Men's Basketball

What we learned from Syracuse’s 62-57 ACC tournament loss to Miami

Jessica Sheldon | Staff Photographer

Syracuse couldn't hold the Hurricanes to under 60 points on Wednesday.

By Matt SchneidmanSenior Staff Writer

NEW YORK — Eighth-seeded Syracuse (18-14, 10-8 Atlantic Coast) missed an opportunity to potentially solidify its spot in the NCAA Tournament with a 62-57 loss to ninth-seeded Miami (21-10, 10-8) in the second round of the ACC tournament at the Barclays Center Wednesday afternoon. Andrew White scored a game-high 22 points and John Gillon couldn’t repeat his late-game heroics, as the Orange will have to wait to find out its fate on Selection Sunday.

Here’s what we learned from Wednesday’s game.

Despite allowing 62 points, Syracuse’s defense still isn’t good enough

It was going to be hard to top Syracuse’s defensive showing from Jan. 4, when the Orange held Miami to 55 points in the Carrier Dome.

Despite surrendering only seven more point at the Barclays Center, Boeheim still said his defense isn’t good enough, referencing the four first-year players he starts with two of them sitting by his side at the postgame dais.



On Wednesday, Miami shot only 9-of-23 from long range, but that topped the Hurricanes’ season average of just over six made 3s per game. They hit six alone in the first half to open up an eight-point lead. Some makes came at the tail end of the shot clock, which made the few that did even harder to stomach for the Orange.

“Well, they made some tough shots, last-second shots,” freshman guard Tyus Battle said. “That happens. I thought we did a pretty good job defensively most of the game. We had a couple breakdowns where we let guys we didn’t want to shoot, shoot the ball.”

The ACC may not get as many teams in as was once thought

After Georgia Tech lost on Tuesday night to Pittsburgh and Clemson fell short against Duke, the Yellow Jackets and Tigers are all but officially off the NCAA Tournament bubble.

Wake Forest still plays Virginia Tech at 7 p.m. Wednesday with a chance to possibly seal its spot in the field of 68, but the Demon Deacons are no lock. Syracuse, especially with its loss to Miami, is hardly a lock either. On Tuesday night, GT head coach Josh Pastner argued that any ACC team with eight league wins (his team) should make the NCAA Tournament.

As of now, eight ACC teams are locks when as many as 12 have been alive to make the field. Now, with almost two days of the ACC tournament in the books, it’s clear that the ACC may not get as many teams in as was once thought.

“We are universally felt to be, I think by everybody, the No. 1 conference in the country,” Boeheim said. “We finished seventh, tied for seventh. Other conferences are talking about getting 60 percent of their teams in the Tournament. If we’re the best conference in the country we should get more than 50 percent in the Tournament.”

Jim Boeheim is not a fan of the ACC tournament in Greensboro

Before the ACC tournament moved to Washington, D.C. last season and now Brooklyn this year, it was played in Greensboro, North Carolina. Boeheim hopes it never returns there.

“There’s no reason to play in Greensboro. None,” Boeheim said. “The only reason they play there is because the league offices are there. It’s always been there and there are like 150 people who like to have meetings. It should not be there.”

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Boeheim also noted how media and recruiting hubs are in cities such as Washington D.C., New York and Atlanta, and that New York was the foundation of the Big East, which holds its conference tournament in Madison Square Garden.

After his mini-rant finished, the head coach offered why he had no filter on criticizing the city where he played his first ACC tournament.

“I’m saying all this because I don’t give a sh*t,” he said with a laugh.





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