The Orange came out firing. Knocking down threes at a rate that hadn’t been seen in the Dome this year. Passing the ball around and finding open shots. The first half on Wednesday night was the best half of basketball the Orange had played this year. Sure, they had scored more points in a half, but the combination of offense and good enough defense in the first half lead to a 10 point lead at the half.
In the first half, the Orange could do no wrong shooting a staggering 64% from the field and 55% from 3. Oshae Brissett and Frank Howard paced the Orange to a 47 point first half, with each in double figures before the break.
And even though Brissett and Howard would combine for just a single point in the second half, Tyus Battle, Paschal Chukwu and Marek Dolezaj picked up the slack after halftime. Battle scored 15 of his 24 points and Chukwu and Dolezaj did the majority of their scoring in the second half.
While the first half was a phenomenal exhibition of what is possible when everything is going absolutely right for the Orange, the second half might actually be repeatable.
The Orange was good, not great, in the second half offensively. Overall, they shot 55% from the field. Up about 10% from their season average. But, the Orange shot just 28.5% which is down nearly 5% from what the Orange shoots on average this year.
The overall field goal percentage could come down a few points, and the 3-point percentage could go up simply to the Orange’s bad season average, and the offense would be significantly better than it has been for much of the year.
I asked on “Orange Nation” a few weeks ago whether it was unfair to ask for 35 points a half out of the Orange. And while the first half shows the potential this team has when they knock down their good looks, the second half showed that yes, maybe that is a potential goal for the Orange.
Do I think this SU team can actually score 35 a half? No. Because they haven’t proven that they could. But on Wednesday night the Orange played a good-not great 2nd half, got 1 combined point from their 2nd and 3rd options and still scored 37 points.
Paschal Chukwu has begun showing he can be an offensive threat, scoring 8 points or more in six of the last eight games. Marek Dolezaj scored 10 points for the first time in nearly two months, and played his best game of the season.
When everything is clicking and the Orange offense is hitting on all cylinders, there is potential for something great. Last night showed us that. Now the question becomes, what is sustainable?