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Kadary Richmond dribbled 35 feet from the basket with the 6-foot-7 Dereon Seabron squared in front of him. Richmond earned the long-armed defender as his assignment by repeatedly torching smaller guards and finishing over them in the lane.

Seabron had checked him once earlier, forcing Richmond into a wild floater — his first and only miss of the game. This time, Richmond and Seabron held the game in the balance. There was 1:20 left when Richmond made his first step and got Seabron on his hip. Less than two seconds later, he spun from right to left and finished on the left side of the hoop, fending off the best shot blocker in the Atlantic Coast Conference, Manny Bates.

“He’s a really good playmaker. He can get in the lane just about whenever he wants,” junior guard Buddy Boeheim (17 points) said. “He’s so hard to guard when he comes down the court with a full head of steam. He can just go by guys and get in the paint, make a play or finish.”

Though the Wolfpack stayed alive due to a careless Alan Griffin turnover and a mindless Quincy Guerrier foul of a 3-point shooter, the Orange won the late-game free-throw battle.

Even as NC State was missing its top two scorers, Syracuse was trapped. It was down nine at halftime and trailed for 55% of the game. But Richmond showed the Orange the escape hatch, lifted it and led the way out. His lefty finish gave Syracuse (10-5, 4-4 ACC) a 72-69 advantage, and his play on both ends keyed a 76-73 victory over NC State (7-6, 3-5).

Richmond got to the rim at will, no matter which defender NC State threw on him. On defense, he helped turn what was “as bad as defense as we could play,” head coach Jim Boeheim said, into a serviceable final 20 minutes. Richmond finished with 14 points in 16 minutes on 6-for-7 shooting.

At first, it didn’t look like NC State was a good matchup for the freshman. NC State showed full-court press in the first half, and Richmond turned it over twice — one of which was a needless pass that sailed several feet out into the Wolfpack bench area.

Richmond has seen very few presses at the college level as a primary ballhandler. The Brooklyn native only started playing point guard last year as a senior, and Boeheim only saw him on the recruiting trail as a forward.

“Kadary in the first half, he wasn’t ready for the press,” Boeheim said.

Boeheim not only stuck with him despite the two miscues, but he also gave him the keys to the offense. Richmond committed his second, and final, turnover with 3:28 left in the half, leading to a runout that gave NC State a 38-28 lead. Richmond decided five of Syracuse’s last six possessions of the half.

Over and over again, Richmond sized up a smaller on-ball defender, beat him off the dribble and got into the lane. First, he finished. Then, he drew a help defender and dropped off a pass to Marek Dolezaj for an easy two. He spun and finished a flip shot. Earned two free throws. Beat the buzzer with another drive and bucket.

NC State’s 10-point lead was only cut by one to enter halftime, but Boeheim said, “Without him, it wouldn’t have been reasonable. We would’ve been down 15.”

Despite that, Richmond started the second half on the bench. He didn’t replace Joe Girard III until 9:45 into the second half, at which point a Guerrier surge lifted the Orange to a 58-56 lead.

“I thought the reason he came out in the second half was Kadary was so good in the first half that I wanted to see what Kadary could do in the second,” Boeheim said. “He made a couple big-time plays again. It’s very helpful for us. We need all three of those guards. I’m really sick of people thinking, ‘Well this guy should play.’ We need all three guys to play and be effective.”

Kadary Richmond helped keep NC State’s lead at nine instead of 15 during the first half, said Jim Boeheim. Courtesy of Dennis Nett | Syracuse.com

When he returned, Richmond continued to take advantage of smaller defenders, forcing NC State to adjust its coverage. He also led SU’s defensive turnaround, often shading into the high-post to prevent entry passes and using his length to challenge shooters. SU allowed 47 points in the first half but only 26 in the second.

“He’s a great defender,” Buddy said. “Great instincts. He’s so lengthy, and he’s just always getting in guys’ heads. You don’t know if you have space to throw the high post because he can get there in a second. He’s a great defender, great instincts, and he makes plays that don’t go on the stat sheet sometimes.”

Buddy also said that the freshman has improved his decision-making and continues to get better every day. Richmond entered Sunday’s contest fourth in the ACC in steals per game (1.9) while having a higher offensive rating than Buddy and Girard.

But Richmond doesn’t have the same outside stroke as Buddy or Girard. Richmond is going to be “that much scarier” whenever he improves his jump shot, Buddy said. The freshman is 3-for-15 from outside on the year, and didn’t attempt one against NC State.

After Syracuse’s win over Miami on Jan. 19, Boeheim praised Richmond’s instincts but said his jump shot needs mechanical work that’s going to take the whole summer to fix. He has good lift on his jumper and a high release point but needs to get it off quicker, Boeheim said.

Even without a reliable jump shot, he can take over games offensively purely with his speed, handle and athleticism. If he didn’t do that on Sunday in the Carrier Dome, Syracuse likely would’ve had its most damning loss of the season.

Published on January 31, 2021 at 10:56 pm

Contact Danny: [email protected] | @DannyEmerman