PARADISE ISLAND, Bahamas — Syracuse renewed it’s Big East rivalry with Connecticut in style, defeating the No. 18 Huskies, 79-76, in the semifinals of the Battle 4 Atlantis at the Imperial Arena.

Here are three quick observations from the game.

Why you Lydon?

A day after recording six blocks and 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting, big man Tyler Lydon was up to the same old tricks. The freshman entered the game fewer than two minutes in while Malachi Richardson got an earful from Jim Boeheim after getting called for a charge.

His first shot — a 3 from the left wing — rattled around the rim and through to cut the UConn lead in half. When he got the ball inside the arc and the Orange down 2, he paused for a moment, looking to pass. Someone shouted “Shoot” at the same moment that Lydon realized he was open enough to tie the game for the first time.

He found himself in the middle of a second-half, game-changing run when he pulled up and hit a long 3-pointer just moments after attempting a forced fadeaway jumper with time on the shot clock. It tied the game at 44. Just more than two minutes later, SU had a 7-point lead it wouldn’t give up.

He finished with 16 points and 12 rebounds.

Bombs away

On Wednesday, Boeheim said if Syracuse can shoot like it did in its win over Charlotte, the Orange would beat a lot of teams. On Thursday, SU was only 4-of-11 in the first half. But much like the win against the 49ers, Syracuse relied on its timely outside shooting to distance itself from UConn.

After Lydon’s long-range jumper, Richardson hit a fadeaway from the corner. On the next possession, Michael Gbinije was able to get his feet set and put the Orange up by 3 with a long-range shot of his own.

When Rodney Purvis’ shot cut the Syracuse lead down to five, Trevor Cooney took only a couple seconds to respond.

Syracuse hit 9-of-20 from long range.

Cleaning up

In a game that featured balance on the offense with five Syracuse players scoring at least 13 points, the Orange’s rebounding was also spread out among key contributors. Four players recorded at least six rebounds, which out-rebounded the Huskies 41-33. Just a night before, UConn had recorded 11 more boards than Michigan.

Lydon had his best day on the glass with 12 boards, and Tyler Roberson had four on the offensive end alone. After Cooney missed a long 3-pointer, Roberson rose up and had his biggest board of the game. The clock ticked away after he passed it to Richardson for the Orange to complete its upset of Connecticut.

Published on November 26, 2015 at 5:45 pm