PITTSBURGH – For a team that plays strictly 2-3 zone on defense, Syracuse can’t seem to figure out how to score against one.

Not even one that doesn’t boast a player over 6-foot-5.

‘We go against it every day,’ junior guard Brandon Triche said. ‘You would think we’d be good at it, but we’re playing against a different team, a different style of it. That’s the toughest part for us.’

For the second straight game, Syracuse struggled to attack a zone defense. The top-seeded Orange (32-2) stumbled to a 72-65 win over 16th-seeded UNC Asheville (24-10) Thursday in the second round of the NCAA Tournament at Consol Energy Arena. SU jacked up 23 3-pointers in the game and failed to take full advantage of the much smaller Bulldogs defense.

Still, Syracuse did enough to advance to the third round to take on No. 8 Kansas State.

The Orange had difficulty with Cincinnati’s 2-3 zone in its second loss of the year last week, and it was more of the same in the matchup against UNC Asheville.

‘I think after the last two games, you know, although we have a pretty good zone defense and we play against it every day,’ head coach Jim Boeheim said, ‘we have not been very proficient on offense against the zone defenses we’ve seen the last two games by any stretch of the imagination.’

In the first half, Syracuse showed little interest in working the ball into the zone and seemed content launching shots from the perimeter. Even when the Orange passed up decent looks from deep, the shooters repeatedly took one dribble inside the arc before taking a long jumper.

With SU settling for long-range shots, UNC Asheville was able to keep its small lineup on the floor. The center position in the Bulldogs’ zone – typically manned by someone 6-foot-9 or taller at Syracuse – was held down by players ranging from 6 feet 3 inches to 6 feet 5 inches for almost the entire game.

But the SU didn’t take advantage. And the offensive struggles led to a 34-30 halftime deficit, thanks in large part to 1-of-13 shooting from 3-point range.

‘We didn’t get to the basket like we should have,’ Triche said. ‘We didn’t get those guys in foul trouble. I think we took a lot of shots that we could make. But we have to get to the basket and not rely on the 3-point shot.’

Though the Bulldogs employed the zone for much of the game, they occasionally switched to man-to-man defense out of timeouts. Point guard Scoop Jardine said the changing defenses confused the Orange when it tried to get into offensive sets.

But for the most part, it was the scrappy 2-3 zone that gave the Orange fits.

‘In all zones, in all man-to-man, you got to keep them away from the basket and you got to rebound,’ UNC Asheville head coach Eddie Biedenbach said. ‘We just played a good 2-3 zone and mixed it up a little bit. … Just enough to keep them off balance.’

After halftime, SU started to take advantage of its size by crashing the offensive glass and getting to the middle of the defense. The Orange finished with 34 points in the paint.

‘We talked about we were 1-for-13 (from 3),’ SU forward James Southerland said. ‘We just basically had to go in there and create nice, easy buckets. And when we do that, it’s going to create open shots.’

But that didn’t lead to more triples for the Orange. Southerland knocked down three 3s but the rest of the team was a miserable 2-of-18 from long range.

‘Pretty much everybody on our team can shoot it and make it,’ Triche said. ‘But when we’re all off, then we have to adjust and then try it later.’

In the end, one of the biggest plays of the game came when Syracuse made that adjustment and attacked the paint.

With less than three minutes remaining and the Orange up five, Dion Waiters drove to the rim from the top of the key. Southerland slid over to replace the sophomore out top, and Waiters spun back to pass him the ball. The junior swished the 3 to put Syracuse up by eight.

SU held on from there, but its offensive ineptitude against zones in the past two games is cause for concern in Boeheim’s mind.

The head coach believes his Orange will play better Saturday against Kansas State, assuming the Wildcats don’t decide to employ a 2-3 zone, too.

‘We haven’t played well in the last two games,’ Boeheim said. ‘I think part of it is the way we’ve attacked the zone defenses that we’ve seen. Maybe they’ll play zone, too. Maybe we’ll get better at it.’

zjbrown@syr.edu

Published on March 15, 2012 at 12:00 pm