CHESTNUT HILL, Ma. — Syracuse (17-13, 10-9 Atlantic Coast) outlasted Boston College’s (13-17, 7-12) 3-point shooting and won, 84-71, Tuesday night in the Conte Forum. After four losses in six games, the Orange rode Elijah Hughes’ hot hand and swept the season series against the Eagles.

Here are some takeaways from SU’s penultimate regular-season contest.

Elijah, Elijah, Elijah

The crowd gasped, Hughes smiled and BC head coach Jim Christian called a timeout. There were just over 14 minutes left in the second half, and Hughes had crossed-over, stepped back and launched. He scored his fifth- and sixth-straight points and secured the Orange win in the process.

Hughes opened Syracuse’s scoring with a highlight alley-oop, and he didn’t stop there. The redshirt-junior totaled his most points since Dec. 7 at Georgia Tech (33 points), going 11-for-20 from the field for 28.

Two nights after he went 5-for-16 against North Carolina, Hughes said he needed to make both mental and technical shooting adjustments. And playing against one of the worst defenses in the conference, Hughes was able to generate easy looks. No one Eagles defender could stop him as he constantly drew cheers from a crowd sprinkled with orange.

Threes, please

When the Eagles visited the Carrier Dome on Jan. 15, they missed their first 18 3-pointers, eventually finishing with six. Within 16 minutes on Tuesday night, they had reached that mark. They eclipsed it four minutes into the second half, too.

BC took advantage of a discombobulated SU defense, with orange jerseys commonly overloading one side and allowing an Eagle to find space along the wing. Freshman guard Julian Rishwain sunk two, and so did Jay Heath. After one breakdown, SU head coach Jim Boeheim walked up the court and feigned two punches.

In the second half, Buddy Boeheim and Joe Girard III collapsed on a guard atop the key, and a quick pass to Derryck Thornton cut the SU lead to seven points. Boeheim quickly called a timeout, yelling at his son as he approached the huddle. Syracuse’s defense tightened inside but kept allowing deep balls. Boston College finished 19-of-42 from 3 as the space open in the first half dissipated in the second.

Size matters

With 6:48 seconds left in the second half, Bourama Sidibe jumped for a rebound and dunked through contact. A fan in a blue Syracuse cap sitting courtside stood up and flexed. Sidibe posted 12 rebounds and nine points, continuing his dominant-stretch ahead of the ACC tournament.

Sidibe’s success inside was evocative of a larger-trend for the Orange on Tuesday night. They converted only 7 3s, scoring an overwhelming-majority of their buckets inside the arc, finishing with 28 points in the paint. The Eagles switched on nearly every possession in the first half and SU seized the mismatch. Marek Dolezaj registered six attempts, backing down his defender whenever he noticed a guard switched onto him.

Published on March 3, 2020 at 9:11 pm

Contact Nick: nialvare@syr.edu | @nick_a_alvarez