No. 25 Texas A&M falls 74-67 to Syracuse in Bahamas

We know we have to do a great job with their size, and then Wiltjer can step out and shoot the 3, get to the post. Shooting just doesn’t seem to be one of those things, so it would probably be within both his and Syracuse’s best interest if he scaled back the number of shots he’s taking.

Syracuse capped off an exceptional run in the Battle 4 Atlantis by topping Texas A&M, 74-67, in the tournament championship game on Friday. Syracuse is 4-9 against the spread against the SEC, 7-19 against the spread following a win, and 4-10-a against the spread against a team with a winning record. They look to be a very good team that should be another excellent test for the Orange. Jim Boeheim’s team, which wasn’t eligible (nor good enough) to reach the NCAA Tournament last season, has a couple of reliable and still-improving veteran players in Michael Gbinije and Trevor Cooney.

The Orange got back in the game with a 7-0 run, and eventually tied it in Tyler Lydon’s jumper with 3:22 left in the half.

“We made 3’s early so they had to come out and cover us”, Cooney said. But, we’re not a team that’s gonna make excuses. “That’s what we gotta continue to do”. Jalen Jones had a game-best 23 for the Aggies in the loss.

The Orange led by as many as 25, but had to stave off a late charge by the 49ers, who cut the lead to just nine in the final two minutes. Unfortunately for them, with about 10 minutes left to play Syracuse went on a big 11-3 run to take a commanding lead. He had 15 assists in three games, was 8-for-11 from the free-throw line against Texas A&M and has six steals against UConn.

“We had to game plan this one out there – the whole night”, coach Kevin Ollie said. But Ollie wouldn’t use fatigue as an excuse for UConn’s lackluster defensive effort in the second half against Syracuse.

The Orange was aggressive with its zone, but the Aggies were just as patient working for open shots. MI made 8 of 28 3-pointers and was outrebounded by 10, making a comeback impossible.

UConn led for most of the first half, enjoying efficient early shooting from former Seton Hall Pirate Sterling Gibbs and Shonn Miller. But UConn’s inability to finish shots around the basket cost them, and Syracuse (5-0) had a big shooting day, shooting 49 percent in the first half, and almost 60 in the second half. The Zags fell to No. 25 Texas A&M on Thursday 62-61 while the Huskies fell to Syracuse 79-76. A night after notching his second triple-double of the season, Valentine took over another way on Friday, hitting five straight threes in the span of about five minutes to put the Spartans up double-figures in a game they were struggling to take control of.

Gbinije and Cooney also had solid games. Boeheim said “there’s a reasonable likelihood that we would play them in a few years someday soon”.

The Huskies have gotten a lot of practice against the zone so far this season, which is good, because Syracuse will deploy its notorious zone defense all game Thursday. He’ll practice, but we’ve got to get Spike back to where he can move better than how he’s moving. “That’s alright, though. We’re ready to play”. I think our freshmen had had freshmen moments. “We’ve got to be ready for it”.

The reunion comes at a time when both teams are playing fairly well.