In its final tune-up before Atlantic Coast Conference play, Syracuse (8-5) cruised to a 80-56 victory over Cornell (3-9) on Tuesday night in the Carrier Dome. A few minutes into the game the Orange trailed 15-12, looking like it did last Wednesday in its blowout loss to St. John’s, the program’s worst-ever Carrier Dome loss defeat. Then an emphatic dunk from Tyler Roberson sparked the SU offense.

Sophomore forward Tyler Lydon led all scorers with 20 points, freshman guard Tyus Battle had 16 and forward Taurean Thompson had 18, powering Syracuse to complete its nonconference slate with a much-needed win.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Start me up

Entering Tuesday, the Big Red ranked 244th out of 351 Division I teams, per Kenpom.com. Yet they hung around with Syracuse early and got out to an 8-2 lead.

From the top of the key, Frank Howard tossed a ball toward nobody. As Howard put his hand to his side, the ball bounced to the second row of the seats behind the basket. On two early possessions, SU fed the ball to a posting Dajuan Coleman. Thompson caught several feeds near the elbow or free throw line extended but his shots clanked.

On offense, the Big Red generated open looks from the perimeter. Sophomore point guard Matt Morgan, whose 19.3 points per game leads Cornell, hoisted several early 3s from dead on, but most ended as long rebounds that fell in a Syracuse player’s hands. Cornell shot just 6-for-24 from deep.

Tyler Roberson’s kick-start

Roberson, SU’s 6-foot-8 senior forward, had scored more than one point in just four of Syracuse’s previous nine games. He didn’t take a shot in SU’s loss to Georgetown, a game in which he played just six minutes. In Syracuse’s last outing against St. John’s, he shot just 0-for-3 from the field and grabbed only one rebound in seven minutes on the floor.

On Tuesday, he entered the game with a lethargic Syracuse offense operating much like it did in its loss to St. John’s: Miscommunication, bad shot selection and turnovers stalling any offensive flow. But with Roberson’s put-back slam midway through the opening half, SU fans erupted as a grinning Roberson hustled back on defense. That dunk started the run that propelled SU to a blowout victory.

Roberson dished out two assists, picked up two block and grabbed seven rebounds. Despite playing the final 11 minutes of the first frame, he didn’t sub-in the second half until 10:24 remained on the clock. And though he started the second half on the bench and played only 20 minutes overall, Roberson rekindled the Syracuse offense and kick-started its big run to end the first half.

Dominance down low

The Orange had only one offensive rebound in the first 13 minutes against a team whose tallest starter is 6-foot-8 (Stone Gettings) and whose next tallest starter stands 6 foot 4. As a whole, Cornell’s average height ranks 340th in the country, while SU ranks sixth, per Kenpom. But the Orange, behind Roberson, eventually used it’s size to dominate inside and improved to 6-1 when it wins the rebounding battle.

SU totaled 12 offensive boards to Cornell’s six and out-rebounded Big Red overall, 41 to 32. On the Orange’s first possession, Lydon posted up on the low block. His jump-hook try clanked off the rim, but it foreshadowed what later worked for SU.

When SU got the ball in the high post, a cutting player worked along the baseline with ease or spotted up on the wings for open 3s. Thompson once chinned the ball at the elbow and fed a wide-open Lydon near the low block. Later, the forwards reversed roles on similar high-post to low-block action.

By asserting itself down low, Syracuse opened up the wings for a second-half shooting surge.

Published on December 27, 2016 at 9:02 pm

Contact Matthew: [email protected] | @MatthewGut21