WASHINGTON — Oshae Brissett caught the ball at the top of the key and looked around. Frank Howard and Tyus Battle, the only other Syracuse players who regularly create shots for themselves, were both guarded and the shot clock was winding down at the start of the second half.

Thus far this season, Brissett has put up solid per-game numbers, averaging 13.6 points and 9.2 rebounds heading into the game.

But the freshman struggled with consistently making shots and finding good looks for himself. Heading into the matchup he was hitting at 34.8 percent clip. After the Texas Southern game, SU head coach Jim Boeheim said that “usually the first shot he takes is a terrible shot.” In the first half against Georgetown, he had just one point.

This time, Brissett took a few hard dribbles right toward the rim, dragging along a Georgetown defender with him. Then he spun left and finished a nifty layup.

Once the layups started falling, so to did the long ball. He hit two 3-pointers from the same spot right in front of the Orange bench. Later on the opposite wing, he took one hard dribble in and then stepped back and knocked down another 3-pointer.

“Coach tells me not to shoot those,” Brissett said with a smile, “but I was hot so I had to.”

Syracuse (9-1) went into halftime down by four and let the deficit balloon to as much as 13 midway through the second half. Brissett ratcheted up his play in the second half, though, scoring 21 points on 43-percent shooting in the frame. He ended with a career-high in points (25), 3-pointers (four) and offensive rebounds (eight), keeping the Orange alive long enough to make a late comeback in an 86-79 overtime win over Georgetown (8-1) on Saturday afternoon in Capital One Arena.

“Oshae is a very good player,” Boeheim said. “He hasn’t shot the ball well but he can shoot it. He picked a really good day to shoot it today.”

Brissett had his most efficient offensive game one week ago against Colgate. In that game, he was regularly seeing smaller players on him, which allowed him to use his 6-foot-8 frame to bully his way into the paint for easy scores. He ended with 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

That wasn’t going to be an option against a bigger Georgetown team, which had 6-foot-10 center Jessie Govan anchoring the middle of the defense and several wings comparable in size to Brissett.

Howard Washington, Brissett’s roommate and teammate since last year at Athlete Institute prep, said that Boeheim has told Brissett to start his game by trying to hit layups first. Then, after he’s seen a few shots go in, he can stretch out behind the arc.

Now, much of Brissett’s offensive game is often mental, Washington said. When he sees shots go in early, he’ll usually play to a higher level as the game goes on. Conversely, some of Brissett’s struggles this year came because he missed a few shots early and lost confidence in his shot.

“I’m always talking to him, telling him to get going. The sky’s the limit for him. He can do that every second of every game,” Washington said. “… He just flipped a switch.”

When Brissett wasn’t scoring, he was crashing the offensive glass — seven of his eight offensive boards came in the second half. If Brissett couldn’t finish the shots inside he’d get fouled and go to the line. He also set a career high in free throw makes (nine) and attempts (12).

Two weeks ago, Syracuse struggled offensively in a loss to Kansas. Only Tyus Battle, Frank Howard and Brissett scored in double figures, but Brissett shot just 3-of-13. The lack of a consistent third option was a glaring factor in the loss.

For Syracuse to get its first late comeback victory of the year, it needed to be able to survive an early barrage from the Hoyas. Brissett helped make that possible.

“That’s the real deal. People want to find out. You can keep sleeping if you want to,” Howard said. “He’s going to come out every game and play his hardest … He steps up to the plate. He responds. That was big for a freshman.”

Published on December 16, 2017 at 5:58 pm

Contact Tomer: tdlanger@syr.edu | @tomer_langer