Syracuse, N.Y. — The biggest observation about Thursday’s game was made about two hours before the Syracuse-Niagara game tipped off in the Carrier Dome.
SU announced a positive Covid-19 test in its men’s basketball program. That announcement impacted who could play Thursday night and juggled the Orange rotation, especially at the guard spots.
The game? Syracuse led by 14 at the half and cruised to a 75-45 victory.
Here’s what happened:
Syracuse University announced, at 6:18 p.m., that someone in its men’s basketball program tested positive for Covid-19 during last week’s testing. Orange basketball players and staff are tested three times a week, using the most accurate coronavirus tests — a PCR nose swab. The person who tested positive has to isolate for 10 days; anybody deemed to be a close contact must quarantine for 14 days.
The university will not identify people in its athletic programs that test positive. Buddy Boeheim was not in the Carrier Dome on Thursday night and did not play in the game. He had started 36 previous games for the Orange and scored 21 points in SU’s home-opener in the Dome last week.
At any rate, SU had 10 players at its disposal against Niagara. It altered its starting lineup to look like: Joe Girard, Kadary Richmond, Alan Griffin, Quincy Guerrier and Marek Dolezaj. Bourama Sidibe was not available; he had surgery earlier in the week to repair a torn meniscus and is expected to miss about a month. Dolezaj started for him and Guerrier moved into Dolezaj’s traditional power forward spot. Richmond, the freshman point guard, took Buddy Boeheim’s place in the starting lineup.
The bench looked like this: John Bol Ajak, Woody Newton, Frank Anselem, Jesse Edwards, Robert Braswell.
Kadary Richmond, the 6-foot-5 point guard, started for the first time in his Syracuse career.
He struggled a little bit early. He looked a little tentative against a small (5-foot-10) guard assigned to cover him. But then, he got better. A lot better. Joe Girard handled most of the early ball-handling and point guard duties at the start of the game, but as the half wore on, Richmond had the ball in his hands more to make plays or make shots. And he grew more confident as his minutes mounted.
He was good in that first half. He showed nice hesitation and change of speed with his dribble that enabled him to get into the lane. He finished a Girard lob pass. He was 3-of-5 in that half with four rebounds, one blocked shot (he swatted a 3-point attempt from up top) and one assist. And when Niagara was attempting 3-point shots? They did that from Girard’s area of the zone.
He stayed good in the second half. Early in that closing half, he stole a ball out of the Dome air and converted at the other end. He fed Quincy Guerrier in transition. He tipped a ball to himself that a Niagara player had tried to save inbounds, then scooped it up and scored. He found Woody Newton with a lob that Newton threw down.
When it was all said and done, Richmond scored 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting. He had seven rebounds, six assists, four steals, three blocks and three turnovers.
Quincy Guerrier was just too powerful, too active on the backboards and ultimately too good for Niagara, which had no real answer for him.
Guerrier scored 12 first-half points. He did not miss any of his five shot attempts. And he had eight rebounds. All of this happened in 15 minutes of the first half. With 16-plus minutes to go in the game, he had already achieved a double-double (14 points, 10 boards).
Guerrier keeps talking this season about how much he is concentrating on working around the basket, on rebounding the ball. He clearly understands these are his best basketball attributes.
He did, for good measure, sink a 3-point shot in the first half. But it was his work around the basket that made him so impressive. He finished with a game-high 23 points in 25 minutes. He was 9-of-10 overall and 1-for-1 from the 3-point line.
Niagara, which recently resumed basketball practices after its own pause for Covid-19, looked like a team that just returned back to basketball action.
The Purple Eagles struggled to shoot the ball and struggled to score. They shot 29 percent in the first half. They missed 19 of their 24 3-point attempts. They were worse than that in the second half.
Credit part of that to SU’s defense, which seemed a tad tighter than in the opener against Bryant. But as Syracuse players and coaches will attest, it’s difficult to pause for a couple weeks, then resume playing basketball. Thursday’s game was the season-opener for Niagara.
We’ve talked a lot about the weirdness of playing in the Carrier Dome without fans. SU is piping in music during the breaks. The people at the scorers’ desk are all wearing face masks and plastic shields. For me, after watching so much basketball on television since last March, one of the more interesting Covid concessions came during timeouts, when Jim Boeheim sat in a chair surrounded by the five guys currently in the game; all of those guys occupied their own seats. Players not in the game stood in a distance back wearing gaiters to cover their faces.
Joe Girard continued to struggle with his shooting touch on Thursday. Girard who was 2-for-14 overall and 2-for-9 from the 3-point line in the season-opener against Bryant, went 3-of-11 overall and 1-of-6 from the 3-point line against Niagara. He scored eight points.
He had a couple of assists and an uncharacteristic four turnovers.
He had company from a shooting perspective. SU as a team shot 22 percent from the 3-point line (5-of-23). Buddy Boeheim’s absence did not help. That is one area that the Orange needs to improve upon going forward.
This and that: There was never much doubt about who would win Thursday after the first few minutes elapsed. SU is just a better team. The Orange, though, still showed signs of rust. There were weird turnovers and shots that didn’t look that comfortably launched. The Orange missed all 12 of their second-half 3-point attempts. SU still has plenty of work to do. … Without Bourama Sidibe, who will be sidelined for up to a month after meniscus surgery, Marek Dolezaj played the bulk of the minutes in the middle. Jim Boeheim tried Jesse Edwards there for a brief period (1 minute) in the first half. He inserted John Bol Ajak there in the second half, then moved Ajak to forward and put in Frank Anselem. Boeheim has said Dolezaj will be his primary center until Sidibe is ready to return. … Freshman forward Woody Newton was one of the first subs in (with Robert Braswell) on Thursday. Newton, a lean, springy athlete, drained a 3-point shot in his first attempt and had some nice moments. Newton played at the top of the SU zone in the second half; he finished with nine points and five rebounds in 15 minutes of game action. … Ajak, who redshirted last season, played his first minutes of 2020-21 against Niagara.
More Syracuse basketball:
You grade the Orange after win over Niagara
Syracuse men’s basketball reports a positive Covid-19 test in its program; will impact Niagara game
Syracuse University: Water on Carrier Dome floor was not the result of leak in new roof
Triple double-doubles, strength of schedule, Jim Boeheim’s tenure: Mike’s Mailbox
Donna Ditota is a reporter for the Syracuse Post-Standard and Syracuse.com. Got a comment or idea for a story? Reach her at dditota@syracuse.com.