Opponent Preview: Syracuse Orange
The Hoyas take a pause from Big East play to travel to upstate New York to take on the 6-2 Syracuse Orange in primetime on Saturday night.
Syracuse Orange
Head Coach: Jim Boeheim (46th season; 1071-401 career/school record)
Conference: ACC
Current Record: 6-2 (1-1 ACC)
Last Season’s Record: 18-14, 10-10 (6th in ACC)
Projected Starting Lineup: PG Joe Girard, SG Buddy Boeheim, SF Alan Griffin, PF Quincy Guerrier, C Marek Dolezaj
Orange By the Numbers
KenPom Rank: #36
KenPom Adjusted Offensive Efficiency: 109.1 (56th in the country)
KenPom Adjusted Defensive Efficiency: 91.7 (24th)
KenPom Adjusted Tempo: 77th
FG%: 44.3 (177th)
3FG%: 32.0 (223rd)
FT%: 77.6 (20th)
Turnovers per game: 13.5 (193rd)
Total Rebounds per Game: 401 (61st)
Three-Point Attempts per Game: 27.4 (34th)
Players to Watch
Quincy Guerrier, Forward
After averaging 13.5 points and 10.4 rebounds per game as a freshman, Guerrier has taken another jump in his sophomore year, starting every game so far for the Orange, and averaging 20.2 points and 11.2 rebounds per game.
Guerrier is an extremely efficient player, leading the team in both true shooting percentage (71.7%) and effective field goal percentage (71.4%). He is a 44.4% three-point shooter as well, taking an average of 2.3 three-point attempts per game. This is all despite having a usage rate of 17.7%, which is seventh on the team out of 12 players who have seen minutes this season.
At 6’7”, 200 lbs. Guerrier will likely be guarded by Jamorko Pickett, who will be giving up 15 pounds to Guerrier, but has two inches on him. That should be a fun matchup.
Alan Griffin, Guard
Griffin is in his first year at Syracuse after transferring from Illinois in the offseason, and has been a major contributor to the team, leading the Orange in scoring (16.4 points per game), on 44/38/85 shooting splits.
Griffin does more than just score. He’s also averaging 3.1 assists per game, as well as 7.6 points per game.
Kadary Richmond, Guard
Richmond was a player that Georgetown had interest in coming out of high school, and has been solid off of the bench so far for the Orange in his freshman season, averaging 8.1 points, 4.3 rebounds, 3.8 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.
At 6-foot-5, the Brooklyn native is a big guard who can guard wings too. His length is sure to cause issues for the turnover-happy Hoyas in the 2-3 zone for Syracuse.
Marek Dolezaj, Center
The lanky Dolezaj, now a senior, has been playing center for the Orange this season, with senior center Bourama Sidibe sidelined for most of the season due to injury. While Sidibe missed Syracuse’s game on January 6th, he is expected to play on Saturday evening, which will be sorely needed, because Dolezaj, who is listed at 201 pounds soaking wet, will not be able to defend Qudus Wahab in the post.
Dolezaj is averaging 12.1 points per game this season on 55.6% field goal shooting, but is only taking 7.9 shots per game.
While the Slovakian native is a mobile player, he lacks a three-point shot, which should help Wahab stay with him on defense. Because Dolezaj gives up so much size to Wahab, it’s possible that Syracuse could make a starting lineup change on Saturday night if Sidibe is healthy enough, putting him in at center and moving to Dolezaj to the 4, or bringing him off the bench.
Keys to the Game
Solve the Zone
With a lack of offensive creators on this year’s team, Georgetown is going to struggle mightily against Syracuse’s 2-3 zone. Jamorko Pickett would be an ideal candidate to operate in the high post in the middle of the zone, but his lack of passing ability and vision, combined with his hesitancy in taking his shot, could lead to issues for him in that role.
The Hoyas are going to have issues finding clean windows to post Qudus Wahab up down low, which means it will be on players like Dante Harris and Jahvon Blair to dribble penetrate to break down the zone and get the ball moving. It’s a lot to ask for two players who have had issues as primary creators, and it’s no sure thing that the two will be able to do that on Saturday evening.
Take Care of The Ball
Syracuse is forcing 22.3 turnovers per 100 possessions, while Georgetown is giving up 22 turnovers per 100 possessions. That pits a strength of Syracuse against Georgetown’s biggest weakness, and could be a major issue.
Attack Dolezaj
As mentioned above, if Dolezaj starts at center, Georgetown has to attack him with Wahab and draw fouls on him, as the 200-pound center simply does not have the size or strength to stop any of Georgetown’s big men.
While Sidibe, if healthy, would provide better defense against Wahab and Timothy Ighoefe, Sidibe is also very limited in what he can do offensively, and would hurt the Orange on that end, as he mostly just clogs the paint.
Get an early couple of foul calls on Dolezaj to get him out of the game and disrupt the Cuse offense, and the Hoyas will be in solid position.
Find the Right Shot
Georgetown needs to work to move the ball and find open, clean shots to take against the Cuse zone. Syracuse is 311th in the country in allowing its opponents to attempt field goals, at 63.5 field goal attempts per game, but opponents are shooting just 38.8% on those shots, and are shooting 29.4% on three-point field goals. This means that the Cuse zone lulls opponents into taking plenty of bad shots, so Georgetown will need to be patient and wait for the right shot to come, rather than rushing bad shots against the 2-3 zone.
Dominate the Boards
Georgetown is the eighth-best team in the country in rebounds per game, and now gets to go up against a Syracuse team that got beaten on the boards 49-33 in their last game against Pittsburgh, and is 61st in the country in total rebounding. There’s no reason that the Hoyas can’t dominate the rebounding battle in similar fashion on Saturday night.
Prediction: Syracuse 70 - Georgetown 66
Georgetown has the advantage on the boards, yes, but lacks the offensive ability to have success against the Syracuse 2-3 zone, which means points should be hard to come by for the Hoyas, unless they can get great performances from Dante Harris and Jahvon Blair both.
While the Orange are not a good team, and do not have good guard play, between Joe Girard and Buddy Boeheim, Georgetown has issues of its own, and the turnover bug will likely plague it again on Saturday night against the 2-3 zone.