NEW YORK — Federico Mussini tilted his head to the roof of Madison Square Garden and let out a scream. Both arms extended at his sides fully flexed. His 3-pointer from well beyond NBA range gave St. John’s its largest lead of the day.

A game in the balance for most of the first half was now 11 points in the Red Storm’s favor. Thirty-five seconds remained in the opening period and Madison Square Garden erupted, courtesy of the thin, 6-foot-1 freshman.

“My teammates need me open,” Mussini said. “We have great shooters on the team, they make space for me to be open and take my shot.”

On Sunday, Mussini and fellow Italian Amar Alibegovic torched Syracuse from behind the arc, combining for 32 points and 8-of-11 shooting from deep. It equaled the number of 3-pointers the Red Storm hit in its three games before Sunday and contributed two-thirds of SJU’s 12 3s on the afternoon.

Syracuse’s zone was exposed at times by intentionally focusing on St. John’s big men in the high post. Others, it was simply a touch from deep that the Red Storm (7-3) hasn’t seen this season that propelled it to an 84-72 upset win over Syracuse (7-3) on Sunday at MSG.

“They shot the ball really well today,” Syracuse wing Malachi Richardson said, “better than they probably ever shot it.”

Alibegovic came into Sunday averaging 3.9 points per game and a meager 26-percent clip from behind the arc. On his first make of the day, he pumped his hands down at his sides as he retreated past midcourt. Each of his ensuing 3s drew a similar reaction, thrusting three fingers into the side of his head after one second-half make before Syracuse called a timeout.

After a comfortable win against Colgate on Tuesday, SU interim head coach Mike Hopkins said the perfect recipe to beat the zone is shooters who can hit from deep. The Raiders flashed that potential, but couldn’t find the solution to pull an upset. Five days later, it was that exact formula that exposed a Syracuse zone often too slow to get out.

“When they make nine, 10, 11, that is not a good formula for our success,” Hopkins said. “A couple of the kids like Mussini, they were like Steph Curry shots.”

SJU big men Kassoum Yakwe and Yankuba Sima would flash to the elbow, receive the ball on a bounce and turn. Yakwe often took a dribble before putting up a floater and Sima did more distributing. When the ball was kicked back out by either, it was often one more pass to the corner that did Syracuse in.

“Sometimes we wanted the ball to go into the post,” SU guard Trevor Cooney said, “and we were rotating out of it and sometimes we took the gamble and that’s when they swung it and made a deep 3.

“Sometimes, there’s really nothing we can do.”

Just like other opponents, Alibegovic noted the spaces in Syracuse’s zone allowed St. John’s to grab offensive boards and hit 3s off second-chance opportunities.

The Red Storm is just the next team to solve the 2-3 with that formula. And to avoid slipping deeper out of the national spotlight, Syracuse has to find its own solution.

Published on December 13, 2015 at 5:12 pm

Contact Matt: [email protected] | @matt_schneidman