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When asked about Cole Swider after Syracuse’s first exhibition game of the year, head coach Jim Boeheim responded bluntly. “He can shoot. And he can shoot, and he can shoot, and he can shoot, okay?” Swider finished 5-of-7 from beyond the arc that day, and he was 4-of-8 in SU’s other exhibition game.

But Tuesday in his SU debut against Lafayette, the 3-pointers — Swider’s specialty — weren’t falling. Swider fired an attempt from the left corner that was well off the mark in the opening minutes, and then he missed another moments later from the same spot.

“There’s not very many days where I’ll go 2-for-7,” Swider said of his performance from deep after the game. “It happens. It will all equal out towards the end.”

The Villanova transfer said he knows he won’t shoot 100% for every game. Lafayette actively worked to take away 3-point chances from Swider and Buddy Boeheim, Swider said, and he “left a couple 3s out there that I could have made.”

Boeheim reiterated that sentiment after the game, explaining that shooters can’t convert everything and it’s about finding other ways to affect the game on off-nights. For Swider, that came in the form of a career-high and team-high rebounding night, along with four baskets from inside the arc. He still managed a double-double with 14 points and 12 boards, along with two steals and a block.

“Cole started poorly but then he recovered and did what he can do,” Boeheim said. “He can score.”

Swider made one 3-pointer in the first half when he grabbed the board of an errant layup and finished the transition possession with a conversion from downtown. But Swider missed the other four 3-pointers he attempted in the first half, and he realized that he needed to change it up.

Early in the second half after he missed a 3-pointer, he hustled back and contested a rebound that went out of bounds, Syracuse’s way. He finished a layup a minute later when Jesse Edwards got a block and then dished him the ball inside.

Swider knocked down his only 3-pointer of the second half on an assist from Buddy, but he continued to drive. He slammed a dunk in transition and then backed into the post before spinning to convert a right-handed hook shot from the middle of the paint.

“Shooters don’t make everything,” Boeheim said. “They’re gonna have nights like this, and he just kept plugging away and plugging away, got a couple layups, got a couple post-plays, and that’s what you do when you’re not making shots. You just try to find another way to affect the game.”

The forward said that confidence was sparked by a halftime conversation where Boeheim told him not to force his shots. Knowing Boeheim wasn’t going to bench him after two minutes for a handful of misses helped Swider settle down, he said.

Swider stayed in the game until the 13-minute mark of the first half, when Boeheim rotated his starters for fresh legs, but Swider returned just over one minute later. He played the first 14 minutes of the second half, too.

“I’m so grateful and thankful that I have a coach that believes in me, when shots are going in, (and when) shots aren’t going in,” Swider said. “When you’re not making shots and he keeps you in the game, that’s when you know you have someone who’s loyal to you.”

A big part of that is because Swider brought value on the boards, grabbing more than twice as many rebounds as the second-best players (Jimmy Boeheim and Frank Anselem with five apiece).

He finished with nine defensive rebounds, consistently positioning himself to grab loose balls from mid-range jumpers and 3-point attempts. Boeheim explained that sometimes the majority of the rebounding is going to come from the forwards on the sides of the zone because that’s the way the defense is set up. Particularly, that’s the case when shots come from the corners or the sides. Centers won’t always be responsible for the most rebounds, he said.

When asked whether Swider’s 12-rebound performance is sustainable for the Orange moving forward, Boeheim simply said that he thought Swider rebounded well.

“The bigs will be crashing in the paint which is where me or Frankie or Jimmy will be, and it’s really important for the guards and the forwards to come and help us,” Edwards said. Swider did just that.

Defensively, he closed out his man early in the first half and forced an airball 3-pointer. He snatched the ball out of Neal Quinn’s hands to set up a Joe Girard III attempt, though the point guard couldn’t capitalize.

Swider’s only played one official game in a Syracuse shirt, but Tuesday’s season-opener is a sign — at least early on — that Boeheim trusts Swider beyond his 3-point shooting abilities. The forward is capable of bringing more to the table, even on his off-nights.

“There’s going to be a couple games where we’re all on and we’re probably going to score 115 points, and there’s going to be games where a couple of us are on and we’ll score 97 like we did tonight,” Swider said.

Published on November 10, 2021 at 12:16 pm

Contact Roshan: rferna04@syr.edu | @Roshan_f16