Behind one of SU’s best offensive half of the season, Syracuse (7-4) raced out to a 52-24 lead at the break and cruised to a 105-57 win over Eastern Michigan (6-5) in the Carrier Dome on Monday night. The Orange assisted on all 19 field goals in the first half and hit eight 3-pointers in the opening 20 minutes. The rest was a formality, even without Tyler Lydon, who didn’t play in the second half due to a strained right Achilles suffered late in the first period.

Here are three quick takeaways from SU’s dominant win over the Eagles.

The status of Tyler Lydon

After coming down flat on his right foot following a rebound late in the first half, Lydon limped off the court and headed to the locker room with trainer Brad Pike. He hobbled into the tunnel under his own power and didn’t return to the court until the second half was just starting.

Lydon was being held out as a precaution and would be available if the game was closer, per the ESPNU broadcast. Instead, with Syracuse leading comfortably at half, the sophomore sat in between assistant coaches Mike Hopkins and Gerry McNamara while wearing a blue T-shirt and warmup pants with ice on his right foot/ankle.

Before his injury, Lydon led the Orange with 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting. He hit both of his 3-pointers, both of his free throws and chipped in six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal.

The guards answered Jim Boeheim’s pleas

Granted, it was against an inferior opponent, but Eastern Michigan came into the game averaging the second-most steals per game in the country. Rob Murphy’s 2-3 zone, the one he learned while an assistant under Boeheim from 2004-11, was no match for the Orange’s backcourt.

The SU head coach has harped on the fact his team needs more from its guards, in whatever capacity that may be. On Monday night, they delivered. Andrew White, Tyus Battle, John Gillon and Frank Howard combined to score 56 points while shooting 17-of-33 from the field.

Howard registered 11 assists and Gillon nine, while Battle seemed back to his normal self following a week of not practicing an being eased back into competition against the Hoyas. Howard shed his offensive demons to an extent, scoring 10 points on 3-of-5 shooting, snapping a dreadful 2-for-20 streak over the three games prior to Monday’s.

White and Gillon continued their steady play of late, combining to score 28 points while hitting a total of seven 3-pointers.

Tyler Roberson emerges from the doghouse, for now

With Lydon sidelined the entirety of the second half, Roberson played over 20 minutes for the first time since Nov. 26 against South Carolina.

He scored 10 points, almost equaling his total of 12 points from the last six games. Roberson also pulled down eight rebounds, holding down frontcourt duties with either Dajuan Coleman and Taurean Thompson in the second half.

Roberson has been mainly a non-factor this season with the emergence of the freshman Thompson as Syracuse’s best low-post scorer. In the first half, the combination of Lydon and Thompson was lethal, as the pair connected on high-lows on multiple occasions to stretch Syracuse’s lead to enough where it didn’t need arguably its best player for the second stanza.

And even if it was at the expense of an injury, Roberson got his chance, which he didn’t too all that badly with.

Published on December 19, 2016 at 9:01 pm

Contact Matt: mcschnei@syr.edu | @matt_schneidman