You may not always get a second chance to make a first impression, but on Sunday, Notre Dame didn’t even get many second chances to make a second impression.
Syracuse, on the other hand, did, and that, as much as anything else, explains why the Orangemen posted an 68-65 victory in an ugly game that neither team seemed determined to win.
Syracuse (19-7, 8-4) swept the season series and climbed into sole possession of second place in the Big East West Division, while the Irish (17-8, 7-5) fell into third, tied with a hot Rutgers team that followed up its Thursday victory over Notre Dame by beating Miami on Sunday.
“They hit more shots than we did,” said Notre Dame forward David Graves.
They took more too, significantly more.
Syracuse attempted 16 more shots than Notre Dame in the first half, 21 more by the end of the game.
Yes, the Irish were more efficient, hitting on better than 44 percent of their attempts to 37 percent for Syracuse, but that hardly made up for a 73-52 shot differential.
And though his team’s 41 rebounds matched Notre Dame’s total, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim called his team’s effort on the boards “Herculean.”
Why?
Because, as Graves said, “offensive rebounds, they just killed us.”
Syracuse had 17 offensive rebounds while limiting Notre Dame to only nine.
For all their difficulty handling Syracuse’s 3-2 zone, the Irish looked as if they would be able to use their speed up the floor–Notre Dame finished with 14 fast-break points, Syracuse with none–to pull away.
In a game that saw the lead change hands 15 times, Notre Dame led by seven with 12:52 to play, but Syracuse rallied.
With Preston Shumpert held to 10 points and Kueth Duany contributing 12, DeShaun Williams took the game into his own hands, putting up 18 points on the strength of four three-pointers.
And Jeremy McNeil, in addition to contributing eight rebounds, put back a Duany miss with 33 seconds remaining for his only two points of the game,extending the Syracuse lead to four.
Matt Carroll led the Irish with 18 points. Ryan Humphrey added 15 points and 13 rebounds.
Notre Dame didn’t shoot the ball well from long distance, going only 5-of-19 from three-point range. And the team didn’t take advantage of the opportunity to shoot the ball unencumbered and up close, connecting on only 14-of-24 foul shots.
Finally, as time wound down, Graves’ desperation three-pointer clanged off the rim unceremoniously.
“We certainly had our chances,” Irish coach Mike Brey said.
First chances, yes. Second chances, not nearly enough.
