MIAMI — Malachi Richardson pulled up 2 feet behind the 3-point line.

Syracuse had been up by as many as 12, but now trailed by five. It was on the verge of starting 2016 much like it ended 2015, with a second-half meltdown.

Then Richardson swished the shot from beyond the left wing. It was the fifth of his five 3-pointers. To that point, he’d yet to miss from long range. On a day when Syracuse struggled to shoot, Richardson was keeping Syracuse in the game.

“It’s a great feeling, just to see the ball go in the net early,” Richardson said. “That’s something I had to work on, getting into the game a little bit earlier than I have.”

In Syracuse’s first four losses of the season, Richardson had shot just 2-of-27 overall from behind the arc. On Saturday, he was 5-of-6 with a career-high 20 points in the Orange’s (10-5, 0-2 Atlantic Coast) 64-51 loss to No. 13 Miami (12-1, 1-0) on Saturday afternoon at the Bank United Center. Richardson also added six rebounds.

It’s been typical that Richardson has shot the Orange out of its losses, but in this 64-51 defeat to Miami, he actually kept Syracuse afloat.

“He got us going,” SU guard Trevor Cooney said. “Without him, it would have been a different game. It was good to see him going, to make some plays and make some shots.”

He hit his first 3 of the game just over three minutes in when an offensive rebound went all the way out to Michael Gbinije, who tossed to his left where Richardson was open. Then he got another 3 off a Tyler Roberson offensive rebound to make it 13-9.

When the Hurricanes had scored six straight points in the waning moments of the first half, a drive down the baseline and a frenetic Richardson layup extended the Syracuse’s lead back to eight. When SU got down by seven in the second half, his 3-pointer and free throw two possessions later helped the Orange get the lead back.

Richardson showed that he’s capable of being the best player on the floor. On Saturday, though, that wasn’t enough to change the result.

“I thought Malachi Richardson was a go-to guy tonight,” interim SU head coach Hopkins said. “He made some plays that were big for us. He was really aggressive, and it was great to see that from him because he hadn’t been that player in a while.”

Published on January 2, 2016 at 7:01 pm

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