Syracuse entered halftime shooting 59.3 percent from the field. It had posted 42 points and was leading Florida State by three. But for the 15 minutes that separated the first half from the second, SU head coach Jim Boeheim spoke only about his team’s defense.

“He loves the zone. He’s just trying to perfect things and get us to go 100 percent physically and mentally,” SU’s Michael Gbinije said. “He’s just trying to get us going.”

Syracuse (17-8, 7-5 Atlantic Coast) allowed Malik Beasley and Dwayne Bacon to combine for 21 points in the first half. In the second half, though, the two freshman stars had a total of four points combined. Syracuse extended the zone to close out on the shooters and the Seminoles shot just 20 percent from behind the arc after the break in an 85-72 win over Florida State (16-8, 6-6).

FSU averages just six 3-pointers a game, but had that total in the first half. SU focused on making the adjustment.

“Our defense was just better in the second half,” Boeheim said. “Our defense was good for the first 17 minutes of the second half. We were just a little better on the 3-point shooters. And we rebounded better.”

Bacon shot 0-of-4 in the second half while Beasley shot 1-of-7. With Syracuse up by 23 points and four minutes to play Bacon missed a layup and Beasley missed a 3-pointer five seconds later after Xavier Rathan-Mayes got an offensive rebound.

The Seminoles got 63 shots up, 13 more than Syracuse, but had trouble finding any sort of rhythm.

“Their guards were scoring and we wanted to get out to them,” Trevor Cooney said. “They can take tough shots and take away the 3s. They were able to knock a couple in the first half. We were just moving and getting out to them.”

Syracuse’s lead got as large as 85-61. The Seminoles scored the final 11 points of the game. Boeheim watched most of it either sitting on the bench or with his arms crossed near halfcourt, waiting for the final seconds to tick off.

He said his team’s defense in the final moments wasn’t good, but it far from trumped the excellence it showed in the first 17 mutes of the second half.

“We gave up six 3s in the first half and we knew we had to change that,” Tyler Lydon said. “We played aggressive and played our game on defense.”

Published on February 11, 2016 at 11:16 pm

Contact Sam: sblum@syr.edu | @SamBlum3