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Quadir Copeland pulled Chris Bell aside in SU’s locker room at halftime. The message was simple: keep shooting.

Yet, the confidence to do so was already ingrained in Bell. And it culminated in a career-high 25-point performance for the Syracuse forward.

“There never is hesitation,” Bell said postgame when asked about his performance. “Just keep letting it go. Some shots go in, sometimes they don’t.”

Fueled by Bell’s career night, Syracuse (3-0, 0-0 Atlantic Coast Conference) overcame a tremendous 24-point deficit to defeat Colgate (1-1, 0-0 Patriot League) 79-75 Tuesday evening. Overcoming a sluggish 2-for-6 start from range in the first half, Bell caught fire in the second to finish with a game-high six 3-point makes.

“Chris Bell was phenomenal today,” SU head coach Adrian Autry said. “This was his best game in a (Syracuse) uniform.”

Though it took just shy of 15 seconds for Bell to get on the board, by way of a corner 3, he went scoreless for the next four minutes. The drought ceased when he squeezed by Colgate’s Keegan Records and Ryan Moffatt for an easy deuce along the right baseline, but Bell never really found his rhythm in the opening half.

Yet he certainly tried to. At times, he forced the issue — appearing trigger-happy early in the shot clock when he had open teammates around the perimeter. On one play he fired short on a contested jumper with an unmarked Justin Taylor a few paces away. On another, he was called for a traveling violation after leaving his feet without releasing the ball.

Bell’s only other 3-point in the first half came at the 13:13 mark off of a Judah Mintz assist. Receiving possession near the right corner, he jabbed a couple of times at the smaller Braeden Smith before rattling home a faceup jumper.

It likely didn’t help that Syracuse, already trailing 46-30, fell victim to an early 6-0 run after the break, but Bell eventually found his stride.

Following a Records miss on one end, SU shooting guard J.J. Starling initiated the fast break. Spotting a wide-open Bell in the corner, he rifled a pass forward which Bell comfortably converted on, putting the Orange within 17. He made another from the exact same spot to whittle Colgate’s lead to 57-42. Then, Bell started to drive inside.

Entering a triple-threat position on the right wing, Bell lost his immediate defender and burrowed his way into the paint. With Colgate’s bigs too concentrated on boxing out SU’s Maliq Brown, Bell put up a delicate floater that swished through.

“It’s something I always do,” Bell said about attacking the basket. “Just trying to be more aggressive. If the jumper’s not falling, I gotta do something else.”

But Bell’s shot did fall, and kept falling, as the game progressed. After a Colgate miss sparked Mintz to streak down the middle of the court with his head on a swivel, Bell immediately raced to the less jam-packed, left corner.

As two Raider defenders converged on SU’s point guard, Bell made himself available. Mintz found him and Bell didn’t hesitate to can the jumper over Smith’s outstretched arms. Now, it was a 10-point game.

“It felt good just trying to be confident in myself,” Bell said. “You know I haven’t really shot it well the last year I’ve been here so I felt like it was good for me to see those shots go in.”

Bell’s defensive performance also garnered praise from Autry. Throughout the contest’s final 10 minutes — when the Orange began doubling, flying-around and pressing full-court — Bell’s lanky, 6-foot-7 frame, forced Colgate’s ball-handlers into errant decisions.

With 8:12 remaining in the game, Brown poked the ball loose from behind Colgate guard Nicolas Louis-Jacques. Flying downcourt to intercept, Bell picked up possession and swiftly passed to Mintz, who relayed it back to Brown for a lefty lay-in.

Autry said he was impressed that Bell did well to stay in a disciplined defensive stance at all times and highlighted that the forward “stopped gambling, started sliding his feet and kept guys in front of him.”

As Syracuse drew within seven, Bell started missing. For around three minutes, between the 5:14 and 2:51 marks, he failed to hit as SU continued to mount its incomprehensible comeback. But then, at the perfect moment, he took over.

The way Mintz described it, Bell’s confidence isn’t the same as the next person. He has more. Syracuse center Naheem McLeod joked that whenever Bell misses, he doesn’t see the next play.

“It sticks in his head for two seconds and then he moves on,” McLeod said.

So, when Bell tied the game at 70-70 with 1:38 remaining, it didn’t seem like many of his teammates were surprised. Mintz and McLeod knew he had the big shot in him, or at least the confidence to take it when called upon.

Off of an inbounds play, Bell received the ball near midcourt. He took one dribble, shrugged his shoulders and pulled up over Colgate’s Jeff Woodward.

“I looked up at the shot clock and I remember I hadn’t shot that shot in a while,” Bell said. “I’m just going to take it, and it happened to go in.”

The JMA Wireless Dome erupted and Bell flexed toward the crowd, flooded with emotion. Then, he quickly raced toward Moffatt — his assignment — and crouched down into that defensive stance. Seconds later, his timely contest forced a Colgate miss and Starling corralled the rebound.

“Chris has been this,” Mintz said. “He’s been this special player.”

Published on November 15, 2023 at 1:10 am

Contact Tyler: trschiff@syr.edu | @theTylerSchiff