Early in Tuesday’s game in the Carrier Dome, a quick Syracuse run was matched by Northeastern with one of its own. Quickly, a stepback 3 from Jordan Roland gave the Huskies a lead. Oshae Brissett responded with a bucket inside the paint. For just 20 seconds, the Huskies held a lead on Syracuse. The rest of the way, the Orange (6-2) took control, dominating Northeastern (4-5), 72-49.

Here are three takeaways from Syracuse’s win.

A rough outing

Tyus Battle, Syracuse’s star player, struggled in the first half. In just 14 minutes, Battle had mustered up just three shots, two of which were corner 3s. None fell. When he drove into the paint, he often passed outside to a teammate. It wasn’t the normal Battle that was physical around the rim, the one with the emphatic slams.

While Battle finished with three assists, he was mostly a non-factor on an offense that experienced a nine-minute first-half stretch with just two baskets. The second half saw no improvement, however. Battle was involved on the offense but rarely took the shots.

His only basket was a baseline layup. He missed another pair of corner 3s and a contested pull-up jumper. On the last corner 3 with just over 5:30 left, the ball rolled around the rim and out. He jumped and grimaced before running back on defense. Nothing was going right for the star guard.

Guess who’s back?

Just three days ago, Elijah Hughes finished a win against Cornell with just four points. It was a step back from the junior transfer, who has normally been a bright spot for the Orange early in the season. On Tuesday night, Hughes bounced back in a big way.

He used a mixture of 3-point shots and drives to the hoop to create offense for an inconsistent Syracuse team, finishing with 17 points on 6 of 11 shooting. Hughes opened up the second half with a corner 3. A few plays later, he drove to the baseline and finished strong. On a night where Battle struggled, the Orange needed a player to step up. Hughes did just that.

The Brissett show

There was no better player on the court Tuesday night than Oshae Brissett. Whether it was in the form of drives to the hoop, second-chance opportunities, emphatic dunks or rebounding, Brissett did it all.

He found Paschal Chukwu early in the first half for an alley-oop slam. The following play, he cut backdoor for an alley-oop of his own. As he walked back, he rose the roof celebrating. Brissett finished with game-highs in 21 points and 14 rebounds, seven of which came on the offensive end, while shooting 47 percent from the floor. It was nothing short of the Brissett show in the blowout win.

Published on December 4, 2018 at 9:12 pm

Contact Charlie: csdistur@syr.edu | @charliedisturco