Robert Braswell, a seldom-used freshman, saw an open lane in the final minutes of Syracuse’s matchup against Arkansas State. The 6-foot-9 forward knew what to do: rise up with his right arm cocked back and throw it down to put the Orange up by 28.

Braswell’s dunk gave Syracuse 77 points, a number that’s guaranteed an SU win over the last two seasons in games that avoided overtime.

In its last six games before the Orange’s 82-52 win against Arkansas State on Dec. 22, Syracuse hadn’t hit that mark. But on Saturday, SU head coach Jim Boeheim finally saw life from the Orange offense.

“We scored points in the second half, and we had five, six, wide open shots, seven or eight maybe wide open shots that we didn’t make,” Boeheim said. “So we’re scratching the surface of what we can do.”

When facing top-60 defenses in its two losses before last Saturday, Syracuse (8-4) failed to consistently score — ending in 62 points against Old Dominion and 59 against then-No. 14 Buffalo. The Orange are one of the country’s worst-shooting 3-point teams (29.6 percent), rank about average in 2-point percentage and below average in free-throw percentage, per Kenpom.com. But the Orange have shown glimpses all season of scoring ability. In their upcoming contest with St. Bonaventure, SU’s final nonconference opponent of the season, the Orange have an opportunity to tap into their offensive upside before ACC play begins.

“We’re not there,” Boeheim said on Dec. 22. “… I think we can get there, but we’re obviously a long ways away right now from where we have to get to.”

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Syracuse scored 76 points on Nov. 15 in its first loss of the season, to Connecticut, and Boeheim admitted postgame that the Orange had seven or eight offensive possessions where they didn’t set up a play to run. SU was supposed to have more scorers this season, with five starters back and additions like Elijah Hughes, Jalen Carey and Buddy Boeheim. But integrating new players while Frank Howard battled early season injuries proved difficult and hasn’t yet been fully overcome.

Sometimes, when the ball swings to Hughes, Tyus Battle or Oshae Brissett on a wing, they’ll stand and assess the defense for multiple seconds before making a move. Often, their response is to start a dribble drive or to call for a big to set a screen.

But when the wings wait for something to happen, the opposing defense anticipates the action and often shuts it down. The offensive stagnancy that players pointed out at the beginning of the season hasn’t fully gone away, resulting in prepared defenders and low percentage looks late in the shot clock.

“We didn’t see changes on the floor, see things, make adjustments on the floor,” Howard said.

But Boeheim thought that the Orange “showed some signs of being able to do some things” on offense after the Buffalo loss after struggling to penetrate past quick guards. While the Orange didn’t play fast that day, scoring only 59 points, they did have motion in their offensive attack at times. They ran their “horns” play successfully, where two forwards set up at the elbows, receive a pass and then other SU players cut off of them, and worked ball swings into quick pick-and rolls without delay.

“I think we can score points. I think we’re going to be able to,” Boeheim said on Dec. 18. “… We need to have a couple good weeks, find our offense, if we can, we’ll be alright. If not, we won’t. Pretty simple.”

Boeheim’s set plays created opportunities for Hughes shooting from 3 and Brissett driving to the rim against UB. The two allowed the returning Howard to create for others, the skill he provides most for the SU offense.

Even with that increased fluidity Syracuse showed against UB, though, its point total led Boeheim to say: “We’re not winning games scoring 59 points. It’s not gonna happen.”

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But against Arkansas State, SU’s set plays translated to the scoreboard. In addition to their “horns” and ball-swing pick actions, the Orange ran a play called “25,” trying to set up Battle wrapping around a couple screens to create an edge on his explosive first step.

Syracuse also showed its most comfort against an opposing 2-3 zone as it has all season when ASU dropped back to mirror the Orange. The ball moved quickly around the outside, and SU found lanes to throw bounce passes for easy buckets. Marek Dolezaj’s insertion as starting center prevented the ball from sticking on the perimeter. The ball kept moving when Dolezaj sat down, and his play carried over to the rest of the starting lineup.

“We wanted to really understand who we are and our identity and just come out and do that every day,” Howard said of what went into that offensive comfort.

After 82 points, SU’s postgame mood was mostly subdued because the Orange had just beaten up on the 5-7 Red Wolves, not a conference opponent. But Syracuse’s scoring potential is there. Battle received the seventh-most votes for the preseason AP All-American team. Brissett has slid in and out of NBA mock drafts. Hughes shoots with confidence from multiple feet beyond the 3-point arc.

In its last three games, Syracuse has “scratched the surface.” Now, the Orange just have to unlock their offensive potential.

Published on December 27, 2018 at 11:48 pm

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