For one minute and 11 seconds Friday night, Syracuse’s up-tempo 3s-heavy offense was everything the Orange can hope it will be this season.

The threat of Malachi Richardson’s outside touch opened a gaping hole in the middle of Lehigh’s man-to-man defense. Tyler Lydon slipped into it. Richardson found him with a deft no-look pass and Lydon dunked two-handed. The Carrier Dome crowd got on its feet. Richardson, wanting more noise, pumped his arms above his head. So did Trevor Cooney, and the crowd listened.

A few plays later, as the first-half clock wound down, Lydon swung a pass to Kaleb Joseph for a 3 on the left wing. Joseph spun twice at mid-court as the buzzer sounded and the crowd rose again. His team filed into the tunnel with a 20-point lead and a win to coast to.

But the climax of the Orange’s (1-0) season-opening 57-47 win over Lehigh was followed by a loud thud. The Orange missed its first six 3s of the second half and the Mountain Hawks, slowing the game down with a 2-3 zone, clawed to within six points. On one side of the break was a team thriving in a system that promises around 30 3s a night. On the other side was a group of players trying to find a collective shooting stroke that it, for nearly eight minutes, had left in the locker room.

In total, SU heaved 34 3s and made just 11. The first look at the perimeter-focused offense wasn’t pretty and set up a narrative for the Orange’s season: Syracuse, with the 3s and unrelenting pace, will be fun. But its’ inability to be anything else could spell trouble.

“We don’t have another option. That’s the best option for us,” Jim Boeheim, SU’s head coach, said. “That shot, we have to make those for a better percentage.”

Boeheim, and his players, insisted that all 34 3s came on good looks. That makes it hard to criticize the shot selection, especially because of a run of 3s ultimately helped SU avoid the upset. The Orange also turned the ball over 17 times and, due to breakdowns on the inside of SU’s zone, the Mountain Hawks shot 12-for-22 from inside the arc in the second half to spur their comeback.

But if SU hits just a few more 3s, or has a backup plan, the game is never put into question. Instead, its starting frontcourt of Tyler Roberson and Dajuan Coleman played a collective 34 minutes and shot a combined 1-for-5 for two points.

So the 3s kept coming. The crowd hung onto each one. And elation turned to deflation after each of the 23 misses.

“It’s definitely a lot of fun to go up and down and shoot 3s,” SU point guard Michael Gbinije said. “But at the same time, if we’re not making it then it can become a dangerous game, as well.”

Syracuse has five shooters — and can play four at a time for long stretches — but its starting lineup looks wholly one-dimensional. Coleman and Roberson don’t draw their defenders away from the rim or pose much of a threat inside. In turn, Orange drivers will meet a wall of defenders against teams that pack their bigs into the paint. St. Bonaventure, which visits the Carrier Dome at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, promises to employ that approach.

That leaves the 3-point shot as the only reliable offensive option. Boeheim said it himself. SU said it by taking 34s against Lehigh, and 61 across its two preseason scrimmages. It’s a flashy style that will draw the attention of the casual basketball fan. It could also win Syracuse a game it has no business winning this season. Or two. Or three. Who knows.

But it can also keep you in a tight contest with a Lehigh team only picked to win the Patriot League. When the hot hands go cold and nothing can find the bottom of the net, the Orange’s current plan is a shaky one.

Syracuse is going to keep shooting. Buckle up.

“It will be an interesting team to watch play,” Boeheim said, clairvoyantly, before the season. “Much more interesting than last year’s team to watch. I don’t know if they’ll be any better, but they’ll be more interesting.”

Jesse Dougherty is the Web Editor at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at jcdoug01@syr.edu or @dougherty_jesse.

Published on November 16, 2015 at 8:46 pm