CHESTNUT HILL, Mass. – A one point Syracuse lead in the second half ballooned to 17 in a matter of minutes and Syracuse pulled away from lowly Boston College on the road. The Orange (18-8, 8-5 Atlantic Coast) has now won five consecutive games and eight of its last nine after Sunday’s 75-61 win over the Eagles (7-18, 0-12) at Conte Forum.

Here’s what we learned from the Orange’s 14-point win.

Tyler Lydon can exploit a mismatch with relative ease

With six inches on Eli Carter, all Lydon needed was the ball and one dribble. The freshman raised his right hand and caught an entry pass from Malachi Richardson before a quick backdown move and jump-hook accounted for the first two of Lydon’s career-high 20 points.

The next time Lydon received the ball in the post, seven-footer Dennis Clifford slid over to help and Lydon passed the ball back out. But just minutes later, Lydon found himself guarded by 6-foot-5 Garland Owens and a deft floater was all he needed for another seamless two points. When Lydon faced players he should handle, he did.

“Me and Coach (Autry) have been working on that a lot,” Lydon said. “They put a small guy on us and they switched so we were just trying to be aggressive.”

Malachi Richardson’s little bit of history is indicative of his expansion

The possession right after Malachi Richardson hit a 3 to put Syracuse up four in the second half, he sliced through the lane and threaded a no-look pass to Lydon for a two-handed slam.

It accounted for one of his five assists on the day, his second consecutive conference game with five or more helpers. It’s the first time this season that an SU player has registered five or more assists in back-to-back league games.

The freshman has displayed an ability to not only finish from beyond the arc and at the rim, but sift through gaps in the defense to setd up teammates as well. It’s an added branch to his game that he’s flashed at times but that’s now appearing more consistently as Syracuse continues its recent tear.

“He’s a very good passer and he can make plays and that’s important for us,” SU head coach Jim Boeheim said. “He’s handling the ball more. He’s doing more with the ball.”

Syracuse fans travel well, especially to Boston as Boeheim recalls

Tucked into a corner in the upper level of Conte Forum, a cluster of Syracuse fans gave Sunday the feel of an SU home game, just in a much smaller arena.

Boeheim estimated that 75 percent of the crowd was pro-Syracuse and intermittent chants of “Let’s go Orange” dotted the afternoon while no chants from the home team were audible from down on the court.

“We always get people here and we always have but there was really a lot of people here today,” Boeheim said. “…I noticed it early and then during, well, you shouldn’t be thinking about those things anyway. Then when I looked around, there had to be 6,000 Syracuse people here today. It was quite a show.”

Published on February 14, 2016 at 5:50 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman