 27 points, his new season high, on an incredibly efficient 12-15 showed what kind of offensive capabilities he has and that he has the ability to pick up the slack when the Orange guard tandem isn’t hitting from the field.

Mintz and Girard shot a combined 8-22, but found other ways to contribute. Both did well getting to the line, as each had 9 free throw attempts with Mintz missing two and Girard going 9-9. Girard added five boards and a few assists, while Mintz picked up five assists and four steals, but they just weren’t themselves from the field.

In order to pick up the slack, we saw an aggressive Edwards from the beginning of the game, a Jesse Edwards who attacked the rim, hit shots none of us had seen him make this year and was disruptive on the defensive end with four blocks. In a game where he was matched up with seven-footer Quinten Post, a player Edwards knows from his home area and one he admittedly plays 1-1 with and hangs out with, he rose to the occasion.

Post entered Saturday in the midst of his best stretch of his season with 21.3 points per game, 7.5 rebounds and 1.8 blocks. Going up against a friend, let alone one playing that well, is going to motivate anyone, but the glimpse we saw from Edwards against Post is what he needs to attempt to emulate more consistently.

There were a few other things to like from the Orange through out this one, such as the team’s overall free throw shooting and Justin Taylor. They were collectively 21-24 (87.5%) from the line, which certainly eclipses their 73.5% average. Taylor was a positive injection on the offensive end on a night where the team, and mainly Joe Girard III, were horrible from three. Taylor’s 3-3 from deep covered up an already suspect 4-14 (28.6%) that the team put together. Overall, it was a back and forth contest that saw 11 ties and 10 lead changes, but I do believe, although the defense had positives, like 18 points off turnovers, they were rather fortunate.

It was clear throughout the game that the Eagles were going to live and die from with the three-ball, but shooting 31.4% from beyond the arc on 35 attempts hurt them. While the volume could have beaten Syracuse, it shouldn’t have been their plan after the slow start. Syracuse allowed Boston College to pick up 13 offensive rebounds which were only turned into nine points. Any other night you would expect, or at least hope, that a team can turn that many second chance opportunities into more points, but Syracuse got fortunate the Eagles took many of their second shots from beyond the arc instead of attacking the rim. Another sign of that was their three throw numbers, as they shot just 3-4 from the free throw line.

It was the good, the bad and all the between the lines as the Orange were successfully able to rebound from a tough 1-4 stretch over their last five games. Their next opponent, Florida State, is one game back in the conference but just 8-16 on the season. It should be a game that Syracuse wins, but for them to make something of this season, almost all of their remaining games need to be wins. It might, unfortunately, be a too little too late considering they still have Clemson, Pitt, NC State, Duke and Wake Forest left on their plate, which all stand above the Orange in the ACC rankings. Syracuse is still yet to pick up a quad 1 win and have left most of their quad 2 opportunities on the table, which is why the chance to still beat big opponents should not necessarily excite fans.