SOUTH BEND, Ind. — Joseph Girard III deposited the ball into the arms of a seemingly angered T.J. Gibbs behind him and quickly ran out of harm’s way. SU’s freshman had bothered the Irish all game. The buzzer had sounded. The game was over. Syracuse had won — its fourth-straight victory, a usual time for triumph, elation. Yet the Fighting Irish crowd’s energy remained tense, and the Orange remained stoic. A six-point lead seemingly spelled the end of action, but then madness ensued.

Syracuse let in a bucket inside, then it threw away the ball and allowed another. Girard easily hit two free throws, but Notre Dame’s John Mooney sunk another layup inside, and the Orange needed to inbound, cleanly, again. The ball was dumped underneath to Girard, and Mooney swatted it at his feet and out of bounds. Mooney and the rest of the Irish jumped. For a second, it seemed as if the game had another pulse, another chance to crash down towards disaster, but the referees waved the call off. Behind Girard, Gibbs hollered. He wanted the ball. So, Girard gave it to him.

“I never like to be the one to really start, but I’m also never going to be the one to back down from it,” Girard said after the game. “If guys want to come after me like that, it kind of fuels me.”

The locker room after the game echoed a similar sentiment. There was still a trace of buzzing, of disbelief. Players said wins like this one put into perspective just how low the early-season feeling was but also how wrong everyone was about them. Yet when Syracuse (12-7, 5-3 Atlantic Coast) beat Notre Dame (11-7, 2-5) 84-82 in its second matchup with the Irish this season, freshman Brycen Goodine said the Orange’s focus was to stay grounded. A once-dominant performance from the Orange came down to a last-second scuffle as a team that had beaten SU earlier in the season faulted through the same gap as three teams before: wondering where this Orange team has come from. And now SU is wondering when, if, it will stop.

“We can beat anybody,” Elijah Hughes said. “Anybody can beat us (too), but we got to keep working.”

Wednesday’s victory stretches the Orange’s winning streak to four games, a run that began at a moment the Orange’s season seemed lost. A defeat on Wednesday would have simply restored the status quo, yet a win perhaps makes the Orange’s progress impossible to ignore.

Much has changed for Syracuse since the last time these teams met, when Notre Dame’s offense overpowered SU. Since then, the Orange won with their defense against Virginia. They won with their offense against Boston College. They won with both against Virginia Tech. When Notre Dame came out of the gate hot in South Bend, SU responded immediately with the game trending in the opposite direction. SU took the lead and for moments looked like its runs would never end. 

The beginning of the game brought much of the same play foreshadowed in the previous matchup. John Mooney, one of the ACC’s top big men, rebounded at a high rate and scored even better. Notre Dame scored quickly from the outside and jumped out to a nine-point lead by scoring 30 points in under 10 minutes. Syracuse appeared to fall into its early-season tendencies. It exposed the ball on its dribbles for easy poke-aways, fouled on the interior and left a major spot open on defense every time down the floor. After Girard hit a 3-pointer on one end, Dane Goodwin answered on the other end with a banking 3-pointer in the corner on a shot that looked destined for the side rim. Marek Dolezaj spun inside for a layup. Gibbs hit a calm floater in the lane. 

Almost as it always has, the run to break out of purgatory came in a way almost subtle. Girard pushed up the floor, stopped, pivoted and pushed a floater into the rim. He added another 3-pointer and continued to push the pace with the Orange down two points. Off another rebound, Bourama Sidibe streaked down the court. Girard lofted an advance pass. For a moment, it seemed as if he might have pushed too hard. 

Sidibe caught it, but upon seeing the sideline he stumbled, leaped forward and wrapped an aimless pass across his body. The pass found Buddy, who swung to Hughes, who gave SU the lead. The end of the first half provided similar fortunes, and SU went to the break with a four-point lead.

The Orange’s offense, once the enlightened boost for the underdog SU, came out of halftime dominant. Bourama Sidibe rediscovered his touch inside. Hughes’ scoring ballooned to 22 points early as SU’s star looked to post up and score. Girard, despite a poor shooting night, pulled down nine rebounds and pushed forward.

The Irish had their answer and went on a 13-2 run to retake the lead. Syracuse looked imbalanced on defense and bothered on offense. But this isn’t the same Orange team that blew games earlier in the season. The Orange responded and regained a lead they never fully thought they lost sight of. When SU needed to hold on, its free throws came from a mixed group of the sure-handed Girard and the streaky Quincy Guerrier, yet both led to the same 2-for-2 result. The late execution improved SU to 3-0 on the road in the ACC. 

“Always good to go in and steal a win in somebody else’s spot,” Girard, a 96% free-throw shooter said.

When the game still seemed like it could go either way and there was just less than one minute remaining and a two-possession game, fans in Purcell Pavilion headed toward the exits. 

Though it seemed an early surrender, closing out games — once a struggle to even have that opportunity — has become the Orange’s routine. Notre Dame recorded a steal and a bucket to keep the game interesting. But the fans seemingly had known SU has become adept at this part, and it finished the game like it’s grown used to doing.

Published on January 22, 2020 at 9:11 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary