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The Syracuse basketball team played man-to-man defense on Tuesday for the first time since 2009.

(Stephen D. Cannerelli | Syracuse.com)

Syracuse, N.Y. — After seven years of refusing to leave the comfort and effectiveness of the 2-3 zone, ever since an exhibition loss to Le Moyne in 2009, Syracuse coach Jim Boeheim played man-to-man defense on Tuesday night.

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Boeheim played it for nearly eight minutes against Indiana (Pa.). He played it even when it wasn't working and as his team fell behind by 12 points against an inferior opponent. He played it even though Syracuse looked like, well, a team that hasn't played man-to-man very often over the last decade.

The Orange fell behind early, caught up by using an effective press defense, and then seemed to settle into the comfort of their 2-3 security blanket during an 83-65 win over Indiana (Pa) at the Carrier Dome.

But, it was the presence of the basketball universe's most fundamental defense that provided the most memorable moment in a relatively routine 18-point exhibition thrashing.

"The coaches said we're going to switch things up a little," Matthew Moyer said. "We have depth, we have athleticism, more than previous years. I think it's awesome that we can switch it up. I'm sure the whole Dome was looking at him like, 'What's going on?' "

And so, on its first possession of defense played in the 2016-17 season, let it be noted that the Syracuse basketball team played man-to-man defense.

"We started the game in man because we wanted to get some practice in it," Boeheim said.

While Syracuse players traditionally work on man-to-man defense fundamentals during drills in practice, largely because it's what most teams play, senior Dajuan Coleman said he believes the team has worked on the defense significantly harder than usual this preseason.

"It's really half and half in practice," John Gillon said. "Really."

Thanks to that, when Boeheim casually slipped into the game-plan that the team would open up in man-to-man against Indiana, there was little shock from the players.

"We've been working on it in practice so I knew we'd test some things out," freshman Tyus Battle said. "People don't realize we work on it on practice."

"We've been working on it," sophomore Tyler Lydon said. "We expected to play it at some point. We didn't know it would be that early."

They also probably didn't expect it to work so poorly. Syracuse fell behind 20-8 and looked out of sorts against a Division II opponent. Once the Orange went to a more familiar look, it got back to the usual result.

Boeheim pinned the man-to-man defensive struggles on a touch matchup. Indiana's lack of size meant it put a center on the floor who could shoot, and the Crimson Hawks took advantage of Coleman's discomfort playing in space.

"It was a bad team to try to man-to-man," Boeheim said. "They got Dajuan outside and made three 3s or so. It was not a good situation for us. Not at this point. We're not good in that situation. But that is completely different than 95 percent of the teams we're going to play this year."

The team attributed the poor start to its mindset, rather than the defense the team began the game in.

"We've got to come out ready to play," Lydon said. "It was a matter of us not coming out and being ready to play. I don't know if we were ready to play, and that's as a team."

Boeheim had been hinting at a return to the man-to-man defense during the weeks leading into the season, starting with a meeting with students from the SI Newhouse School. He began teasing it again at ACC media day.

After so many years, though, it was impossible to know for sure if Boeheim was serious, or having fun with reporters and simply utilizing a famously dry sense of humor. We probably all should have known that Syracuse's defense was no laughing matter.

As for why, suddenly, after all these years, he was interested in a change?

"The reason we haven't the last two or three years was we just didn't really have a chance to," Boeheim said. "We had to do that."

At ACC Media Day Boeheim cited Syracuse's depth, which would permit players to expend energy chasing their opponents all over the court and still have some left on offense. He likes the team's physicality. He thinks it can wear down opponents.

None of that was the case the previous years. So while the debut was a poor one, the underlying reason that playing man-to-man might be effective all remain. The Orange players nearly unanimously said they expect it again this season.

As for the voice that counts?

"It's something we work on every day," Boeheim said. "We can theoretically use it in some situations. But we'll see. We'll see what happens."

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