Malachi Richardson was still thinking about the emotions of the play before when his 3-pointer from straight-on extended a far-from-tenuous Syracuse lead to 24 with 8:22 to play.

He was thinking about getting his arms tangled with Notre Dame’s Matt Ryan. He thought about Ryan pushing him and he thought about the double-technical foul that was assessed after bumping Ryan with his body before the two were separated.

Richardson pulled up just 11 seconds later, on the next time down the court, and swished the 3 to the roar of a crowd that wanted revenge as much as he did.

“I knew it was going in before I shot it,” Richardson said.

Richardson scored 15 points on 4-of-7 shooting to follow up his 23-point night at No. 13 Virginia just four days earlier. His emotional moment was the highlight of Syracuse’s otherwise drama-less, 81-66 win over No. 25 Notre Dame on Thursday in the Carrier Dome.

“That was a frustration shot,” Michael Gbinije said. “He was looking to get back at them. That’s the only way he could have done that. It helped us out.

Richardson wasn’t as much of an offensive factor for the Orange as it jumped out to an 17-point lead thanks to a 23-1 run, but his offense continued as it has throughout conference play. He hit a 3 in the first half to make it 31-14. He connected on a four-point play to end any idea of a Notre Dame rally after the Irish cut the lead to 12 in the second half.

With two minutes left, he went one-on-one to the basket, and finished at the rim with ease, long after the Fighting Irish had any fight in them.

But his best part of the night was the way he responded to the worst part. Teammates told him that the best way to get back at Ryan was to knock down a shot, dunk on him, do whatever it takes to get yourself going.

And it didn’t take long for him to answer that call.

“I was already a little frustrated at the choppiness that the kid did,” Richardson said. “It happens, and I moved on from it.”

Published on January 28, 2016 at 10:21 pm

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