Terps vs Orange
Jim Boeheim had to correct the reporter who suggested Monday that Syracuse’s past five games were unusually close.
“No, no. Amend that,” the Hall of Fame coach said after directing the Orange to a 57-55 victory over the Terrapins men’s basketball team. “How many games have we played in the league, 15? All 15. Only one hasn’t been close.”
More often than not during ACC play, Syracuse has done enough to pull out victories in those tight contests. The Orange are 13-2 in the conference and have won six of those games by five points or less. The Terps, meanwhile, are 1-3 in ACC games decided by less than five points.
Monday night, the Terps outscored Syracuse 5-1 in the final two minutes but narrowly missed a few late opportunities to polish off their frantic comeback. Forward Jake Layman missed a free throw with 47.7 seconds left that would have tied the game, guard Nick Faust missed a contested layup through contact with less than 10 seconds to play and guard Seth Allen missed a running 3-pointer at the buzzer.
And in a result that seemed to fit the script of both teams’ seasons, the Orange left College Park with a two-point victory.
“There are certain opportunities that we get that we have to take full advantage of,” guard Dez Wells said. “We can’t miss free throws down the stretch. I missed one; Jake missed one. I should have made better decisions down the stretch for us as a team. … I feel like that really cost us the game.”
Even after Layman — a 71 percent free-throw shooter entering the game — was off the mark on his first of two free throws, the Terps had a chance to take the lead when Syracuse forward C.J. Fair missed a short jumper and Wells grabbed the rebound with 16 seconds to play.
Coach Mark Turgeon elected not to call a timeout as Wells turned up the floor, instead hoping the Terps could find a quality shot in transition.
Wells, the Terps’ leading scorer, pitched the ball to Faust, who drove up the left side of the floor at Orange center Baye Moussa Keita and rose for a layup. Though Keita and Faust made contact in the air, the referees didn’t call a foul and Faust’s attempt was off the mark.
“Those things happen, man,” Wells said. “It could have went either way. It could have been a foul.”
Turgeon felt as if Keita fouled Faust on the play, but Boeheim disagreed.
“They shot 27 free throws,” Boeheim said. “If anybody’s going to complain about officiating, I’m going to complain.”
Either way, Faust couldn’t finish the shot and the Terps were forced to foul Orange guard Trevor Cooney after Syracuse corralled the rebound. Cooney made one of two free throws to give the Orange a 57-55 lead, and the Terps called a timeout to set up an inbounds play with 3.5 seconds left.
Forward Charles Mitchell, inbounding the ball under his own basket, couldn’t get the ball to either of the Terps’ top two options on the play.
“There’s a reason [Boeheim] has won 900 games,” Turgeon said. “[He] took our initial play away.”
So Mitchell passed the ball to Allen, who turned up the floor and took four dribbles before chucking a 3-pointer that clanked off the backboard to the right of the hoop, clipped the rim and bounced away as time expired.
“I didn’t have enough time to do a full jump shot,” said Allen, who scored a game-high 22 points. “I tried to just get it off and tried to get the best shot I could.”
Allen’s misfire on the desperation attempt was the last of a string of plays in the final 50 seconds of Monday night’s game that didn’t go in the Terps’ favor.
As Boeheim made sure to point out in his news conference, the Orange has had its share of close games and still holds a 26-2 record. The Terps, though, have often come out of hotly contested games without a win, aside from Wells’ late 3-pointer to lift the Terps over Miami in January.
Monday’s game, though, was just the latest chapter in a season full of narrow escapes for the Orange and near misses for the Terps.
“It’s a little frustrating,” Allen said. “We’re playing good basketball and we keep coming up short.”
