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Amidst a 9-3 run at the beginning of the second half, Joe Girard III drove into the lane looking for a shot. Except when his drive drew two defenders, Girard cradled the ball and then squeezed a pass to Buddy Boeheim in the corner.

Buddy’s 3 hit the bottom of the net and as he ran to his backcourt partner to celebrate, Wake Forest was forced to call a timeout.

“In the second half, Buddy really got going, so that was a big part of that,” head coach Jim Boeheim said. “But I thought Cole got into his spot better than he has all year.”

The Demon Deacons’ (17-5, 6-4 Atlantic Coast) timeout did nothing to stop Syracuse (10-11, 4-6 ACC) en route its 94-72 win. SU went into halftime down by three but came out on a 20-6 run powered by Buddy and Cole Swider. Buddy finished with a season-high 30 points, one shy of a career-high, while Swider scored 18 points on 72.7% from the field, his best mark for Syracuse.

“Buddy hit a hot streak there, and we just kept getting him the ball,” Boeheim said. “Cole was the best he’s played.”

Swider’s confidence grew as the game wore on. All season Boeheim said that the Orange need to get Swider going and has asked his player to be more aggressive on offense. Tonight, Swider began to find his shots, starting with a 3.

But Swider did his most damage in the second half. Halfway through the period, Swider began to back his man down near the free-throw line. Swider used his 6-foot-9 frame to mismatch his opponent and hit a turnaround jumper in his defender’s face. As he ran back on defense, Swider put his hand next to his hip, signaling that his defender was too small to guard him.

“I had pretty good matchups on me. I was just trying to take advantage of them and score for the team,” Swider said. “Ultimately, it was just finding those spots, getting to those spots and just raising up over and making those shots.”

Like Swider, Buddy also began to really heat up in the second. WF had just lost the lead to a Swider jumper, but Isaiah Mucius hit a 3 to put the Demon Deacons back on top. When Wake Forest worked to further that lead, Jesse Edwards blocked Daivien Williamson’s layup attempt.

The Orange blew down the court and fed Jimmy Boeheim down low, but he decided to pass to the opposite corner where Buddy drained from deep again.

That 3-pointer gave Syracuse a lead — and capped six total from deep for Buddy — it would never give up en route to the big win. The next possession, Buddy received the ball one-on-one with his defender on the right-wing. He posted his man up, before turning around and hitting a jumper off the glass.

“(Buddy) made tough ones that he’s been missing,” Boeheim said. “When he got into the lane, he was balanced, and I thought he was the best he’s been this year getting in that lane area and getting that shot up there.”

Buddy and Swider led the team in scoring, but the rest of the starting five played important supporting roles as the Orange poured in 94 points, the third-most this season. Girard scored 13, Edwards provided 12 down low and Jimmy Boeheim scored 6. The starting five played almost the entirety of the second half, something Boeheim said he didn’t plan for but did because of how well they were playing.

Apart from some quick swaps between Edwards and Frank Anselem, Boeheim didn’t pull his starters until one minute remained in the game when Paddy Casey, Chris LaValle and Arthur Cordes checked in for rare minutes. Cordes hit a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to cap off a strong offensive night for Syracuse.

One week after only Buddy scored over double-digits for the Orange in an embarrassing loss to Pitt, they found scoring from the deepest parts of their bench.

“We’ve been a good offensive team, but I thought tonight, we were probably the most balanced overall,” Boeheim said. “It wasn’t one or two. It was five guys.”

Published on January 30, 2022 at 12:50 am

Contact Gaurav: gshetty@syr.edu