Syracuse won in dramatic fashion on Saturday, as Quadir Copeland beat the buzzer to send SU past Miami, 72-69.

Here are the key takeaways from the game.

Naheem McLeod’s absence was evident from just about the opening tip. While fans had been grousing before McLeod’s injury, wanting him removed from the starting lineup, if not the rotation, had the center been healthy, he would have had an effect on the game appropriate for his size.

Miami had four layups among their first five baskets and dropped in ten layups and a dunk in the game’s opening 15 minutes. The lack of a shotblocking presence for the Orange is obvious and Maliq Brown had their only block against the Hurricanes.

Benny Williams came into the game with the highest blocked shot rate among rotation players on the team, but his 5.6 mark is well behind the 14.9 rate McLeod posted this season.

J.J. Starling brought his hot shooting from Tuesday night home with him from Pittsburgh. He drained 3-of-5 3’s in the first half, then matched that in the second session.

Starling’s 6-for-10 effort behind the arc lifted him to 44.4 percent in the last nine games and he is now third on the team in 3’s with 19.

He is just under 53 percent overall from the floor in those nine outings, lifting his season mark above 45 percent.

Chris Bell had four 3-pointers to go with Starling’s half dozen, but the rest of the team was 2-for-12. The other two makes were a late first half trey that Williams got to fall off both the iron and the glass and Quadir Copeland’s game-winner.

While the team overall was 12-of-32 in the game on 3-pointers, falling one shy of tying their season high in makes, they seemed to fall in love with the shot coming out of halftime.

Syracuse missed their first eight 3’s of the second half and were fortunate to have only been outscored by two points in that time.

Williams had tunnel vision late in the first half, shooting on every possession for the Orange in the final two minutes.

The junior left a jumper from just above the right elbow short on the first possession, then left a triple short on the next possession.

Williams rebounded a Bell miss, but could not get a putback to fall, then was fouled. His free throws missed short, then long, the latter looking rushed.

On the final possession, Williams coaxed a 3-pointer home, getting it to drop only after it hit the front of the rim and caromed off the backboard.

One thing that should not be lost in Copeland’s big shot is Judah Mintz’s part in it, and I am not talking about the pass. Mintz waited and waited before starting the set pick-and-roll with Brown. In last season’s game against North Carolina, the Orange ran clear-outs and the end of each half for Mintz.

Both times, he went earlier than necessary, including in the second half when down by one point, starting his drive with 13 seconds to play.

Against Miami on Saturday, he started toward the screen in earnest with six seconds left, all but ensuring the ‘Canes would not touch the ball again.

A game this tight for the full 40 minutes (Miami held the biggest lead at eight in the first half) gives a good look at SU’s real rotation.

Brown played 35:56, including the entire second half, and Williams played center when Brown rested.

Brown was pulled for the final 2:20 of the opening half with two fouls, but Adrian Autry trusted him to play the final 4:42 with four fouls.

Kyle Cuffe Jr. had 5:24 of play, including 1:14 late in the game as a defensive replacement for Bell. Judah Mintz and Starling played the entire second half, so not only does Cuffe’s playing time depend on how the starting guards are playing, including foul trouble, but also the play of starting forwards Bell and Justin Taylor.

With Cuffe not getting more than ten minutes in four weeks, save for the North Carolina blowout loss, it is as close as you can be to a seven-man rotation while playing eight.

In addition to being a statistical analysis site similar to KenPom, T-Rank also projects how a team will do over the remainder of the season, including predicted scores for future games. For the first time all season, they project Syracuse to get to 20 wins (which includes a couple losses by less than a point).

The Orange (13-5, 4-3 ACC) will continue their three-game homestand on Tuesday evening when Florida State pays them a visit. The Seminoles (11-7, 5-2) had a five-game conference winning streak going, but were knocked off at home on Saturday by Clemson, 78-67.

Forward Jamir Watkins paces a deep FSU rotation in scoring, rebounding, and assists, posting 13.2 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 3.1 assists in 26 minutes of action. Darin Green Jr. is the top 3-point shooter for the ‘Noles (40.74 percent from deep), with over 60 percent of his 12.3 points per game coming on his 46 3’s on the season.

Primo Spears got a late start to his season due to injury, but also averages in double digits at 11.4 points per game.

ESPN2 will televise their second straight Syracuse game and the contest against Florida State will get underway at 7:00pm Eastern on Tuesday.

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