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Cole Swider pointed one finger in the air and nodded as Cornell called timeout. For the second possession in the opening minutes of the second half, Swider had perched behind the arc with open space in front of him. The first one ended with a made 3-pointer, and this shooting lane, from the left wing one minute later, presented a similar window.

But for the first 25 minutes of the game, those shots didn’t fall — or even exist, in some cases. Syracuse hit 61.9% of its 3-point attempts against Brown but opened just 2-for-13 against the Big Red. They didn’t leave SU’s shooters, like Swider, open behind the arc. The Orange abandoned their offense’s focus and turned to interior routes like Jimmy Boeheim on post-ups or Jesse Edwards on dump-offs after perimeter drives. Thirty-two of their first 48 points came from inside the painted area, and Swider, known for his 3-point shots, fought through contact for layups and mid-range jumpers.

Eventually, that approach helped buy time for Syracuse’s offense to start clicking and served as a reliable blueprint the Orange will need beyond their victory 80-68 over Cornell in the Carrier Dome on Wednesday. It’s the “next development” for SU, Swider said, and a requisite if opponents succeed in taking away the Orange’s 3-pointers. Because defenses that’ll tighten their presence on the perimeter lie ahead in conference play, not leaving open spaces for Swider like he found as he sank that second 3-pointer in the second half.

For the second time in three games, the Orange topped 40 points in the paint after notching 42 against Georgetown in their final matchup before a COVID-19 pause. Against the Big Red, it was a 40-14 advantage inside, and even though Syracuse needed to sub in its starters after Cornell pulled within nine, Buddy Boeheim’s 22 points, Jimmy’s 16 and Swider’s 21 provided a glimpse at a balanced blueprint as SU escaped its final nonconference game without adding another scratch to its postseason resume.

“Jimmy’s done it all year, and I think me, Buddy and Joe are trying to make our games where we can get into the paint … and put pressure on the defense in that aspect too,” Swider said. “For us to be the team we want to be, we all got to get better, and obviously that’s a point of emphasis for us.”

It marked the ninth time in 12 games this season that the Orange finished with single-digit makes from behind the arc and the third time they’ve finished with six or fewer. Jimmy, just like he has on 10 of 12 opening possessions this season, backed down his Cornell defender from the right elbow and laid a shot in. Then, on the Orange’s ensuing possession, they grabbed two offensive rebounds, the second one drawing a foul, that eventually set up Buddy’s 2-point jumper following an out-of-bounds play.

Those sequences provided stability when SU opened 0-for-6 from beyond the arc, and when Cornell doubled Jimmy as he drove, like it did with the Orange up 12-2, he swung his arm around Kobe Dickson, the sliding Big Red defender and tallest player in their lineup at 6-foot-9, to an open Edwards for a dunk.

The weakness of Syracuse’s defense — the 3-point shooting — still shone through. Cornell cut its deficit to six when Guy Ragland Jr. hit a shot from deep with over four minutes left in the opening half, and it seemed to trim the deficit more when Jimmy was called for an over-the-back foul. He crouched down after the play, holding his left shoulder at an awkward angle, and immediately walked down toward the SU locker room. Jimmy jogged back out during SU’s last offensive possession of the half, participated in halftime warmups, and played in the final frame. Boeheim said after the game that Jimmy “was fine.”

During the 2:17 without Jimmy, Cornell trimmed an 11-point SU lead to five. Dean Noll, Nazir Williams and Keller Boothby all connected on 3-pointers, including a final one with three seconds remaining, and the Big Red finished the opening 20 minutes 8-of-24 from beyond the arc after starting 1-for-9.

“Ten points in about a minute, and the whole game changed,” Boeheim said.

Cole Swider and Buddy Boeheim combined for 43 points against Cornell in Syracuse’s 80-68 win. Courtesy of Scott Trimble | syracuse.com

SU’s source of offense continued to come from the interior after the halftime break. Jimmy returned to start the second half and Syracuse went right to his spot on the elbow during its first possession. This time, he cycled the ball around to Buddy and positioned behind the 3-point arc, who then swung the ball to Edwards underneath the basket for another dunk. Jimmy followed with a dunk of his own, and then Swider added an off-balanced mid-range jumper before connecting on his pair of 3s.

“It’s not only good because we can score in there sometimes, but it also can get us freed up for some more shots outside,” Jimmy said.

It wasn’t supposed to be that close, though. Not a four-point lead with 14:55 left in the game. Not with the Big Red missing their leading scorer, Jordan Jones, who is the only player on their team averaging double-figures. Not with Chris Manon, their guard who draws 5.7 fouls per 40 minutes, per KenPom, on the bench for most of the first half after picking up two fouls in the first five minutes.

But that’s exactly what unfolded when turnovers led to open 3-pointers for Cornell, when the Big Red press caused disruptions and their 3-point attempts connected. At first, Syracuse’s defense limited Cornell’s chances. The Big Red managed just five points in the opening 10 minutes. Their average possession length, the lowest number in the country at 14.2 seconds, per KenPom, flipped when SU forced three shot-clock violations in the first half. And SU couldn’t find the long shots to respond, instead relying on Jimmy’s hook shots inside and mid-range jumpers to slowly make that lead sustainable again.

Still, Joe Girard III needed to pick off a ball following his made free throw to ensure the Orange didn’t blow another late lead heading into conference play. Their 19-point lead, the largest of the game, had been trimmed to single-digits after backups entered. But over the final seven minutes, as SU scored its final 10 points, it managed to close out a game with a pair of jumpers, six free throws and three missed 3-pointers — the final poke to remind of an emerging formula as its toughest tests loom in conference play, a formula that might allow Syracuse to survive without making as many 3s as it once would’ve needed to.

Published on December 29, 2021 at 9:15 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @CraneAndrew