Wake’s plan: Battle with zone
With a 19-12 record, Syracuse is firmly saddled on the NCAA bubble, hoping for a strong ACC Tournament showing to couple with an impressive recent win over No. 18 Clemson on its selection committee résumé. First up is Wake Forest on Tuesday night at Barclays Center.
Syracuse and Wake Forest split their two conference meetings, each winning at home. In the first game, Wake Forest contained Orange leading scorer, guard Tyus Battle. The second game was far different.
“He made a lot of shots,” said Deacons coach Danny Manning. That’ll do it. “He came out and hit us for over 30. He played really, really well. He got out in the passing lanes, made some steals and got to the sweet spot on the court where he could elevate up with his athleticism to make shots,” Manning said.
Battle, who averages 20.0 points, is one of the Orange “Big Three,” as Manning termed them. He joins guard Frank Howard (15.2 ppg) and freshman forward Oshae Brissett (14.7 ppg) to make life miserable for opponents. But defense, around coach Jim Boeheim’s ever-present 2-3 zone, is where Syracuse lives or dies. Syracuse, which was one of several teams to not have media availability Monday, yields just 64.1 points per game, 14th nationally. And on defense is the usual Syracuse shot-blocker, Paschal Chukwu, with 2.6 rejections per game.
“Find the gaps in the zone and attack those gaps. Teams who play zone, they want you to shoot those 3s,” said Wake Forest guard Bryant Crawford (16.7 ppg). “And if we’re lucky enough to keep making them all night, then it’s going to be a bad night for them. But if we keep settling and keep missing jump shots that’s what they want.”
Even when you make, it doesn’t guarantee anything. Wake Forest, shooting 38.2 percent from 3 all season, shot 43.5 percent on 3s against Syracuse the second time and still lost, 78-70.
“Coach Boeheim has been playing that zone for a very long time but he’s been playing it because he’s had a lot of success with it,” Manning said. “There are a lot of things you have to do. Ball movement is important. Passes below the free-throw line are important too because a lot of times they get you throwing that ball back across the top of the key. Without a penetrating pass they don’t have to shift and match up as much. So for us, it’s ball movement, getting it below the freethrow line and being aggressive.”
And getting production from 7foot-1 Doral Moore (11.2 points, 9.6 rebounds), who is needed to combat Syracuse’s perennial length.
“They are a very, very long, tough, athletic team,” Moore said. “As long as we can penetrate the zone and our guards can drive the zone, put up shots, get the bigs post touches and get people open up shots on the corner, we’ll be fine.” That’s all? “It’s just a matter of getting through that zone and getting through those long athletic dudes because there’s a lot of them,” Moore said.