Rob Carr/Getty Images
Indiana's Christian Watford fighting for the loose ball against Brandon Triche, from left, Baye Keita and Michael Carter-Williams.
WASHINGTON — Indiana could not have looked more lost. The Hoosiers missed layups, dribbled into defenders and threw passes that sailed into the Syracuse bench, as if a gust of wind had suddenly swept through the Verizon Center. And that was just the first few possessions.
Indiana had spent four days preparing for Syracuse's celebrated 2-3 zone defense heading into Thursday's East Region semifinal. The Hoosiers watched film, studied sets and moved the ball at practice with authority.
Up close and personal, they found the Orange to be longer, more athletic and more exasperating than they could have imagined. The result was clear, as Syracuse leaned on its usual brand of swarming defense to topple Indiana, 61-50.
Michael Carter-Williams, a sophomore guard, led fourth-seeded Syracuse with 24 points and 5 rebounds, and the senior guard Brandon Triche finished with 14 points.
Indiana, the top seed, shot 34 percent from the field and committed 18 turnovers. It was not the first time Syracuse's length has given an opponent problems, but the bright stage of tournament has a way of magnifying each hurried shot and every errant pass.
Syracuse, which will face No. 3 seed Marquette on Saturday for a spot in the Final Four, has rebounded nicely from a late-season swoon. The Verizon Center itself was the site of one such debacle, a 61-39 loss to Georgetown on March 9 during which Syracuse scored its fewest points since 1962. When Coach Jim Boeheim was asked about that game on Wednesday, he pretended not to remember it.
His team has a different air about it now, even if Thursday's game did not feature the most artistic basketball. Syracuse's Baye Moussa Keita wore a wrap on his left hand after falling flat on his face in the first half. During one particularly comedic sequence of the second half, these two proud programs combined for five straight turnovers without attempting a shot.
Indiana Coach Tom Crean tried his best to unearth solutions, starting the junior forward Will Sheehey in place of his freshman point guard, Yogi Ferrell, to start the second half. Sheehey seemed to energize the Hoosiers, his pass to Victor Oladipo for a layup slicing Syracuse's lead to 34-27.
But even with Oladipo (team-high 16 points), the Big Ten Conference's defensive player of the year, shadowing him for much of the night, Carter-Williams still found his spots. He scored back-to-back baskets — the first on a layup, the second on a deep 3-pointer — to give Syracuse a 14-point cushion.
It was just the fifth meeting between these tradition-laden programs — and their first in the tournament since their most well-known clash, in 1987 for the national championship. The Hoosiers won that game on Keith Smart's last-second jumper, a shot that he delivered over the outstretched left arm of Syracuse's Howard Triche.
On Wednesday, Boeheim described Triche as "one of the steadiest players we've ever had. It's always difficult. There is nothing you can say after those games." Boeheim used the present tense. So many of these games, particularly the losses, linger for so long.
On Thursday, Triche's nephew had an opportunity to help Syracuse (and his family) add some sort of postscript to that loss, even if it came 26 years later. Brandon Triche said people on campus still mistakenly refer to him as "Howard." It does not bother him, he said, though it does strike him as odd. "I thought they would know my name after being here four years," he said before Thursday's game.
Triche had an immediate impact against Indiana, scoring his team's first four points as Syracuse opened up an 11-3 lead. By the time Syracuse's James Sutherland drilled a deep 3-pointer, Crean was motioning for a 30-second timeout. The Hoosiers were flummoxed. There were possessions when Cody Zeller, the team's star forward, found himself trapped by a pair of defenders 18 feet from the basket.
In the first 10 minutes, Indiana shot 1 of 6 from the field and committed eight turnovers. Syracuse was on its way to leading by 18 points before the Hoosiers cut the advantage to 34-22 at halftime. Carter-Williams had 12 points and 3 steals in the first half.
The Hoosiers figured to have the type of offense that would give Syracuse problems. Most gaps in the zone typically come along the perimeter, and Indiana had been one of the country's most proficient 3-point shooting teams, at 40.8 percent for the season. On Thursday, the Hoosiers were 3 of 15 from 3-point range.
Syracuse has come a long way since its woes in late February and early March. Amid a stretch in which the team lost four of six games, Boeheim grew so disenchanted with his players that he talked about how wonderful it would be if he could just drop everything and go golfing.
Yet the Orange were resilient, reaching the Big East Conference tournament final before defeating Montana and California in the tournament's opening rounds. As always, Syracuse relied on defense in reaching the Round of 16 — one of Boeheim's philosophical staples.
On Thursday, it worked once more, and it looked as terrifying as ever.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
East: Syracuse 61, Indiana 50: Syracuse Smothers Indiana
Dengan url
https://dunialuasekali.blogspot.com/2013/03/east-syracuse-61-indiana-50-syracuse.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
East: Syracuse 61, Indiana 50: Syracuse Smothers Indiana
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
East: Syracuse 61, Indiana 50: Syracuse Smothers Indiana
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar