Tyler Lydon hung from the rim with his right hand, just above Georgetown’s Rodney Pryor. The Carrier Dome crowd erupted. The referees called Pryor for a foul and sent Lydon to the free-throw line in the two-point game.

But first he basked in the moment. He let out a scream and looked to the crowd with six and a half minutes remaining. This was the Tyler Lydon that landed on the preseason Wooden Award watch list. Not the one that entered the game averaging 9.9 points.

A minute and a half later, Lydon stepped back at the 3-point line and nailed a shot to cut the deficit to one. As he backpedaled down the court, he held his hands below his waist. Then he lifted one arm up and pointed to fans sitting along the sideline. If the Orange was to complete a comeback, it would have to be on his back. But trailing by one was as close as SU got.

Lydon poured in a career-high 29 points on Saturday afternoon as Syracuse’s (6-4) comeback fell short in a 78-71 loss to the Hoyas (7-4). The sophomore has spent time with assistant coach Adrian Autry before practices in recent weeks to workshop his game. The work finally paid off as he got going by scoring around the basket. The forward went 12-of-13 from the field, including three 3s, and recorded nine rebounds, four offensive, to spark the Orange.

“He was aggressive, I thought. But you know, he just had an unbelievable game,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “Tremendous inside, outside, post-ups, everything he did was great.”

Before practice on Wednesday, Autry methodically drilled Lydon. The emphasis was on his footwork on jump shots. He curled around screens Autry set for him. He stepped back, caught and shot. He stepped inside the arc, took a dribble and unloaded. He side-stepped with his feet in sync and let it fly. From the top of the key, the wings and the corners.

Lydon missed one 3 from the left wing and yelled “f*ck”. When he messed up a shuffle step he chucked the ball at the backboard from the 3-point line. After sets he hunched over with his hands on his hips.

He entered Saturday with just three games of multiple 3-pointers. As Syracuse’s most heralded returner, Lydon’s 3-point percentage drop from 40.2 percent to 34.3 percent left him needing more.

Remove the buzz of 30,000, the “Pearl” warmup shirt and the fans clamoring to see the player that could be the Orange’s next to leave early for the NBA. Before facing Georgetown, Lydon performed a similar routine with Autry. He had to go to work.

“Tyler Lydon doesn’t have an unbelievable game, we lose by 15,” Boeheim said. “That’s about what it probably should have been.”

Lydon scored on putbacks following each of his four offensive rebounds to get going offensively. Boeheim has urged the streaky 3-point shooter to attack the glass this season.

Throughout the year, guard Andrew White has spoken with Lydon about being the player opposing defenses key in on. To combat the “red X” Lydon carries with him, White said he needs to get easy baskets.

“He was a rock for our team tonight,” White said.

As he heated up in the second half, he began calling for the ball. Whether it was spotting up behind the arc on the weak side of the defense or posting up in the paint, Lydon knew he had the hot hand en route to 20 points after halftime.

Lydon tried to take advantage of every mismatch and scored seven consecutive points, trimming Georgetown’s lead to 60-59.

“I knew it would come. It was just a matter of when,” Lydon said. “Like I’ve been saying the whole time, it’s basketball. I’m not going to make every shot. … I just got to keep working, keep pushing through and just keep going.”

Lydon scored another six points in the final three minutes, but missed two late free throws.

The Orange couldn’t keep up with the Hoyas but it wasn’t because of Lydon.

“He played great basketball today,” Boeheim said. “But one guy can’t do it.”

Published on December 17, 2016 at 4:42 pm

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