SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Playing without its leading scorer and point guard Demetrius Jackson, No. 25 Notre Dame was no match for Syracuse's three-headed backcourt monster of Trevor Cooney, Michael Gbinije and Malachi Richardson.
Fifth-year senior guards Cooney (22 points) and Gbinije (15) and freshman swingman Richardson (15) combined for 52 points as the Orange thumped the Irish 81-66 in an Atlantic Coast Conference game Thursday night before 22,861 fans at the Carrier Dome.
"When you have fifth-year senior guards who are men, they really control things," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "Those two guys are really good. And we're a little rudderless at times without Demetrius, there's no question."
Cooney scored 15 of his points in the first half as Syracuse (14-8, 4-5 in the ACC) built a 17-point lead. Gbinije and Richardson caught fire in the second half with a combined 21 points as Syracuse never let the Irish pull within less than 12 points. Freshman forward Tyler Lydon contributed 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench for the Orange.
Notre Dame (14-6, 5-3) entered the game ranked seventh in the country and leading the ACC with a 49.9 percent shooting percentage, and it led the nation in the least amount of turnovers per game (9.2). But without Jackson and facing Syracuse's active 2-3 zone, the Irish shot 41.8 percent and committed 11 turnovers, nine in the first half.
"That was all defense," Cooney said. "Yeah, we made shots, but we were stopping them when we were on defense, taking away shots, taking away the high post, we were doing everything defensively."
Notre Dame forwards Zach Auguste and Bonzie Colson, who entered the game averaging a combined 26.5 points per game, combined for only 17 Thursday against Syracuse's small frontcourt that includes Lydon, a skinny 6-foot-9 freshman who's playing out of position at center.
"Offensively, we felt we could get shots and score," Orange coach Jim Boeheim said. "The whole key to this game was going to be defense on Colson and Auguste. I thought we stepped up and made them take tough shots and kept it out of (the middle)."
Jackson suffered a right hamstring injury in Notre Dame's previous game against Boston College Saturday and did not dress Thursday. Jackson is averaging 16.6 points and a team-high 5.3 assists per game, and the Irish (14-6, 5-3) missed his leadership.
"I'm not sure when we'll get him back," Brey said. "He is improving, and we'd like to have him Sunday at 1:00 (against Wake Forest at home), but we may have to keep playing without him for a while."
Irish forward V.J. Beachem led Notre Dame with 22 points, while guard Steve Vasturia -- who moved from shooting guard to the point -- added 16. Auguste and Colson rebounded well with 10 apiece, but the Orange outrebounded the Irish 36-32 and are 5-0 in the ACC when it outrebounds its opponent.
Notre Dame sliced Syracuse's lead to 12, 48-36, early in the second half, but Richardson converted a four-point play after getting fouled on a 3-pointer, and Gbinije scored Syracuse's next six points on drives as the Orange boosted its lead to 58-40.
"We felt if we got (Gbinije) isolated that he could get to the basket against this team," Boeheim said. "He had a freshman guarding him (Rex Pflueger, Jackson's replacement in the starting lineup) and he can get by that guy and he did."
After a double technical foul on Richardson and Notre Dame's Matt Ryan, Richardson answered with another 3-pointer to boost Syracuse's lead to 70-46.
"I saw Malachi try to put on a show for the crowd," Gbinije said, smiling.
The Orange led 44-27 at halftime thanks to a 23-1 spurt during which it held the Irish without a field goal for 8 minutes, 34 seconds. Forward Tyler Roberson and Cooney each scored seven points during that run, which featured 3-pointers from Cooney and Lydon.
"We did a good job of rebounding and we got in transition a little on the offensive end and Trevor got really hot for us," Gbinije said.
Two seasons ago, Cooney drilled nine 3-pointers and scored a career-high 33 points in a win against Notre Dame at the Carrier Dome. Noting that Cooney and former Syracuse guard and current assistant coach Gerry McNamara have a history of big games against Notre Dame, Boeheim said, "Gerry and him, must be the Irish thing. They have all-time career (games) against Notre Dame."
NOTES: Syracuse G Michael Gbinije scored in double figures in a league-best 22 consecutive games, and G Trevor Cooney made at least one 3-point field goal in an ACC-best 25 consecutive games. ... Notre Dame played 45 or more games against 12 teams and has winning records against all of them except Syracuse (19-28), Indiana, Kentucky and UCLA. ... Before the game, the Syracuse players wore special orange warm-up T-shirts with "Pearl" in script on the front and "31" in the back along the neckline to honor former Orange star Dwayne "Pearl" Washington, who is battling brain cancer.
