The Orange held off Virginia Tech behind JGIII’s 24 points and a strong second half to extend the Hokies losing streak to five games.
Syracuse entered the matchup tied for fifth in the ACC, while Virginia Tech came in just twelfth in the conference despite an 11-5 record.
For Syracuse, this game would be about continuing their recent stretch of success, having picked up wins in seven of their last nine contests coming into Wednesday’s game. The issue for Syracuse is that their resume needs reinforcement. Top tier wins have been hard to come by lately and against top 25 competition, they have struggled.
While the Hokies are no longer ranked, a win against Virginia Tech would be another step in the right direction for Syracuse. The 7-2 stretch for Syracuse has been highlighted by Joe Girard III, who put a three game stretch where he shot 2-25, including an 0-3 night with 0 points against Illinois, behind him. He has now scored over 15 points in each of those games and entered Wednesday’s game with the sixth best points per game average in the ACC at 16.81.
His backcourt partner Judah Mintz was thirteenth best in the conference with 15.94 PPG, while Jesse Edwards had double-doubled his way into being the conference leader in rebounds per game and second in field goal percentage.
For Virginia Tech, it’s hard to look at anything other than their four game losing streak in the ACC. The Hokies were a top 25 basketball team and had beaten the eighteenth ranked Tar Heels en route to an 11-1 start to the season. During that stretch, there has been a noticeable struggle from deep as Virginia Tech has shot above 30% just once.
Most of their positive this year has been about the duo of Sean Pedulla and Justyn Mutts. Pedulla averages over 17 PPG on over 44% from the field, while Mutts has a similar resume to Edwards of Syracuse, as he ranked third in field goal percentage and sixth in rebounds per game in the ACC.
Given that, I expected a bit of a guard battle between Pedulla and Mintz with a struggle down low between the two bigs. Girard stole the lead from that storyline on the offensive side of the ball with a team-best 24 points.
For Girard, this game matched his third best scoring total this season and was just his fifth game all season shooting 50% or better from the field. The last time he shot that well was over a month ago when he did it in two consecutive games against Notre Dame, SU’s next opponent, and Oakland. He has over 15 points in every single game of the Orange’s now 10-2 stretch and is establishing himself as a mark of consistency for Coach Boeheim, who noted that Girard is more dangerous as a shooter due to finding his own shots this year, unlike years past. The only real blemish on his night was going 1-4 from the free throw line, but he still carries an 82.7% mark from the line.
Mintz didn’t quite have the offensive production I expected, but still reached double figures with three assists and, along with Girard, did very well containing Pedulla. His over 17 PPG was diminished to just 10 in this contest with an abysmal night from deep, shooting just 2-11.
The Hokies hadn’t seen much of the zone this season and certainly didn’t show many signs of struggling against it early, with their first five buckets coming from in the paint. Throughout the course of the game, Mutts and Basile would have their way inside, combining to shoot 21-32 for 47 points.
The perimeter struggle of Pedulla and the rest of the team made it very difficult on their big men as the night went on. The Hokies seemed to be trying to ride the hot hands inside, but Syracuse opened the second half on a 20-6 run in which they made it very difficult for the Hokies to get the ball inside. It was their strongest stretch of post defense. A combined 3-19 from beyond the arc is certainly going to make it easier for the defense to adjust their focus to the paint.
The final point of note in this one for Syracuse was the bench, particularly Justin Taylor and Maliq Brown. Taylor was a big spark off the bench in the first half, as he provided eight of his 10 in the first 20 minutes while also giving the team a boost of energy on the defensive end. Brown reach double figures for the fourth time all season while recording a career high 12 rebounds for his first double-double. Despite Benny William’s getting the start, Boeheim turned to Brown in this contest, as William’s played just 8 minutes.
“Well, he’s playing starter’s minutes both games,” said Boeheim. “It doesn’t matter who starts; it matters who is playing. He stays around the basket. That’s what he does and that’s where the ball is and that’s where he gets some rebounds. Benny wants to play out 15-18 feet and there’s no rebounds out there. You know, Maliq is doing what we need him to do.”
The Orange will look to continue their strong stretch of games on Saturday as they welcome the Notre Dame Fighting Irish to the JMA Wireless Dome. This will be the second time these two teams have met this season, with the Orange winning 62-61 on the road last time. Jesse Edwards was a force to be reckoned with in that one with 22 points and 16 boards while JGIII added on 20 points, but shot just 2-10 from deep.