Jim Boeheim stood on the sideline for most of the first half. Sometimes he had his hands on his hips. Sometimes he had his arms crossed. Sometimes he gestured with his hands toward the referees, his players or no one in particular.

Monmouth’s hit its first 3 right in front of Boeheim, who stood still on the sideline. Late in the first half, he pointed to his temples with both index fingers after Tyus Battle committed a foul. Syracuse’s defense was shoddy and Boeheim let his team know.

But in a 4-minute, 36-second stretch, Syracuse expanded its lead from 10 to 19 midway through the second half because of its defense. In that span, No. 18 SU (3-0) racked up seven rebounds and two blocks. Monmouth (1-2) shot 1-for-8 from the field. The Orange cruised to the eventual 71-50 victory, but didn’t come without a scare and it took the nine-point run to crack the its toughest test of the season open.

“We pushed them into tough spots and made them take tough shots,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “I thought to start the second half, we were really efficient. We got on the boards, really did a good job on the boards.”

The Hawks nearly made the NCAA Tournament last season, and Boeheim said earlier in the week the team is even better this year. At halftime, Syracuse led by eight. Despite the Orange having a significant height advantage, Monmouth outpaced SU in the paint by 14 points in the first half.

The Orange had to sharpen its rotations. Monmouth started a four-guard lineup and stuck with the alignment for most of the game. That forced Syracuse’s zone to extend out further, opening up seams inside early on.

In the second half, Monmouth shot just 1-of-18 from 3. Its perimeter shooters weren’t converting and Syracuse took advantage.

“We did a good job of knowing what they were going to do,” Tyler Roberson said of defending the four-guard lineup, “and we were just disciplined and did a really good job defensively.”

After the Hawks cut the deficit to 10, Howard snagged a defensive rebound and pushed the ball up the court for a layup. Two minutes later, Howard knocked down a 3 off an Andrew White steal. On the next possession, he drove righty, drew a foul and made a free throw. Off a Tyler Lydon block, Howard assisted a Tyus Battle 3.

Syracuse’s offense clicked and it was because of its defense.

“It was just a matter of defense,” Lydon said. “Getting stops on the defensive end and getting outlets to our offense.”

Monmouth point guard Justin Robinson was named the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference’s preseason player of the year. He ranked third in the conference in scoring last season. He was the player that Syracuse had to stop. Robinson finished with a team-high 11 points but during the stretch that turned the game, SU held Robinson scoreless and he couldn’t set up his teammates either.

“The second half, our defense was really good,” Boeheim said. “They got some looks that they missed but our defense was pretty good. We pushed them into tough spots and made them take tough shots.”

Published on November 18, 2016 at 9:15 pm

Contact Paul: pmschwed@syr.edu | @pschweds