Orange hold on against Notre Dame as SU celebrates Boeheim

Former Syracuse men’s basketball coach Jim Boeheim said it best: “I’d like to thank Adrian and the players for turning a very boring game into a very exciting finish.”

The Orange and head coach Adrian Autry nearly surrendered a 29-point first-half lead against Notre Dame in an 88-85 victory Saturday at the JMA Wireless Dome.

With the season’s largest crowd of more than 25,100, Saturday’s game was marked by the celebration of Jim Boeheim Day, honoring the legendary coach and his 47 years with the program. 

On the court, however, the game served as sophomore guard J.J. Starling’s first contest against his former team. The Baldwinsville native played his freshman year for the Fighting Irish before transferring back home to CNY. Starling finished with 14 points in a team-high 37 minutes against his old team. 

“It was a good experience. I wish that we held that lead,” Starling said. “But it was fun to be able to compete against them.”

Sophomore guard Judah Mintz and sophomore forward Chris Bell led SU in scoring. Mintz finished with 21 points and Bell had 18 of his own, including making 4 of 5 shots from beyond the arc.

All five Orange starters finished in double-figures, including a 10-point effort from sophomore forward Justin Taylor. 

A quick 5-0 Notre Dame lead was quickly erased after Mintz hit a floater and Bell made a corner three to tie the game. From there on out, it was all Syracuse — at least for the first 20 minutes.

The Fighting Irish were sloppy early on, giving the ball away five times within the first 10 minutes. The Orange used that sloppiness to their advantage, scoring 23 points off of ND’s giveaways in the first half. One such occasion allowed Mintz to steal the ball, fly up the court, and convert a tough layup through contact.

Minutes later, a stepback three from Mintz gave the Orange a 10-point lead. A barrage of threes would ensue, with Starling and Bell hitting threes despite tight coverage. 

Starling thrived in the first half against his former team. With just under eight minutes remaining in the first, the guard received the ball near the Notre Dame bench, drove in, and made a layup. As the two teams went to time out, Starling looked over to the Fighting Irish coaches before jogging back with a smile.

The Syracuse two-guard knocked down a jumper to give the Orange a seemingly commanding 49-20 lead with 2:15 in the first half. But that’s when the game flipped.

A 9-0 Notre Dame run capped off by a buzzer-beating three from Julian Roper II sent the two teams into the tunnel with SU leading 49-29.

“When you have a team down like that and they make a shot like that … they got momentum now,” Autry said. 

That momentum helped Notre Dame storm back into the contest. Five minutes into the second half, the Fighting Irish had cut the lead to 10. A Tae Davis dunk punctuated a 14-1 Irish run.

Held to only eight points in the first half, Notre Dame’s Markus Burton exploded in the second half. Despite his 5-11 frame, the guard drove in time after time with consistent success. When SU finally started to protect the interior, Burton kicked it out to another guard who caught fire in the second half. 

Two threes from Braeden Shrewsberry brought Notre Dame within 10 points with nine minutes remaining. The guard finished with 18 points on the night — all from beyond the arc and all coming in the second half.

Shrewsberry struck again to put the score at 86-80 with less than two minutes remaining.

Fifty seconds later, a triple from Roper II left the Orange with just a three-point lead. 

After the Orange failed to convert on the other end, Notre Dame had a chance. 

With SU having no answer for him, Burton took things into his own hands, and with five seconds left, the guard pulled up from deep only to have his shot hit off the rim and fall into the hands of Maliq Brown, clinching the victory for the Orange.

The celebration did not end after the buzzer, as the ceremony for Jim Boeheim honored the legendary coach. After official recognition of Jim Boeheim Day by the City of Syracuse, Onondaga County, and the State of New York, master of ceremonies and famed sportscaster and SU alum Mike Tirico unveiled a banner honoring Boeheim’s achievements as coach. 

Boeheim spoke to the Orange crowd after, detailing his appreciation and love for the city.

“If (I) could pick any place on Earth,” Boeheim said. ” I would pick Syracuse, New York.”

In the usual Boeheim manner, though, he did not miss an opportunity to nitpick his beloved Syracuse team.

“These are days that you have when everything looks so great, then we forget a little bit about playing defense… we’re not gonna do that again.” The legendary coach joked.

Boeheim was right, but a win is a win for SU, who now prepares to face Virginia Tech on Tuesday. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.