Syracuse (7-2) beat Colgate, 78-51, in the Carrier Dome on Tuesday night. It was an unexciting win, despite what the score may say, against a Raiders (2-6) that lost by 26 to Fordham and 21 to Albany earlier this season.

But the victory still snapped the Orange’s two-game losing skid, and here are three quick reactions from it.

1. Getting back to form

Syracuse’s 3-point-focused offense was shaky at best in losses to Wisconsin and Georgetown last week, and regained its shooting stroke on Tuesday.

The Orange made seven 3s in each of those losses, and shot 8-of-18 from beyond the arc in the first half. In total, SU went 14-of-30 from deep and also saw encouraging shooting numbers from freshmen Malachi Richardson and Tyler Lydon, who were slumping heading into the contest. Richardson shot 4-for-10 from deep — and finished with 17 points — after shooting 3-for-20 in his last three games. Lydon finished 2-for-3 from beyond the arc. Together, the pair made five first-half 3s that helped the Orange snap out of its two-game shooting funk.

Trevor Cooney, who also struggled from 3 in recent games, made 4-of-9 long-range attempts.

Colgate came out in a matchup zone to pack the paint and force Syracuse to beat it from deep. It’s an approach a lot of teams will take this season, and the Orange didn’t let the lowly Raiders get comfortable in that defensive set.

2. Filling it up

Through nine games now, Michael Gbinije’s ability to carry the Syracuse offense is unquestionable. SU was largely sluggish against an inferior Colgate, but Gbinije jumpstarted the fast break with steals, finished at the rim and stretched the floor with his shooting touch.

The senior starting point guard finished with 17 points, six assists, four rebounds and three steals. He shot an efficient 6-of-12 from the field and 4-of-7 from deep. His versatility helped the Orange keep the Raiders from sniffing an upset in an uncharacteristically quiet Carrier Dome.

3. Discouraging down low

Colgate’s tallest starter was 6-foot-8 freshman forward Malcolm Regisford, and SU’s frontcourt didn’t exactly assert itself inside.

Despite being smaller, the Raiders managed to pull down 13 offensive rebounds as each team finished with 32 total rebounds. Mike Hopkins, filling in for head coach Jim Boeheim for the second of nine games, played starting center Dajuan Coleman for 20 minutes. Coleman grabbed an unimpressive two rebounds, and wasn’t able to use his 6-foot-9, 268-pound frame to post up Colgate’s smaller bigs.

Hopkins also played freshman forward Tyler Lydon at center, and even mixed Chinonso Obokoh into the center of the Syracuse’s zone for four minutes. It was the first time Obokoh played since the Orange beat Charlotte in the Battle 4 Atlantis on Nov. 25. None of SU’s centers were able to control the paint in a game where it should have been easy to.

Published on December 8, 2015 at 9:10 pm