Syracuse couldn’t catch North Carolina late, the Orange dropped their third game of the season 81-75. SU quite obviously missed Bourama Sidibe tonight, rebounds have proven a hot topic after tonight’s 48-31 margin. With that said here’s SU’s report card:
Buddy Boeheim: B-
The coach‚Äôs son was the heart of the offense tonight…at least in the first half. He caught the hot hand in the first but failed to score in the second. Despite his first-half offensive contribution, his absence on the boards brings his grade down. As a forward on this team, he‚Äôs one of the bigger guys on the floor, meaning he‚Äôs got to be one of the guys aggressive on the boards. He wasn‚Äôt tonight, just 2 rebounds weren‚Äôt enough to make a difference.
Quincy Guerrier: B+
Quincy did it all tonight. The Candyman was effective on both sides of the floor. 23 points and 11 rebounds made up his double-double, too bad it wasn’t enough for an SU win. Guerrier was strong on defense too, 5 blocks and a steal fueled the 2-3 zone against the Tar Heels. The sophomore forward is undersized compared to a lot of ACC bigs, so of course, he going to struggle at times. Tonight he held his own against Roy Williams’ squad until he fouled out and SU crumbled in the final minutes.
Alan Griffin: C-
Alan Griffin seems to take just about any shot he can. His play tonight was in close resemblance to that of JR Smith, just catch and shoot whatever he feels. It was painfully obvious his 6 turnovers hurt this offense. Griffin is a very talented player, but when he plays like he did tonight the Illionois-transfer doesn’t add much.
Joe Girard III: C+
Joe Giard’s play has been under fire all season, but tonight he wasn’t bad. Girard isn’t a great scorer, passer, or defender, but he is a good game manager when he needs to be. Tonight the Glens Falls native didn’t try to do too much, which is part of the reason this offense looked pretty solid at times. The sophomore passed when he needed to and took a shoot when he had a good one. He wasn’t incredible but not too shabby either.
Marek Dolezaj: D+
Marek Dolezaj is a guy you can often count on having a good grade. Not tonight. Just a single rebound from the accurately nicknamed Slender Slovakian. To his credit, he played 40 minutes against both Pitt and Georgetown, but he was just ineffective tonight. The Orange would’ve loved to have Sidibe tonight, a tired Dolezaj didn’t cut it.
SU’s three guys off the bench tonight were Kadary Richmond, Robert Braswell, and Jesse Edwards. That trio provided very little offense and not nearly enough relief toward the end. Richmond and Braswell were both on the floor during crunch time, their ineffectiveness was apparent. Just 6 points between them didn’t help make any sort of comeback late. Edwards was no gem either. The Amsterdam native played just 7 minutes, in them he did little to nothing other than fouling and turning the ball over.
This game was decided by a lack of consistent scoring in the second half and an abysmal performance on the boards. It’s clear that this team misses Sidibe, with him back they could very well win games like the one tonight.
