During a season to forget, it was a game to remember on Wednesday night as the Syracuse Orange basketball team defeated the California Golden Bears 107-100 in double overtime from the JMA Wireless Dome. The game featured 28 lead-changes, 15 ties and as many power-surges as overtime periods.
On a night where lake effect snow blanketed Central New York, a pair of power surges neutralized scoreboards and lighting in the dome. The Orange turned it on in overtime, fueled by Donnie Freeman and Nate Kingz
who combined for 20 points in the two extra periods.
With the power surge, Syracuse had to pull out the Daktronics scoreboard you’d see at basketball camp.
Syracuse (14-11, 5-7) was led by Kingz, who finished 27 points on 8-14 shooting while JJ Starling tied a season-high 21 points to go with 5 rebounds and 4 steals. William Kyle and Naithan George both recorded had double-doubles. Kyle had 15 points and 16 rebounds whereas George had 14 points and 10 assists. Freeman finished with 16 points and 6 rebounds.
“His first 30 minutes was not good but he was cheering for his teammates,” Adrian Autry said of Freeman post-game. “I think once he got back in he really settled down. … I thought he had a very, very good reset.”
Cal (17-8, 5-7) had 23 points from Dai Dai Ames while John Camden scored 21 on 5-11 outside shooting. Former Orange forward Chris Bell scored 18 points for Cal in his return game to the dome. Milos Ilic had a double-double with 16 points and 14 rebounds.
Syracuse moved to 5-1 all-time against the Golden Bears. Wednesday night was the first trip to the dome for the Cal program.
Adrian Autry is 0-3 coaching in single OT games, and 3-0 in multiple OT games.
Syracuse went on an 8-2 run to end the first half, knotting the game at 35. Syracuse’s 107 points represented a season-high and the first time breaking the century mark this season.
To the takeaways.
Cal shot lights out; Bell performs in return
Cal came out of the gate and shot the ball so well from three (5-10 in the first half) you’d think the Golden Bears were responsible for the lights going out in the dome. Mark Madsen’s squad cooled off as the game went on and dragged down shooting percentages, but still shot a strong 11-30 from outside on the game (36.7%).
Syracuse was late to recognize shooters in this game and allowed Camden and Bell to step into wide-open threes. There were more than just a few occasions when Syracuse let one-time Orange recruit Camden get loose for open looks, making it look like he was shooting in warmups. Camden finished 5-11 from three while Bell, who played well in his return, finished 4-8 from outside.
Will Kyle bounces back
After struggling last week against two ranked opponents on the road with a combined four points on 2-7 shooting, Kyle rebounded against Cal. The 6-foot-9 big man went for his fourth double-double of the season including a career-high 16 rebounds. He had a pair of blocks and steals as well.
“I thought Will Kyle was a man amongst boys today,” Autry said. “He had that will that we were not going to lose that game.”
Kyle battled, was resilient down low and provided energy and timely buckets when Syracuse needed it.
Cuse spoils Cal’s night, and perhaps its season
Cal entered Wednesday night firmly on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Orange represented the second to last quadrant one opportunity remaining on Cal’s schedule. The opportunity went awry, and could possibly leave the Golden Bears on the outside looking in come Selection Sunday.
After the last two nights in college basketball which saw bubble teams win — TCU beat Iowa State, Miami beat North Carolina, Virginia Tech beat Clemson and Ohio State beat USC — Cal fell further behind.
Cal had just one quadrant one chance left on its schedule, the season finale at Wake Forest.
Kiyan Anthony back in the saddle
After receiving his first DNP of the season on Saturday, Kiyan Anthony was given playing time against Cal. In what was a controversial reaction from media and fans, Anthony didn’t play at Virginia following a week in which Carmelo Anthony’s left a “SMFH” comment on social media during Syracuse’s loss at North Carolina. That led observers to speculate and jump to the conclusion that Anthony didn’t play because of that comments. Autry explained the DNP was simply a coach’s decision, citing the physicality of a veteran Virginia team.
Anthony returned to the court in the first half, coming out to a round of applause from a sparse Syracuse crowd. He also saw time in the second half. Anthony finished with two points, one rebound, one assist and one block in 14 minutes of action.
