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Alan Griffin’s transition to Syracuse hasn’t always been smooth.

Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim has pulled him from games for failing to rotate defensively. He’s taken Griffin out for dribbling too much through traffic. He’s removed Griffin for attempting ill-advised shots. Boeheim has been quick to criticize his transfer forward from Illinois, often singling him out for mistakes and later explaining why he pulled him from the game. Griffin said his coach has been “on his ass about rotating over,” in the Orange’s 2-3 zone.

When Boeheim was asked on Feb. 1 why it’s been difficult for Griffin to learn the zone as a transfer, he said “It appears to be very hard.”

All season, Boeheim has been quick to criticize. But on Tuesday night, he was quick to praise.

“This was his best game,” Boeheim said postgame. “Alan was really good tonight. He was moving and getting in the lane and making good decisions when he didn’t have a shot.”

Griffin has shown flashes of offensive production, often in spurts. In the Orange’s road win at North Carolina State on Tuesday, he was their best offensive player. He scored 22 points on 9-of-17 shooting and made 4-of-7 from 3-point range as Syracuse (11-6, 5-5 Atlantic Coast) won its second road game of the season over NC State (8-8, 4-7). The Orange — who had an 11.1% chance of making the NCAA Tournament in one projection model entering the game — saved their chance at an at-large bid with the win.

“As the season has gone on, I’m getting more comfortable knowing where I have to be,” Griffin said. “Learning the defense and, as of today, it showed that I have it down.”

Griffin came to Syracuse to develop his all-around game and to produce more off the dribble. At Illinois, his job was to stand in the corner, space the floor and shoot. He’d help rebound and generate some steals off the bench, but he wasn’t a key offensive player for the Illini. At SU, he could be that. He could fill the hole left by Elijah Hughes, who also transferred to Syracuse and led the ACC in scoring in his second season with the Orange in 2019-20.

Hughes had a full year sitting out to adjust and learn how to play one of the forward positions in the 2-3 zone. Griffin entered the program during the pandemic, when the offseason workouts were truncated and there was less time to practice the zone in team drills and more time focused on individual activities. The junior missed rotations early in the season, failed to close out on shooters and was caught out of position.

“On the defensive end, we were connecting, and those three steals were coach being on my behind, on my ass, he was on my ass about rotating over, and it showed out there today,” Griffin said.

Griffin scored above 20 points for the sixth time this season. Courtesy of Ethan Hyman | Raleigh News & Observer

Boeheim praised Griffin’s hustle before the season, when he called him one of the highest motor players he’s ever coached. On an early possession, he picked up his first steal of the game when he rotated down from the 3-point line to under the basket.

That rotation help has been missing all season for undersized center Marek Dolezaj. It’s one cause of many of SU’s defensive issues and has resulted in too many easy passes from the high post to underneath the basket. Griffin hustled back under the basket and stole the ball, one of 20 turnovers that Syracuse’s swarming and trapping defense forced.

Griffin’s wide range of offensive talents — from pull-up midrange jumpers, where he’s been efficient all year, to 3-pointers, where he’s been hit or miss — were both on display Tuesday night. Griffin made multiple contested looks on difficult shots from the midrange, but he also fanned out of the paint and spotted up in the corner for a wide-open 3 near the end of the half in the middle of Syracuse’s 9-0 run.

On one possession in the second half, when Griffin missed a pull-up floater, he dove onto the ground, grabbed the rebound and passed out to Girard for an open 3. His 22-point showing was the sixth above 20 in 17 games this season.

The Orange ran their offense through Griffin at times Tuesday. When Griffin caught the ball in the high post, he found a backdoor cutter in Kadary Richmond instead of dribbling, which he has done in the past. Richmond dished out to Robert Braswell for a 3-pointer to push Syracuse’s precarious second-half lead back to seven. He rebounded his own miss for one easy lay-up, came off a screen to drain a catch-and-shoot 3 and registered a block and an assisted on another inside while helping Dolezaj handle the larger players on the interior.

“We defended the inside much better, and that’s why we won the game. It’s not the guards. It’s really never been the guards this year,” Boeheim said.

Griffin’s success this year is about a player who started the year as the sixth man off the bench before center Bourama Sidibe’s long-term injury. A player who, despite his offensive success, has struggled to learn the zone by his own admission. But it’s also about a player who played 40 minutes on Tuesday for the first time in his collegiate career.

Not only did Boeheim not pull Griffin suddenly after a miscue, but he never pulled Griffin from the game at all.

Published on February 9, 2021 at 11:29 pm

Contact Anthony: [email protected] | @AnthonyDabbundo