Bourama Sidibe caught the ball in the mid-post and backed toward the basket, ready for a shot. But Syracuse had seen that before. It always seemed to end a similar way: The ball slipped from Sidibe’s hand and he swatted at the ball between his legs.

“I dribbled it too hard,” Sidibe said.

It was midway through the first — and less positive — half of an eventual Syracuse 79-72 win over Georgia Tech and Sidibe’s play seemed like a microcosm of the disastrous start. He regained control, turned and air-balled the right-handed hook shot. Sidibe knew it was bad. He turned up court before it completed its descent. SU head coach Jim Boeheim didn’t need to tell him.

Thus has been the season for Sidibe. Ups and downs and more downs. A limited skillset limits his production, a game plan that doesn’t emphasize his type of scoring gives him few scoring chances, and foul trouble takes him out of the game entirely. But in Syracuse’s (15-12, 8-8 Atlantic Coast) second-half surge against the Yellow Jackets (13-14, 7-9) — among strong showings from Joe Girard III, Elijah Hughes and Marek Dolezaj — Sidibe was Boeheim’s main example of the Orange’s improvement. 

“This is what Bourama can do. He can do what he did today,” Boeheim said. “It may not look like much, but it’s 10 rebounds, six points. Three steals. He can do that more consistently.”

Sidibe has heard it all season long: He needs to be better. Hearing it again postgame, Sidibe laughed. He said he may have gotten pats on the back after a good performance once last year, and another time his freshman year. Not this year. This year has been all about better, better, better to the point of genuine criticism morphing into cliche. But down the stretch for the Orange in the game against Georgia Tech, Sidibe’s “consistent” was enough to give Syracuse a boost. As a key cog of SU’s future, Boeheim said Sidibe playing the way he did Saturday may be the only way the Orange can compete.

Sidibe’s consistency starts with being on the court in the first place. All season long, he’s struggled with fouls and has fouled out in six of the last seven games. But the first half of this game was something of an anomaly, as Sidibe walked off the court at halftime with no personal fouls to his credit.

Ironically, it was to his detriment. Howard Washington was the first to point it out: Sidibe’s passiveness limited his aggressiveness, and Boeheim doubled down on that assessment as he’s always done, Sidibe said. But striking the balance between aggressiveness and staying on the court isn’t easy.

“I haven’t been able to do it all year,” Sidibe said. “I had no fouls in the first half, and second half I fouled out. I don’t know what I’m going to do to prevent it.”

Bourama Sidibe fouled out for the sixth time in seven games against Georgia Tech, but not before helping Syracuse take back a lead it hadn’t held since 4-2 in the first half. Max Freund | Staff Photographer

Aggressiveness means fouls in Sidibe’s mind because with aggressiveness comes the calls that won’t go his way. Against Louisville, Sidibe made it just 11 minutes before fouling out of the game. He feels he hurt the team, and Boeheim agrees.

But there’s no way that Sidibe can play his position without fouling, Boeheim said. So in the second half, Sidibe went onto the floor with a clear conscience, and five fouls to work with.

The freedom allowed Sidibe to cash in: Though he eventually fouled out, he did so after playing 25 minutes. When a win was necessary only to avoid the embarrassment of sinking lower than a missed NCAA tournament bid, Sidibe was on the floor during the game’s most important stretch. He hit key layups when SU played with the lead and remained a solid presence at the center of SU’s zone that forced Georgia Tech off-balance in the second half.

With Syracuse up by just one point, Sidibe collected an offensive rebound, punched in a layup plus a foul and roared. A few plays later, he caught a pass inside in stride and went under the rim for a finish that put Syracuse up by five. Then, he fouled out, pleaded and left the game not with a whimper — like in games past — but with a Syracuse lead he helped cement.

Sidibe, even through the praise, was given specific instructions from Boeheim. He needs to get better on defense, rebounding and scoring when needed. So what does the “better” version of Sidibe that Boeheim has talked about look like? Sidibe laughed when asked. He doesn’t know, either. But he finally knows how to get there.

“You know coach: He always wants ‘better,’” Sidibe said, laughing. “Coach is never satisfied, (and) I’m not satisfied with what I’m doing either. But he’s not satisfied, so I just got to keep doing (this) and getting better.”

Published on February 22, 2020 at 9:02 pm

Contact Michael: mmcclear@syr.edu | @MikeJMcCleary