When Virginia Tech head coach Buzz Williams watched tape of Syracuse, he had to conjure up a brand new defense solely to stop Tyler Lydon.

Williams’ Hokies assign specific colors to their ball-screen coverages. All of them, prior to this past week, were one syllable. But to draw attention to the level in which Lydon and point guard John Gillon were playing at, Williams created a new ball-screen coverage and assigned it a two-syllable color.

He said it was the first time he’s ever done that in his career.

“A lot of what we were trying to do in our prep relative to ball-screen coverage was based on (Lydon),” Williams said. “… Here’s the mid-ball screen with (Lydon) and it’s (Gillon) that’s using it. How are you going to play that?”

Virginia Tech held Lydon in check on Tuesday night, but Lydon also wasn’t at 100 percent. He rolled his left ankle with a little over four minutes remaining in the first half and couldn’t move at full speed the rest of the game. His two points tied a season-low. Whether that was more a result of the injury or VT’s defense is unknown. It was probably somewhere in between. But Tuesday night’s venture in Blacksburg, Virginia, shed light on an incredibly important truth surrounding this Orange (11-7, 3-2 Atlantic Coast) team: Tyler Lydon is indispensable.

At the conclusion of nonconference play, I agreed with fellow beat writer Connor Grossman that Andrew White had been SU’s most valuable player in the first half of the season. Lydon struggled to find consistency early on while White scored in double figures in all but one nonconference game.

But after hearing the way Williams tailored his defense specifically to Lydon and observing how much the Orange relies on Lydon in several facets of the game, it’s clear that he’s as important as, if not more than, White.

“Everybody on our team is important,” Syracuse head coach Jim Boeheim said. “We can’t win without any of those guys. … There’s no one guy.”

“I think he’s very valuable,” Boston College head coach Jim Christian said of Lydon. “He does a lot of things I think people don’t appreciate unless you play against him.”

Lydon’s 13 points per game don’t pop out. But what else he brings to Syracuse does. It can’t be replicated by anyone else on the team. That’s partially what kept the sophomore on the floor despite being hobbled.

The 6-foot-10 forward is shooting 42.2 percent from 3, good for second best on the Orange and 16th in the ACC. He can score from anywhere on the offensive end: from 3, on a mid-range jumper, on an inside post-up or on a putback. He’s also SU’s leading rebounder with 7.6 per game. And he’s seemingly Syracuse’s only competent defender at the center position.

“Certainly he’s our best player,” Boeheim said.

When the Orange’s second-half lead against Miami on Jan. 4 shrunk to just one point, Lydon responded with a layup and a blocked shot on back-to-back possessions. It sparked an 18-5 run that can be pointed to as the turning point of the Orange’s season thus far. Lydon had nine of the 18 points, two rebounds and an assist in the five-minute, 26-second span.

On Tuesday, Virginia Tech stayed matched up on Lydon even when he set a ball screen. The Hokies defender guarding the ball fought through the pick and the defender on Lydon never abandoned his mark. It opened up driving lanes for guards like Gillon, but they didn’t penetrate as well as Boeheim wanted. Williams essentially planted his foot down and said he wouldn’t let Lydon beat his team.

Against Miami, Pittsburgh and Boston College, Lydon drew switches when he set the ball screen, allowing him to get a favorable matchup. From there, he often posted up against a smaller defender.

The mismatch was the look that Boeheim said SU has been looking for. But even if it doesn’t come, Lydon attracting the defense’s attention opens up space for others.

“He’s very valuable just because he scores, defends and rebounds,” White said. “Three top components of the game and he can do all those effectively.”

Whether looking at Lydon as simply as White does or based on what he does that won’t appear in the box score, the same conclusion will be reached. Syracuse needs him.

Paul Schwedelson is a senior staff writer at The Daily Orange, where his column appears occasionally. He can be reached at pmschwed@syr.edu or @pschweds.

Published on January 15, 2017 at 11:35 am