Syracuse's Glaring Concerns
As Temple executed their fifth consecutive season with a Top 10 victory, the Owls highlighted some glaring weaknesses in Syracuse's game. The normally stingy 2-3 zone of Syracuse, looked unusually porous, allowing guards and wings to get into the weak spots of the zone at the foul line and foul line extended. This allowed Temple, particularly Khalif Wyatt and Anthony Lee to turn and face, knock down jumpers, take one-dribble and pull-up or draw the defense and dump down. The Orange guards need to become more aggressive pressuring opposing guards and control the passing lanes. It seemed almost too easy for Temple to gain entry into these areas and key up their offense.
Or maybe it was just a case of catching Syracuse on a poor-shooting day. The Orange hit just two 3-pointers in the loss to Temple, and continually failed to capitalize on their 35+ attempts at the foul line.
Temple, a team without a single player over 220 pounds compared to Syracuse's strength and athletically gifted frontcourt, outworked Syracuse over and over again. There were loose balls, offensive rebounds, 50/50 plays, that always seem to end in Temple's favor. There were 19 offensive rebounds for Temple, including six alone from 6'9" starting center Lee. He dominated Syracuse's frontline of future pros. And, Syracuse pressed throughout the second-half and were beat or at least gave up the home run pass every single time down, making life breaking the pressure easy for the Owls.
By NBA-DRAFT.com Staff Writer - 12 -22- 12
