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Judah Mintz wasn’t quite sure what happened when he first had the chance to score at Syracuse. The freshman lost his footing as he went up for the uncontested shot just two minutes and 22 seconds into his first game. The cheers that greeted Mintz the first time he was announced at the JMA Wireless Dome quickly faded when he collected an outlet pass early in the first half, and with no one in front of him, he missed the ensuing layup.

Mintz thinks he missed one layup like that during his time at Oak Hill Academy. “It’ll probably stay one here too,” Mintz said.

But luckily for him, the nerves-filled missed layup would be the worst thing to happen to Mintz in his debut. Three minutes later, Mintz collected a pass on the left wing from Joe Girard, who was trapped in a double-team following a pick-and-roll with Jesse Edwards. Mintz took one look at the basket and saw the outstretched left hand of Edwards, who towered over his defender underneath. Mintz bulleted a pass down to the center and grabbed his first assist in college.

Just a few minutes later on a game-tying layup, Mintz scored his first points in an SU uniform.

“I thought Judah was really good. Second half, end of the first half, played really well under control,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Got in the lane, made some really good plays.”

Mintz has been compared to star SU guards like Tyler Ennis, Johnny Flynn and Frank Howard. The hype was there for the No. 33 (ESPN) prospect in the country as he made his debut on Monday night. He delivered, in some ways, during Syracuse’s (1-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast) opening-night win against Lehigh (0-1, 0-0 Patriot League), scoring 16 points and creating chances from driving into the lane. But there’s still room for the freshman to grow, as Boeheim says there is with the rest of the newcomers and SU overall. 

Boeheim said Mintz needs to create even more chances for other players to score. Mintz admitted that he needs to do a better job of looking up the court in transition and finding shooters like Joe Girard III and Chris Bell. He thought he did a good job exploiting Lehigh’s ball screen defense, like he did with 17:47 left in the game. 

It was a poor area of Lehigh’s game that Mintz was hoping to exploit going into Monday night, and when he brought the ball up with Syracuse leading 48-31, he had a perfect opportunity. Girard was on the right wing moving around to set up an off-ball screen set by Edwards. Girard cut toward the hoop, forcing Evan Taylor in. Then Edwards stood in the way of JT Tan to break Girard wide open. Mintz watched it all happen, and hit Girard for a perfect 3-pointer.

“We executed it to perfection at times,” Mintz said. “There are times that other people set ball screens instead of Jesse where we can do a lot better.”

Mintz worked well with Symir Torrence when the pair played together. The pair, alongside Girard, has done exactly what Boeheim asked of them at the top of the formation. Torrence said having Mintz — who’s more of an attacking point guard — driving in the lanes creates ample opportunities for everyone in the Syracuse lineup. Specifically when Edwards is able to get it going, like he did to the tune of 18 points Monday night, defenders don’t want to leave him to adjust for Mintz, creating a double-team that opens up someone else on the court.

He said he did a good job facilitating the team for the first time in a real game. There’s work to be done — Mintz needs more assists and turned the ball over three times — but it was certainly better, in his estimation, than last week’s exhibition games. There were a few times, like with four minutes left in the first half, when he took the ball into a triple team and didn’t pass out. He had Girard open and Edwards calling for the ball, but Mintz ended up making both ensuing free throws to thwart the potential damage.

Mintz said at this level, he needs to know when to look for his shot and when to pass the ball out. His teammates know he’s a “phenomenal scorer,” and he showed Monday night why Boeheim easily moved Girard over to the shooting guard without issue. Mintz showed fans how technical he could be with his decisions and how fluid he could be with the ball in his hands. At the halfway point in the second half, Mintz had a screen at the top of the key from Edwards, which he curled off of, finishing at the rim with a contested, off-balance two-handed jumper.

“(It’s) just knowing when I have to be the main facilitator and what I can do on this team is score the ball,” Mintz said.

He scored when he took the ball inside, pulled up from mid-range and created shots after directing traffic from the top of the key. Midway through the first half, Mintz once again had the ball at the top of the key off of a pass from Quadir Copeland. The floor was spread out with Syracuse and Lehigh tied at 19 apiece — nothing but the lane and Jalin Sinclair in his path to the hoop and another Syracuse lead.

He took his initial step to the left to start Sinclair off balance. He faked inside at the elbow of the paint and spun around, sending Sinclair wobbling into the paint and leaving Mintz alone at the top. He stepped back and swished the ball through to put the Orange up 21-19. Mintz returned on the next possession to back his defender down, this time working inside. He spun around again and easily buried the fadeaway shot.

“He’s being the point guard that we want him to be,” Torrence said. “He did a phenomenal job as a freshman. I mean, he’s not a freshman in my eyes.”

Published on November 7, 2022 at 11:59 pm

Contact Anthony: aalandt@syr.edu | @anthonyalandt