Two games Tuesday night, not counting Duke-Princeton, and while Clemson’s win over Charleston Southern was solid (78-51), Syracuse’s home loss to Buffalo was fascinating on several levels.
First was that Buffalo limited Syracuse to 23 second half points. Second was that a much smaller Buffalo team absolutely dominated Syracuse on the boards to a tune of 48-35/18-10. Third was listening to Jim Boeheim say in his post-game press conference that you could say whatever you want “but we’re not good.”
And fourth?
Fourth was very strange. We realize that the students were gone for the holidays, according to the announcers, but Syracuse (forgive us Orange fans but it’s true) is a very provincial town and Orange teams, particularly basketball, are at the heart of the city’s identity.