City of Basketball Love

Ari Rosenfeld (@realA_rosenfeld)
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SYRACUSE, N.Y. - While the final score, a 57-47 Syracuse victory, may not indicate it, Lehigh’s season-opener was at one point a blowout, and not in the Mountain Hawks favor.

Over the final 13 minutes of the first half, Lehigh was held without a field goal and turned the ball over 11 times; the Orange took advantage by ripping off a 24-3 run to enter halftime with a 20-point advantage.

“I think we were just nervous, to be honest with you,” ninth year head coach Brett Reed said. “If we’re talking about the last 13-15 minutes of the first half, we caved in at that point and a lot of it was just errors that I think would be uncharacteristic for us with a more aggressive mindset and mentality.”

The preferred metaphor on the Lehigh side was that of a boxing match; both Reed and junior center Tim Kempton referenced Syracuse delivering the opening punch, and Lehigh being unable to respond.

“We came out in the first half and we were just on our heels,” Kempton said. “They seemed to punch us in the mouth really early and we didn’t return any blows.”

“We kind of received a punch from Syracuse,” Reed added, “somewhat self-inflicted where we walked right into it, but then we staggered a little bit and it took us a long time to be able to get our feet back underneath us.”

The key for Lehigh going forward, however, is the fact that it was in fact able to get its feet back underneath it and respond with a flurry of punches in the second half."

After a first half characterized by cold shooting and sloppy play, the Mountain Hawks came out of the locker room for the second half playing inspired basketball. They outscored the Orange 18-4 over the first 7:25 of the second session, cutting Syracuse’s 20-point lead to single digits and finally looking like the aggressors after an uncharacteristically passive first 20 minutes.

Although Syracuse is far from an elite team this season, as preseason bracketologists project them as being on the NCAA Tournament bubble, hanging with a team with the prestige of the Orange in a historic venue such as the Carrier Dome is encouraging going forward, even in a losing effort.

The experience should be especially valuable in back-to-back road tilts against sixth-ranked Virginia and 23rd-ranked Purdue later this month.

“One thing we said right when we got to the locker room was, ‘Hey, we have to learn from this.’,” Kempton said. “With these games, we just have to learn some big point sand carry them over as the regular season goes on and we play more high-major teams, and especially when we get into conference play.”

When it was all said and done, Lehigh had outscored Syracuse by 10 points in the second half in front of 21,286 fans, about 21,000 (rough estimate) of which were clad in orange and navy blue.

Though it was overshadowed by their own poor offensive effort, the Mountain Hawks held a talented Orange team to just 34 percent from the field, stealing the ball 11 times en route to forcing 17 turnovers.

While coaches generally aren’t big on moral victories, even Reed had to admit that he was encouraged by what he saw from his team, which was picked by Patriot League coaches to win the league in its preseason poll.

“I think our guys really pulled together. I think they didn’t despair and they showed some resolve. That was really important for me to be able to see as a coach,” he said. “Our players, instead of playing on their heels, played more aggressively and more assertively, and certainly much more confidently, in not only their own ability, but in what we’re trying to do as a team. Walking away as a coach, at least that’s a positive that we can take from this.

“I think there are some things that we can draw from and I think this game will help us on our journey throughout the season.”

While many of the first half woes could be chalked up to jitters and the rarity of playing against a team that plays exclusively a zone defense, one improvement the Mountain Hawks must make going forward is in their outside shooting.

Junior guard Austin Price knocked down two triples, but none of his teammates were able to join in the effort. In the absence of sophomore wing Brandon Alston, who is out for the season with a knee injury, someone will need to step up alongside Price and knock down shots.

Reed was not concerned post game, however, citing starters Jesse Chuku, Kahron Ross, and Devon Carter as guys that are all more than capable of hitting from the outside.

"I believe that we have guys who can make shots," Reed said. "There are a number of guys that we can ask to step up and make shots. Tonight we just didn’t demonstrate that, but I think we can moving forward.”