Syracuse made it too hard too early, letting Miami penetrate, kick out and rain 3s over the SU zone throughout the game’s first possessions.

The Orange (14-6, 5-2) made it harder on the Hurricanes (14-5, 4-2) later, but with the 66-62 loss to Miami on Saturday evening in the Carrier Dome, SU’s backcourt still left the game disappointed. SU’s guards said they could’ve done a better job protecting the heart of the Syracuse zone, keeping Miami’s guards out of the paint.

“I think it was mediocre at best,” SU point guard Kaleb Joseph said of how the Orange defended UM’s guards. “They were able to penetrate the gaps and get in the lanes a little too often.”

Miami had the best ball movement team Syracuse has played this year, Joseph said. And in the first half especially, it showed.

The Hurricanes zipped the ball around the perimeter, into the high post and out of it, stretching Joseph and Trevor Cooney away from each other in front of the lane.

Jim Boeheim called a timeout with 15:16 left in the first half, not even waiting for the media timeout that was coming anyway. His team was down 10-1.

“It’s hard, they moved the ball, they got off to a really good start,” Boeheim said.

Syracuse outscored Miami 25-16 for the remainder of the half.

And at halftime, the Orange worked to close off Miami’s dribble-drive penetration.

“We saw what they were doing in the first half and we just went over it and made some adjustments and just tried to keep them around the perimeter,” SU forward Michael Gbinije said.

In the second half, Miami made 45 percent of its points from 3s after getting 46 percent of its scoring from 3s in the first half. But the looks came later in the shot clock off of stagnant chest passes, rather than open drive-and-kick looks.

It helped Syracuse stay in a game it ultimately would lose at the free-throw line.

“They got some times in the second too,” Cooney said. “We have to be better. It’s something that we’ve worked on and sometimes it just comes down to keeping people in front and we’re not doing that.”

Published on January 24, 2015 at 9:54 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_