Syracuse men’s basketball: Orange take care of business with 82-76 win over Louisville on the road

SU improves to fourth in the ACC with one game to go

The Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team kept its NCAA Tournament hopes alive with an 82-76 win over the Louisville Cardinals on the road Saturday night. Chris Bell continued his dominant play, leading the Orange with 23 points while racking up a season-high seven rebounds with three blocks. Judah Mintz chipped in 21 points and five assists, while Maliq Brown tallied his third double-double of the season.

SU (20-10, 11-8 Atlantic Coast Conference) picked up their third ACC road win and continued their best stretch in conference play with a fourth straight win. Mixing in man-to-man and 2-3 zone defense, SU held the Cardinals (8-21, 3-15 ACC) to just 44% shooting from the field and 21% from three.

It was a sluggish start for both teams in the game’s opening minutes. A bad pass by Justin Taylor and another turnover by Maliq Brown soiled Syracuse’s first two possessions, but Louisville couldn’t turn the miscues into points, bricking its first five shots.

Active hands from Taylor made up for his early mistake. The sophomore forced two turnovers in as many Cardinals possessions, and he flipped a beautiful outlet pass to Chris Bell for a windmill slam.

Tenacious defense from the Orange stifled Louisville midway through the first half. Taylor continued to alter a handful of Louisville passes, leading to poor shot attempts. The Cardinals began the contest 5/16 from the field, but more importantly, the Orange fended their opponent off the glass for a change, leading the rebounding battle 10-7 at the 11-minute mark.

Syracuse complimented its active defense with excellent transition offense. Bell continued his hot shooting stretch, racking up nine points in the first nine minutes. Later, Judah Mintz collected a defensive rebound and spun a pass to a darting Quadir Copeland, who elevated for a two-handed flush to give SU a 22-13 lead.

But the nine-point advantage was short-lived. Louisville’s offense feasted in the paint against Brown, with 20 of its first 23 points coming from close range. A layup by Kaleb Glenn and a turnaround jumper from Mike James cut Syracuse’s lead down to six. Tre White swished a corner three following an empty Orange possession, getting the home team within three at the 4:00 media timeout in the first half.

That was the closest Louisville would get. Mintz converted six points in the half’s waning moments, including a wide-open dunk at the buzzer. Louisville missed five of its last six shots, allowing SU to go in front 39-28 at halftime.

Brown lit a fire under the Orange bench early in the second half. The Virginia native got hacked down low and finished a layup for an and-1 opportunity. Brown missed the ensuing free throw attempt but got the offensive rebound despite four unguarded Cardinals on the blocks. After another Louisville foul, Copeland made an impossible, jaw-dropping 360-layup to put Syracuse back up 11 at the 16:11 mark.

Another three by White reduced u deficit to five, but Bell countered seconds later with a three of his own. Later, Mintz swiped an inside pass from White and took the ball to the rim on the other end for an easy deuce. The Cardinals couldn’t execute on the offensive end, and Taylor and J.J. Starling made them pay with two more scores in the paint, propelling the Orange to a 62-47 advantage with just over 10 minutes left.

Everything was going according to plan until Louisville fired off a 10-0 run in under two minutes, getting the game within nine. Eight of those points came at the free-throw line, forcing Copeland to foul out in the process.

After receiving a pass while wide-open in the paint, Glenn had a prime opportunity to keep the Cardinals’ momentum going. Bell came up from behind and swatted the forward’s shot away, and Brown was fouled after securing the rebound, a pivotal play in stopping the run.

Louisville would work SU’s lead down to seven with under two minutes left, but Mintz worked his foul-drawing magic on a drive and converted two clutch free throws. The Cardinals still did not go away, and a quick 5-0 run brought Syracuse’s lead down to 78-74 with 39 seconds to play. Now forced to foul, Taylor knocked down three straight at the stripe to ice the game for the Orange.

Elsewhere in the ACC, wins by Virginia Tech over Wake Forest and Notre Dame over Clemson helped Syracuse improve to fourth place in conference play with one game remaining. SU will play Clemson on Tuesday night for the right to a double-bye in the ACC Tournament.