Adrian Autry adjusted his defensive approach Saturday. In doing so, Syracuse turned to a player who’s played sparingly this season.
Naheem McLeod appeared in game action for the Syracuse Orange men’s basketball team on Saturday night, anchoring the defensive front when Adrian Autry elected to go to a 2-3 zone against the California Golden Bears.
McLeod, appearing in just his seventh game this season, was prepared when his number was called. The 7-foot-4 center was a defensive presence and finished with 2 points, 3 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 block in nine minutes off the bench.
“Naheem gave us great minutes. That’s hard to do and I give him a lot of credit. (He) hasn’t played a lot this year, hadn’t played much at all,” Autry said. “He had been really working hard the last two weeks and that’s what it’s about.”
McLeod, who has played sparingly in just 3.6 minutes per game this season, stepped up to anchor the 2-3 zone. He appeared with a bench contingent of Jaquan Carlos, Kyle Cuffe, Chris Bell and Petar Majstorovic. He was included as part of Autry’s plan to go 2-3 zone against Cal, which is second to last in the conference in three point shooting percentage (31.3%).
“California is a very good dribble-drive team,” Autry said. “They have three guards — sometimes four — that can get in the lane at any time. We just kind of wanted to give them a different look. Obviously their shooting numbers from three point range were not great.”
Autry has predominantly shifted away from the storied 2-3 zone, electing to go with man-to-man as his base defense. The zone isn’t practiced as much these days, but it’s still something Syracuse uses from time to time. As Cal is a good offensive rebounding team, Autry faced a conflict of whether to stick with man-to-man or mix in the zone. But rather than playing man and having Cal drive and draw fouls, he went zone midway through each half.
“I thought it was probably better to keep them out of the lane and try to get rebounds,” Autry said.
As Autry went back to the well of his predecessor, McLeod stepped up and provided solid minutes as a backup to Eddie Lampkin. He rebounded out of the zone and blocked a shot in limited minutes. He scored on a hook in the lane and found Bell for three on one occasion on a pass out of the post. On the other end of the court, McLeod’s height and length allow him to be a presence as the anchor of the 2-3 zone, a role that he is best suited for.
“You work hard in practice every day. You earn your minutes and he did,” Autry said. “I was happy for him.”