Source: USA TODAY
WASHINGTON — Long known for his 2-3 zone defense, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim says that a few years ago he decided to stop having his team play man-to-man, even occasionally. The practice time, he figured, could be put to better use.
Hard to argue, given Orange’s results over the past two seasons – and especially after the way it confounded and discombobulated top-seeded Indiana during an NCAA East Region semifinal Thursday night at Verizon Center.
The 61-50 final margin wasn’t indicative of the degree to which Indiana struggled en route to season worsts in scoring, field goal percentage and scoring-deficit faced. It also tied season worsts for turnovers, opponents’ steals and blocked shots.
Syracuse (29-9) easily advanced to the round of eight for a second consecutive season.
Its opponent Saturday will be a familiar one — Big East Conference rival and No. 3 seed Marquette (26-8), which defeated second-seeded Miami (Fla.) in the other semifinal here Thursday.
Marquette defeated Syracuse in the teams’ regular-season meeting, 74-71, on Feb. 25 in Milwaukee.
Hoosiers coach Tom Crean talked about how he had tried to have his team simulate working against a zone and how they seemed to understand the tactics required to attack it. “But,” he conceded, “you have to face facts. We haven’t seen a zone like that.”
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Indiana had more turnovers (19) than baskets (16), and its best season in years came to an unceremonious end. The Hoosiers (29-7) claimed their first outright Big Ten Conference regular-season championship since 1993, but now await decisions from junior guard Victor Oladipo and sophomore center Cody Zeller about whether they want to turn pro.
“This group has done things that have not been done at Indiana in a long time,” Crean said. “They made it a big-time place again.”
But they looked lost during the game’s first 13-plus minutes as they tallied three baskets, 11 turnovers and saw three of their shots blocked. They fell behind 11-3, 22-9 and 29-11. They made a brief surge early the second half, getting within six points with about 14 minutes left.
But their misfires and miscues returned, helping Syracuse go on 14-5 run for a 52-37 lead with about seven minutes to play.
Prior to tonight, Indiana had not trailed in a game by more than 12 points.
“They were not used to our zone,” said Syracuse guard Brandon Triche said. “We’re very long and very active, and when we’re active like we were tonight, we’re hard to score on.”
Offensively, the 6-4 Triche and 6-6 Michael Carter-Williams did pretty much what they wanted against Indiana’s 6-0 Jordan Hulls and 6-0 Kevin “Yogi” Ferrell. Carter-Williams ended up with 24 points, Triche with 14.
“Mike pretty much had a field day going to the basket,” Triche said.
But the story was Syracuse’s zone, which aggressively extended beyond the three-point line, then collapsed on the Hoosiers when they managed to get into the lane.
Indiana entered the game among the top 10 in the nation in scoring (79.5 points per game), field goal percentage (.486) and three-point percentage (.408).
This night, it shot 33% from the field, including 20% from three-point range. Of its 19 turnovers, 12 came on steals. And 10 of its shots were blocked.
“Defensively, we’ve been good all year,” Boeheim said. “Tonight we were really good.”
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