When Syracuse opened the 2019-20 season at home, Carmelo Anthony, star of the Orange’s 2003 NCAA championship club, addressed Jim Boeheim’s squad in the locker room prior to the game. Any words of wisdom or exhortatory pleas seemingly felt on deaf ears as Syracuse dropped a 48-34 decision to No. 11 Virginia.
Tony Bennett’s defending national champs apparently reverted to the strength that has long sustained his program. The Cavaliers turned to their pack-line defense to dictate tempo and terms of engagement a year after losing Kyle Guy and Ty Jerome, a pair of veteran guards adept at outside shooting. The golden oldie approach worked: Boeheim’s club launched his 44th season by hitting 23.6 percent of its shots (13-55), 17.2 percent from 3-point range (5-29).
That was the fewest points scored by Syracuse since 1945, long before the 1985-86 installation of a shotclock in men’s college basketball.
Amazingly, that wasn’t the lowest point production in conference play involving a ranked team during the shotclock era. But it was damn close.
The Orange’s fecklessness against UVa was only eclipsed in modern ACC competition by Kevin Keatts’ 2019 NC State Wolfpack, ranked No. 23 when they lost a 47-24 verdict at home against No. 12 Virginia Tech last February. (The Pack shot 9-54 from the floor, 16.7 percent, and 2-28 on threes.) That was one of five low-production clashes in the shotclock era involving a pair of ranked ACC foes.
Predictably, Boeheim proclaimed himself among those (like UNC’s Roy Williams) who weren’t pleased with opening the season against a conference rival. “You never want to play these league games early,” Boeheim said afterward, insisting his opinion was not affected by his team’s offensive sluggishness against the Cavs. “It’s stupid. It’s just a money grab.”
Of course the money helps to, among other things, pay lucrative coaches’ salaries such as Boeheim’s approximately $2.7 million annually.
“They’re a tough team to play in the first game,” Boeheim said of Virginia, “but we learned from it and we won’t play anybody better defensively this year except for when we have to play them again (on Jan. 11).”
Certainly he hopes that’s the case.
PRONOUNCED PAUCITY OF POINTS Lowest Scoring In ACC Game Involving At Least One Ranked Team During Shotclock Era (Since 1986), Usually Involving Clemson |
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Low | Rank, Loser |
Pts. By Winner |
Rank, Winner | Site | Date |
24 | #23 NC State | 47 | #12 Virginia Tech | NCS | 2/2/19 |
34 | NR Syracuse | 48 | #11 Virginia | SU | 11/6/19 |
36 | #18 Clemson | 61 | #2 Virginia | V | 1/23/18 |
37 | #18 Clemson | 61 | NR Virginia | V | 1/11/95 |
39 | NR Clemson | 66 | #2 No. Carolina | NC | 2/16/95 |
41 | #14 Virginia | 65 | #10 No. Carolina | NC | 2/18/17 |
41 | #6 Wake | 55 | #19 Clemson | C | 1/21/96 |
42 | #21 NC State | 59 | NR Clemson | C | 1/27/00 |
43 | NR Clemson | 63 | #4 Virginia | C | 1/12/18 |
43 | #5 No. Carolina | 53 | #23 Virginia | V | 2/27/17 |
44 | NR NC State | 45 | #16 No. Carolina | NCS | 2/12/97 |
44 | #22 Fla. State | 62 | NR Clemson | C | 1/29/11 |
44 | NR Fla. State | 58 | #3 Virginia | ACCT | 3/12/15 |