By the time Adrian guards took their eyes off Syracuse defenders and the ball they were flinging around the perimeter, the final seconds of the shot clock were ticking away.

It wasn’t that the Bulldogs forgot to shoot, just that too often scoring was an afterthought to not losing possession. SU’s poor shooting allowed its Division III opponent to stay within striking distance of the Orange in the first half. But No. 23 Syracuse’s final preseason game ultimately devolved into a full-court physical mismatch and learning experience, which SU won 84-35 in front of 7,680 in the Carrier Dome on Monday night.

“It doesn’t get frustrating to go on the court and think we’re better than anybody because that’s the mindset that we should have when we play against this team, Duke, North Carolina, it doesn’t mater who we play against,” freshman point guard Kaleb Joseph said. “We should always go in thinking that we’re going to win and that we are the best team.”

Rakeem Christmas didn’t have to jump to block shots. Adrian’s tallest player was 6 feet, 5 inches. Open shots were easy to come by for the Orange. Simple perimeter passing stretched the Adrian defense. But for much of the game, Syracuse simply wasn’t making its shots.

In a two-minute span of the first half, five Syracuse players combined to take and miss seven shots, including a Ron Patterson layup, and five SU players also combined to snag six offensive rebounds. The Orange scored just three points in that time but led 15-6 after a pair of Chris McCullough free throws. Monday’s test was mental more than anything.

“We knew that we were bigger than them and more skilled,” junior guard Trevor Cooney said. “But you got to come out and you got to come ready to play, no matter who you’re playing you got to come out ready. And if not it could be a close game and you never know what’s going to happen.”

SU’s shooting struggles were reflected in Cooney’s game. At halftime, he was shooting 2-of-7, 28.6 percent from the field. The Orange led 37-24 and it was after shooting 12-of-41, 29.3 percent, from the field.

But 58 seconds into the second half, Christmas punched away a Curtis Gordon shot. Seconds later, Adrian was whistled for its fourth of sixth shot clock violations in the game. Cooney hit his first of two 3s in the game on the next possession from just inside the right wing to give SU a 41-24 lead.

Two more Adrian shot clock violations, 10 minutes and 19 more Syracuse points followed before Adrian got a point. It was a free throw.

“Well we made a couple shots, we had a couple improvements,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “… Second half we just made some more shots. That’s all.”

Boeheim continued to shuffle through his nine-deep lineup. Chinonso Obokoh, recovering from a right thigh tear, was the only SU player who played less than 20 minutes, playing 11. And no one other than Joseph and Tyler Roberson — who played 27 — played more than 25.

The uncontested shots that the Orange had clanked in the first half began to fall. When they didn’t, SU could count on breakaways against a team that barely had time to spot the rim.

As the game drained away, the Carrier Dome crowd stopped celebrating blocks. Syracuse finished with 10 and the blocks more closely resembled kills in a volleyball match. 

In the final five minutes, as a game that Adrian never led ticked away, the loudest cheers went up for McCullough’s layup with 4:24 remaining. Syracuse led 76-29. There was nothing left for SU to win in the game — besides free tacos for anyone with a ticket.

“I think it wasn’t too hard to manage the game tonight,” Jospeh said. “I think we got a lot of great shots and guys were aggressive, so this wasn’t really too tough.”

Published on November 10, 2014 at 9:07 pm

Contact Jacob: jmklinge@syr.edu | @Jacob_Klinger_