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COVID-19 was the cloud hanging over Syracuse’s blowout win Thursday. Less than two hours before the game’s scheduled tipoff at 8 p.m., Syracuse Athletics announced a member of the SU men’s basketball program tested positive for the virus last week. 

Head coach Jim Boeheim confirmed postgame that one walk-on player tested positive and four additional players, including Buddy Boeheim, were quarantining due to contact tracing. Greg Paulus, Niagara’s head coach, said he found out about Syracuse’s positive test moments before the game, when the starting lineups were announced and Buddy was nowhere to be found.

The game went on Thursday as scheduled. Buddy will be sidelined for Syracuse’s next two contests against Rider and Rutgers while quarantining for seven more days, Boeheim said.

“We have to live with it,” Boeheim said. “We have to get ready each game with whoever’s here.” 

Even without Buddy, Syracuse had no problem handling Niagara. The Purple Eagles, a MAAC team with one of the worst Division I defenses last year, just resumed practice Monday after a two-week pause due to COVID-19. They entered with a 4% win probability, per KenPom. 

Despite practicing only three times in the last 20 days because of it’s own two-week pause, SU (2-0) out-rebounded Niagara by 19 and held the Purple Eagles to 16.7% from 3. Quincy Guerrier dominated, scoring a career-high 23 points on 9-for-10 shooting and a game-high 13 boards in 26 minutes.

On the court, it was simple: Syracuse was bigger, stronger and better than the Purple Eagles (0-1). The circumstances surrounding Syracuse’s 75-45 win, though, are complicated. 

 

Syracuse has tested players 600 times, which has led to two positives, Boeheim said. He railed against the NCAA’s mandatory 14-day pause after SU’s season-opener, a narrow win over Bryant that the team played after one day of practice. He said the protocol needs to change or “the season will be destroyed.” He reiterated the sentiment post-Niagara, citing in part the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s recent changes to quarantine length. 

When Syracuse had its first positive test among a player in November, the infected player was scrimmaging with other teammates, Boeheim said. With the program’s most recent positive case, the infected player was standing on the sidelines, and the four players near him were identified through contact tracing. Onondaga County medical experts deemed it safe to play due to the nature of the exposure.

It’s likely Syracuse’s wearable contact tracing technology played a role in determining who on the team was exposed. The goal is to avoid a teamwide shutdown, and the technology the team wears from the moment they step into practice until they exit the facility could’ve been the difference. 

“These chips tell you exactly how many minutes at the end of practice you were next to someone,” Boeheim said. “You could be 10-15 minutes, but you might be four or five. At least it gives us an opportunity, like tonight, to play. You don’t just blanket say the whole team’s out for 14 days.”

For Buddy, the contact tracing technology logged him at 14 minutes of exposure — one minute under the Atlantic Coast Conference and the NCAA’s limit but four over New York’s guideline of 10 minutes.

“In this case, Buddy suffers,” Boeheim said. “And I’m not talking as his coach, but I’m his father. He’s home, broken-hearted, because he’s worked his tail off everyday since last season ended, to be on the court. And he hasn’t done anything wrong. He hasn’t tested positive. Yet. He could, but he hasn’t.” 

Syracuse practiced the day after the Bryant win but sat out the next three. Though Boeheim said SU’s shooters remain out of rhythm, Syracuse still had plenty of talent to control the game from the opening tip. On one play in the first half, Joseph Girard III calmly brought the ball over half court and lofted a pass to a streaking Kadary Richmond, who soared in for an alley-oop layup over a Niagara defender. 

SU went on a 15-0 surge led by Richmond and Guerrier later in the first half. After Girard missed a transition 3, Guerrier high-pointed a rebound in traffic, took one power dribble with three Niagara defenders draped over him and exploded for an easy bucket. 

Guerrier, who said he’s about 90% healthy after an offseason groin surgery, was the biggest beneficiary of Bourama Sidibe’s absence due to a torn meniscus. The sophomore started at power forward — a more natural position for him at the moment — and was a monster on the boards at both ends. 

“We have to be ready for anything,” Guerrier said postgame. “It can happen to anyone, and everyone has to be ready. It’s probably going to be like that the whole season, and everyone has to be ready, and that’s it.”

Syracuse led 42-28 at halftime, and a 12-2 run to open the second half removed any residual doubt. SU turned up the defense with its lead, holding Niagara to 17 second-half points on 1-for-12 from beyond the arc.

Kadary Richmond finished with 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and four steals against Niagara. Courtesy of Dennis Nett | Syracuse.com

Every Syracuse player present touched the court. Richmond was extremely solid, playing under control in his first career start. Freshman Woody Newton got his first career points at SU, a catch-and-shoot 3 from the right wing. To push Syracuse’s lead to 30 points late in the game, Richmond picked up a loose ball and found Newton for an alley-oop slam. 

Robert Braswell struggled at forward, Jesse Edwards was the first true center off the bench and John Bol Ajak got some run in the second half. But it was far from the whole roster. 

Only 10 SU players warmed up and attended Thursday’s game. Buddy and Chaz Owens were the only scholarship players out, but Arthur Cordes, Shane Feldman, Jaylen Bartley, Nick Giancola and Chris LaValle were also missing. 

As the time ran out on the game clock in Thursday’s 30-point blowout, Syracuse closed with a lineup of Richmond, Newton, Braswell, Bol Ajak and Frank Anselem. The walk-ons who normally would’ve dribbled out the clock weren’t in the building.

“It doesn’t matter what happens in life, you’ve got to get ready for the next day,” Boeheim said. “Simple as that. Whether we have more tests or don’t, we just have to get ready and go play.”

Published on December 3, 2020 at 10:05 pm

Contact Danny: dremerma@syr.edu | @DannyEmerman