After two straight losses at Madison Square Garden and its worst four-game start since the 87-88 season, Syracuse (3-2) rebounded, picking up a 77-56 victory, its 53rd straight win against Colgate (4-2). The Raiders held a lead for most of the first half, but a 33-5 second-half run by the Orange opened up the game, which ultimately ended in a blowout.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday night’s game.

Cursed Cylinder

Syracuse opened the game shooting at an abysmal clip, a little over 35 percent, giving Colgate a slight lead for most of the first half.

Oshae Brissett was responsible for most of the struggles, shooting 2-for-9 in the first half. He dominated the offensive glass against the Raiders’ 6-foot-10 Rapolas Ivanauskas with seven rebounds in the first 20 minutes, but couldn’t capitalize on the second-chance points.

On one sequence midway through the first half, the 6-foot-8 forward secured an offensive rebound against Ivanauskas but couldn’t hit the rim. Off the miss, Brissett recovered and shot again, but it was no good. With his third-consecutive rebound, the sophomore tried one more time with three Raiders in his face but again couldn’t convert.

Six-straight points from Bourama Sidibe with under three minutes left in the half and an open 3 from Tyus Battle disguised the Orange’s 12-for-34 first-half performance, as SU went into the break up 35-32. Its early woes eventually corrected themselves, and Syracuse opened up their lead in the second half.

Close Call

After Colgate went into the half down three, the Raiders’ Jordan Burns opened the second period with an open 3-pointer from the top of the arc. Ivanauskas did the same, turning a three-point deficit into a quick advantage.

The two teams traded baskets to start the second half, with no one taking more than a five-point advantage until seven minutes in. Battle started to heat up when he began to drive into the lane, usually beating Burns or Tucker Richardson at the elbow and laying the ball up with little to no contest.

Eventually, a 43-41 Orange deficit was erased by back-to-back 3s from Elijah Hughes and Battle. But Colgate hung around with their perimeter shooting from Burns until Battle took matters into his own hands, eventually running the score to 65-46 seven minutes later.

Burst of Battle

Battle was Syracuse’s second-leading scorer with eight points in the first 20 minutes, only behind Sidibe with nine. But with SU down a bucket early in the second half, Battle took over. He scored 11 of the Orange’s next 14 points, only broken up by a Hughes triple after his first layup.

The junior didn’t resort to his usual mid-range jumpers though. He attacked guards at the arc to get to the rim, and when they backed up, he stepped back to shoot 3s instead of fadeaway twos. As Syracuse’s 28-3 scoring run came to an end, he added to his point total in the fast break.

Battle finished with 24 points in 26 minutes of action. He checked out of the game at the eight-minute mark, and head coach Jim Boeheim let Jalen Carey, Buddy Boeheim and Howard Washington take over. In the end, Battle’s quick swarm of buckets turned a game that was back-and-forth for its first 30 minutes into a blowout.

Published on November 21, 2018 at 8:57 pm

Contact KJ: kjedelma@syr.edu | @KJEdelman