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This time, it was Dylan Cardwell who raised his left hand. He’d noticed the opening for a lob pass when Jesse Edwards slid up in the zone, to the spot near the foul line where Auburn had punctured Syracuse’s defense and left him floating down near the left block. K.D. Johnson, standing outside the 3-point line, couldn’t deliver him the ball directly, but if the Tigers’ play unfolded as their previous two had, a lane would eventually open.

Jabari Smith corralled the pass from Johnson, turned toward the basket, saw the open window and made sure he threaded a ball to Cardwell before Jimmy Boeheim could recover and slam it shut. The assists on Auburn’s last two dunks went to Wendell Green Jr., but this time, with Auburn leading 55-38 and 14:30 left in the second half, Smith reached Cardwell with his pass, neither Jimmy nor Cole Swider could converge in time, and the Auburn reserve dunked to make SU’s deficit 19.

Cardwell’s basket capped a 14-5 run by the Tigers to open the second frame while also serving as two of Auburn’s 33 bench points from seven backups who combined for 79 minutes. Two of Syracuse’s subs — Benny Williams and Symir Torrence — played 21 minutes each, with Torrence replacing a congested Joe Girard III who head coach Jim Boeheim said was “having trouble moving around out there tonight,” and Williams replacing an ineffective Jimmy. But Williams and Torrence, along with Frank Anselem, combined for just 10 points.

The Orange’s (3-3) third game in three days at the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament ended with an 89-68 loss to No. 19 Auburn (5-1) on Friday, spoiling their first chance at earning a victory over a ranked opponent this season. Buddy Boeheim, Swider and Edwards led SU with 17 points each, and the latter two served as examples of the growth and development they came to the Bahamas for. But Auburn’s press highlighted a defense that accumulated 11 steals and turned Syracuse over 15 times, and Smith’s 22 points extinguished runs and prevented the Orange from making the game close again at the end.

“I just think three games in a row for us is too much, and against this type of pressure that we had to play against three days in a row, it’s too much for our team right now,” Boeheim said.

The way the Battle 4 Atlantis bracket unfolded for Syracuse, its final game — its third in three days — doubled as its toughest. Auburn was its first ranked opponent of the season, with the defensive intensity of VCU and the offensive burst of Arizona State, to varying degrees, all meshed into a lineup with a collection of transfers and Smith, the No. 6 recruit in the Class of 2021 according to ESPN. It was the Orange’s first Southeastern Conference opponent since 2016 and their first game against Auburn since 2003. It served as the first litmus test, a baseline of sorts, for a team with a porous 2-3 zone, an emerging center and 3-point options that haven’t produced consistently.

And heading into the first media timeout, they’d built themselves the exact foundation they needed. Buddy hit back-to-back 3s, including one in transition after he missed a similar opportunity in the game’s opening possessions. Edwards scored four quick points against Walker Kessler, the 7-foot-1 center who transferred to the Tigers from North Carolina and shifted around him with a light finish. Edwards nearly scored a third basket too, but the shot clock expired just as he drove left, spun and finished with his left hand.

But as the first half wore on, Auburn stayed within striking distance and eventually took over the lead for good. At the center of that push was their defense — including Johnson, who led the Tigers with five steals and finished the tournament with 14. When Girard maneuvered into the paint in the first half, eventually turning his back on Johnson to create extra protection, the guard poked it away and raced up the court in transition.

“I love the fact that (Johnson) makes a lot of good decisions to come off the ball. He has a feel for when a guy needs some help, and he’s willing to go make a play,” Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl said. “And when he goes in, he usually gets it. Kind of like a shark. There’s a little blood in the water — he just sees that blood, and he just goes and gets it.”

Syracuse created its own turnovers too, like when Buddy tried to hit Edwards on a pick-and-roll, the sequence that continually worked for the Orange in the early minutes, but sent the pass too high. The ball bounced off of Edwards’ hands, and Auburn took possession. Then in the second half, Anselem grabbed an offensive rebound after Buddy missed a shot but was called for a five-second violation after he couldn’t find an opening to return the ball to a guard.

The Tigers started 1-for-7 from long range but banked in two 3-pointers, one by Zep Jasper and another by Lior Berman, to kick-start an offense that eventually finished 12-for-30 on 3-pointers. They found a way to balance the deep shots with interior drives, like when Johnson drove from right to left with Williams tacked to his side but still found a way to lift the ball off the backboard and into the net from his low release point.

But for the fifth time this season, the Orange allowed their opponent to hit double-digit 3-pointers, which Boeheim said stems from the forwards and center allowing too many corner jump shots and makes from beyond the arc. Allowing the 3-point shots are OK, Boeheim said, but the problem lies in the percentage that fall in.

When paired with Auburn’s press, it created a scenario that dug the Orange too deep a hole to climb out of. They trailed by 10 at halftime, but that ballooned when Smith hit a 3-pointer ahead of the under-eight timeout, then another just before the under-four timeout while picking up a technical after mouthing toward the SU bench.

In between those shots, the Orange responded with a second-half run of their own, though, closing the gap to 10 with eight minutes left and making those early Auburn points to start the frame, those zone breakdowns and those alley-oops, resemble afterthoughts — albeit brief ones.

With 5:38 left, Williams drove into the paint from the 3-point and fired off a jump shot that bounced out, but Edwards, engulfed by four Auburn defenders, snatched the ball and laid in the offensive rebound for a basket. That cut the Tigers’ lead to 11, but less than a minute later, Smith popped both of his hands in the air with Syracuse’s guards pulled up and its backline pulled down. Green sent a pass to Smith through the opening like he was supposed to. Then, Edwards raced up in defense to guard Smith like he was supposed to, too.

But that left Cardwell on the block again. His left hand was raised. Swider raced toward his backside from the 3-point line. This time, Cardwell gave his dunk’s jump a little more elevation, and leg kick, because he had the space. Neither Swider nor Williams had made it in time to alter his shot.

“Our team just isn’t quite ready for this,” Boeheim said. “I think we can get there, but we’re not ready for it right now.”

And this time, perhaps because of the extra padding his dunk gave Auburn’s lead, Cardwell pumped his chest, swung his arms and roared, too.

Published on November 26, 2021 at 10:48 pm

Contact Andrew: [email protected] | @CraneAndrew