Syracuse played its first Atlantic Coast Conference of the season at Boston College, with the Orange finishing with their best game of the season. After the first few minutes, Syracuse never looked back, eventually defeating BC 101-63. The win marked the first time this season that SU has scored over 100 points, and its biggest win of the season. Syracuse’s win is its first time ever scoring triple digits in a regulation ACC game.
Here are some takeaways from SU’s bounce back win to advance to 4-1.
Complete Domination
Syracuse set a program high with 16 threes in a game against Boston College. Earlier this season, Syracuse had tied the previous program high (15 threes) against Rider. The 38 point victory was Syracuse’s biggest conference victory since its 107-59 victory over DePaul in 2011. Syracuse’s ball movement was its best of the season. Marek Dolezaj often received the ball inside the paint, and found teammates around the arc for open threes. The senior finished with seven assists.
“It was our best ball movement,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Our defense was better overall. It was good to get everybody comfortable.”
Quincy Guerrier Excels Down Low
Without Bourama Sidibe, Syracuse needed a big to step up. So far Guerrier is filling in admirably. Today against the Eagles Guerrier used his physicality to grab boards over — and around — Eagles post players. The sophomore finished with 14 points and five rebounds. 
Guerrier also hit four of his five free throws, which is considerable considering the sophomore entered the game shooting just over 60% from the charity stripe. Coming into the season, shooting was Guerrier’s biggest weakness. So far, that issue seems to be resolving itself, particularly from three. While he missed his only shot from deep today, Guerrier is 5-11 from three this season.
Buddy Boeheim Stars in Return
Boeheim missed the last three games as he sat out due to COVID contact tracing. Once he returned, Boeheim came out firing, finishing with 17 points. Despite the time away from games, Boeheim was efficient from behind the arc, and was also able to drive to the hoop.
“Buddy stabilizes the defense as well as the offense,” Boeheim said.
On defense, Boeheim had a couple of first half steals that led to easy scores. Last season, the guard struggled at the top of the 2-3 zone, but he looked comfortable today. The junior was able to stick his hands into passing lanes and pick the pockets of guards attempting to drive inside SU’s defense.
Joe Girard Bounce Back
Girard has struggled early this season, finishing 1-8 from the field (1-6 from three) against Rutgers. But on Saturday, SU’s guard didn’t force as many shots, and found his groove from deep early in the first half. With Boeheim back, it seemed that Girard didn’t try to force as many looks, and waited for teammates like Marek Dolezaj to find him for open looks — which he knocked down.
“We don’t make adjustments after one game and I think it helped Joe to get Buddy back,” Boeheim said.
